Chirps and 
Chatter. 
( 59 ) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Blackbird’s nest is one of the neatest, 
made of moss, lichen, and small roots 
worked up with clay or mud, and lined 
with the softest materials procurable; 
and the Rook’s nursery, untidy as it 
appears from below, is very strongly 
compacted of sticks and roots, as indeed 
it need be swaying there perpetually to 
and fro on the highest forks of the 
trees. How skilful a builder the Rook 
is may be gauged from the fact that the 
nests in a rookery often survive all the 
stiffest gales of winter, and then are 
capable of repair for another season's 
use. One of the most difficult nests to 
discover is that of a Nightingale, a bird 
which possesses to the full the genius of 
privacy. It may be placed in dense 
tangled undergrowth, among thick ivy, 
in hollows of trees, but wherever it is it 
is as far as possible from the haunts of 
men. It is of the slightest construction, 
formed of dried leaves and coarse weeds, 
hollowed in the middle into a cup, and 
lined with hair or rootlets. 
American Birds in England. 
With regard to American birds found 
in England, “ The Birds of Wiltshire ” 
mentions two Cayenne Rails found in 
that county at different times at the 
same place. In June, 1890, one of 
these birds flew on board a ship I was 
in. The wind was north-east, light ; 
sea calm (I was a passenger to Mel¬ 
bourne round the Cape). We were four 
or five hundred miles south-west of Cape 
de Verde, and at least 1,800 miles from 
Cayenne, the nearest South American 
point. The bird was caught (says a 
correspondent of the “ Globe ”), and 
next day was killed by rats. It pro¬ 
bably rested on the sea, tired by the 
head wind, and suffered from thirst. The 
dust in the air (vide Maury) would guide 
the bird towards the African land. 
A Beautiful Songster. 
The Blackbird sets about its domestic 
arrangements early in spring, and, trees 
and hedges being leafless,; ivy and ever¬ 
green bushes of various kinds are re¬ 
sorted to. We all know the large, 
warm, comfortable nest, with its three 
or four freckled greenish-blue eggs. 
Their first discovery is to many of us 
still a pleasant memory of early boy¬ 
hood days. We also know the bird’s 
clattering cry of alarm, which so often 
exposes nests and eggs which otherwise 
would never be found. The Blackbird 
has a long day of song. It commences 
with the first faint signs of dawn, and 
“ warbles his invitations ” to the dusky 
groves while the lark rises carolling to 
the sky. Again, at nightfall, the mellow 
strains are among the last bird voices 
heard. We seem to hear them in these 
lines of Burns :— 
In gowany glens thy burnie strays, 
Where bonny lasses bleach their claes, 
Or trots by hazelly shaws and braes, 
Wi’ hawthorns grey, 
Where blackbirds join the shepherd’s lays, 
At close o’ day. 
A Favourite of Jefferies. 
Richard Jefferies, delighted in the 
Blackbird’s song in full day-time and at 
this time of year: “ Sometimes in spring 
there was a sheen of bluebells covering 
acres ; the Doves cooed, the Blackbirds 
whistled sweetly, there was a taste of 
green things in the air.’ 5 Again, “ Like 
a great human artist, the blackbird 
makes no effort, being fully conscious 
that his liquid tone cannot be matched. 
He utters a few delicious notes, and 
carelessly quits the green stage of the 
oak till it pleases him to sing again. 
Without the Blackbird, in whose throat 
the sweetness of the green fields dwells, 
the days would be only partly summer.” 
In the above lines one feels the sunshine 
and afternoon hekt of early summer, and 
the mellow notes of the Blackbird ming¬ 
ling drowsily with the hum of varied 
life. 
The Nesting of the Reed-Warbler. 
The Reed-Warbler does not commence 
to nest as early in the season as do most 
of its relatives, probably because the 
reeds are seldom tall enough until past 
the middle of May. Building com¬ 
mences while the reeds are still young, 
and the nests are often then clearly 
visible. The birds generally begin to 
sit in the last week of May, by which 
time the reeds, which grow rapidly when 
