NEST BUILDING. 
305 
their nests almost like baskets, and build the floating 
foundation so thick and high as to keep the eggs quite 
dry. A large piece of wood floating on the water is 
readily used as a foundation for the nests of any of these 
birds. 
Nests built in the grass amongst twigs of bushes, or in 
trees, are so various in their construction as to render it 
somewhat difficult to divide them into classes. The most 
slovenly builders are the Pigeons, whether nesting in 
holes or on branches: their nests are mere bundles of 
sticks and twigs, so carelessly and loosely put together 
that the eggs may be seen through the fabric from 
beneath. The nest of the Nightingale, which is often 
placed on the ground, and those of the Whitethroats, are 
incomplete and deficient; that of the Bearded Reedling, 
situated among dry reeds, is scarcely any better. The nests 
of Birds of prey are somewhat more carefully constructed, 
though the term well-built, in the sense of artistic finish, 
can by no means he applied to any of them. Let, alone 
that a ready-built nest is often used in different years by 
several species, Birds of prey do not take much trouble in 
the formation of a new nest. The thievish Sparrowhawk 
does no more than lay a few dry sticks across one 
another; her cousin, the Goshawk, takes a little 
more trouble, and covers the upper surface of her nest 
with green fir sprigs; other species line their flat nests 
with some soft material, but never interweave it with the 
sticks, twigs, and roots of the main body of the structure. 
All members of the Crow family far surpass the Raptures 
in this respect; the Magpie, indeed, somewhat approaches 
the real “ artiste” in the nest-building line. These 
birds usually bind the twigs together by means of turf 
and earth, and plaster the cup-shaped interior carefully 
