GOSSIP ABOUT BIRDS’ NESTS.

THINK birds’ nests have been objects of
interest to me as long as I can remember;
and I think the interest, which never took
the form of destruction or wanton plunder,
has not only survived a good many in-

terests of the early days in which it was developed, but
remains yet not materially affected by the changes and
chances of near upon half a century. Hence such para-
graphs as the following are never slipped, come upon
them where I may. This is from Zhe Zoologist of last
November :—‘ It is generally believed that this bird (the
nut-hatch) usually builds in holes of trees and walls, and
if the aperture is too large, reduces it by plastering it up
with mud or clay, leaving a small hole for entrance or
egress. A curious variation from this habit is presented
in a nest just brought to me, newly cut from a hay-stack.
The mass of clay used in forming the front of the nest
weighed no less than eleven pounds when first cut ott of
\ the stack. The shape of the mass is somewhat irrecular,
being something like that of a shoulder of mutton with
the knuckle cut off. The length is thirteen inches;
,width of the widest part, which is at the upper end,
eight inches, at the lower end, four inches. The greatest
thickness is at the bottom, where it is four inches; at
the upper part, two inches. The height of the nest
above the ground was between five and six feet. The
lining was composed of fine lamina, or shreds of bark of
fir or larch-trees, and the nest contained five eggs. The
birds were observed pulling the hay from the stack, till
they had formed a large opening, before they commenced
building with mud, which they brought from a distance

May of about 150 yards. They were occupied with the

arduous work for a long period—six weeks or two

months, the working men who noticed them say.”

|

| gous kind, though widely different as to ponderousness,

GOSSLP ABOUT BLED NESTS.

Set side by side with this, another instance, recorded
by Mr. Stevenson, and belonging to the same species of
birds: —“In the spring of 1865, a pair of nut-hatches
selected for nesting purposes the bole of a beech-tree at
Framingham, which had a cleft on one side nearly one
foot and a half in length. This opening being too large

| and exposed, the birds proceeded to fill it up, leaving only

a hole big enough for themselves to pass in and out, with
clay collected from the edge of a pond, about 150 yards
off. In the first instance the whole structure was pulled
down by a lad when nearly completed, but, nothing
daunted, the nut-hatches began again, and, completing
their task, hatched and brought off their young. On
subsequent examination, the mud-works thus laboriously
constructed were found so hard that only a mallet and
chisel could make any impression on them; and they
measured sixteen inches in length, three and a quarter
inches in width, and two and a quarter inches deep,”
I wish Mr. Stevenson had given us the weight of this
curious piece of plaster-work. He has, however, given
the dimensions of another nest-adjustment of an analo-

when describing a nest of the greater titmouse built
in 1859. After adverting to a nest of this bird, built
in an ordinary wooden pump, which was a good deal
used, and in which strange place, notwithstanding the
prying inspection of many visitors, and the con-
tinuous strokes of the pump-rod, twelve young ones were
hatched, he goes on to say, “The most extraordinary
nest of the species that I ever saw or read of was dis-
covered in a rough corner cupboard in an old shepherd's
house, erected in a plantation for the use of the game-
keeper. In the centre of the cupboard was a single shelf,
and the door being kept shut, the pair of titmice could
only obtain access through a small hole in the wood-work
above. Through this opening, however, the enormous
amount of materials found must have been introduced bit
by bit, until the entire space between the shelf and the
top of the cupboard, leaving only just room enough for
the hen bird to sit, was filled with a compact mass of
twigs, moss, bents, feathers, rabbits’ down, horse-hair,
wool, and even flowering grasses. Moss formed, of
course, the chief substance employed, yet so wonderfully
had the whole fabric been woven together that, when
taken from the shelf upon which it was erected, it xe-
tained the exact shape of the three-cornered cupboard,
the sides being as firm and neat as a well-kept grass-
edging levelled with a roll. The following dimensions
of this remarkable structure will best give an idea of the
skill and labour devoted to it by its untiring architects —
Length in front fifteen inches, height nine inches, depth
from front to back, measured to the angle of the cupboard,
ten inches. In the centre of the upper part was a slight
depression in which the eggs were laid, and here, in spite
of frequent intrusions from curious visitors, the hen bird
being even handled on her nest, these little creatures
reared five young ones, and carried them off in safety.”
The builders in this case were but small birds; as a|
parallel case—wherein, however, the builders were larger
birds, being jackdaws instead of tomtits, and the mass of
material introduced in order to compensate for the in-
herent inconvenience of the site selected for the nest.
being more than fully in proportion to the increased
size of the birds—I will mention an instance recon
originally, I believe, by Mr. Jesse. It was brought to}