304 
BIRD-LIFE. 
artificial, and lay their eggs therein without further 
ceremony, whether the bottom he stony, covered with 
rotten wood, or simply earth. Those birds, also, which 
almost invariably breed in holes, such as Wheatears, 
Flycatchers, Redstarts, Tree- and Wall-creepers, Wry¬ 
necks, Hoopoes, and others, as well as Sparrows, 
Starlings, Jackdaws, Rollers, &c., select holes already 
prepared, but always build a nest of some sort inside. 
The following are better architects even than the 
former—the Shearwater (. Puffinus ), Storm Petrel, Little 
Auk, Puffin, Kingfishers, Sand Martin, and Bee-eaters; 
these excavate their nest-holes themselves, though only 
some of them line the interior. We now come to the 
Titmice, which form the connecting-link in these 
matters between the above-mentioned and the Wood¬ 
peckers, for besides digging holes in the ground they 
also do the same in trees, but only where the wood 
is rotten enough not to prove any great obstacle to 
their labours. Woodpeckers, indeed, also seek branches 
or stems which are decayed at the core, but are strong 
enough to perforate the outer skin, which is still sound ; 
and yet it is not rare to find that one Woodpecker will 
get tired of his job, and leave it, when it is finished 
by another one. 
The nests which are found partially floating on the 
surface of the water are very curious indeed: take, for 
instance, that of the Swan, which is so occasionally, 
and those of the Grebes, Coots, and Waterhens, always. 
These are attached to the water-plants around them, but 
not in such a manner as to prevent their rising and 
falling with the water. The nest of the Grebe is 
saturated with water, and sometimes the eggs themselves 
are lying in it; Moorhens and Coots, however, weave 
