404 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
sailors for the ease with which it can be captured, especially if 
the daylight has departed. 
The Noddy mostly chooses for its nesting-place some lofty 
precipice, and generally lays its eggs upon a shelf of the rock. 
Sometimes, but rarely, it takes a fancy to some low and thick 
bush, and in any case is but an indifferent architect. Often 
the nest is nothing more than a heap of seaweed, on the top 
of which is excavated a very slight hollow ; and in no case 
does the bird seem to exercise any skill in the disposition of 
materials. As it returns year after year to the same spot, and 
never clears away the old nest, it manages in time to accumulate 
a heap of seaweed that is sometimes more than two feet in 
thickness, and of considerable width. The bird is gregarious 
in its nesting, the rocky ledges being crowded with the rude 
nests, and the odour that proceeds from them being absolutely 
intolerable to human nostrils. The eggs are rather pretty, being 
of an orange colour, spotted and splashed with red and purple 
of different shades. 
It is rare in England, but there are many British birds that 
build in a similar manner, such as the Solan goose, or gannet, 
the cormorant, the guillemot, and various gulls. 
The nest of the Nightingale ( Luscinia Philomela) could 
hardly be classed in any of the preceding groups, and therefore 
takes its place among the miscellaneous habitations. 
It is not built in the branches, nor in a hole, nor suspended 
from a bough, nor absolutely on the ground. It is always set 
very near the ground, and in most cases it is scarcely raised 
more than a few inches above the soil. In one sense it is not 
a pretty nest. It is certainly not a neat one, and its apparent 
roughness of construction is probably intended to make it less 
conspicuous. The discovery of a Nightingale’s-nest is not an 
easy task, unless the eye be directed to the spot by watching 
the movements of the bird. It is always most carefully hidden 
under growing foliage, and so well is it concealed, that even in 
places where nightingales abound, the detection of a nest is 
always welcome to the egg-hunter. 
