builds in close proximity to the owl and jackdaw, neither of the three appearing to be disturbed by the presence of the others. In forest lands the Starling lays its eggs in old trees; and I have frequently looked into a little hole high on the trunk, and seen the eggs lying far below, out of the reach of any foe except the rat, the weasel, and the British schoolboy, with his fertile invention and ready limbs. Starlings which choose such situations are strangely indifferent to observation, and are so noisy in all their conversation, that they may be heard at a distance of several hundred yards.

ONE or two other British birds must be mentioned, because they lay their eggs in excavations either natural or artificial. There is the elegant little TREE CREEPER (Certhia familiaris), so well known for its delicate form, its slender and slightly-curved beak, and the great agility with which it traverses the trunks of trees. The nest of this bird is mostly placed in the hollow of some decaying tree, and is of rather more ambitious a character than is generally found with birds which lay their eggs in similar situations, being formed of moss, grass, and other soft vegetable substances, and lined with downy feathers. There are about seven or eight eggs, which are small and of a light grey, variegated with brownish dots.

THE short-bodied, stout-beaked, strong-limbed NUTHATCH (Sitta Europaea) is another example of the semi-burrowers, inasmuch as it always chooses the hollow of a decaying tree for its nursery. The general habits of this curious little bird are very well known, and as they bear but very slightly on the principle of nesting, there is no need to mention them in this place.

The cavity which the bird selects is usually one which has but a very small entrance; and it is said that when the orifice. is too large, the mother bird lessens it by kneading clay into the sides. It has already been mentioned that the wryneck defends its nest by the simulation of offensive powers, though it is, in truth, a very harmless bird, without the means to work an injury to an enemy. The Nuthatch defends its home with equal success, but not by the same deception; for whenever an enemy approaches too closely to the nest, out dashes the bird in a state

of wild excitement, darts at the intruder, and pecks so fiercely with its powerful beak, that it can drive away any ordinary foe. The bite which the Nuthatch can inflict is of no trifling force; for the beak is strong enough to crack the shell of any nut, and when employed on softer substances, is very apt to leave behind it a tangible mark of its powers.

The nest of the Nuthatch is hardly deserving of the name, for it merely consists of a few dried leaves, intermingled with little. bits of decaying wood.

ANOTHER of these semi-burrowing birds is the HOOPOE (Upupa epops), one of the handsomest, though not the most brilliant, of English birds. It is now very rare in this country, and, from all appearances, is unlikely to become plentiful.

So.

The Hoopoe makes its nest in some decaying tree, and often prepares the hollow for its nest, though without intending to do The food of the bird consists chiefly of insects, in various stages of existence, most of which are dug by the long bill from the decayed wood wherein they burrow. The larvæ of many beetles exist in such localities, and as they are mostly fat and plump, they afford abundant nourishment to their destroyer. In dislodging these larvæ from their strongholds, the Hoopoe not only enlarges the hollow, but flings a quantity of small chips of the spongy wood to the bottom of the cavity. The nest is made of grass, feathers, and similar materials, and in many cases is placed upon the layer of dried fragments.

The cavity in which the Hoopoe makes its nest is notable for a most horrible stench, which, in countries where the bird is plentiful, has become proverbial. The odour which emanates from the kingfisher is most unsavoury, but it does not possess the pungent offensiveness which distinguishes that of the Hoopoe. The food of the Hoopoe was long considered to be the cause of this unpleasant peculiarity; but as the bird lives entirely on insects, it is evident that some other cause must be sought. This is found in certain glands near the tail, which secrete a substance that certainly must be useful to the bird in some mysterious way, just as the odorous secretion of the musk-deer must be beneficial to the animal; but it possesses a singularly offensive smell, and renders the nest unendurable to human nostrils.

ONE or two of the Titmice are in the habit of making their nests in similar situations. The COLE TIT (Parus ater) will always take advantage of hollow places, though it is perfectly capable of building a nest among the dense underwood, and its habitation may be mostly found in such localities. Young fir plantations are favourite resorts of this bird, which finds a con genial resting-place among the low, horizontal branches.

In Mudie's "Feathered Tribes of the British Islands," there is a brief and valuable summary of the bird-attracting powers of the fir in its different stages of development. "In a fir plantation, which is neither so low as to partake of the mushroom growth of pines (especially Pinus sylvestris) upon too rich soils, nor too inland and upland, there is a succession of birds. Linnets and other brake-birds come to them as long as they are mere bushes; but the note of the cuckoo is not heard in them. After a while the Cole Tit becomes one of their most plentiful inhabitants; and by that time the cuckoo perches and sings on the margin. A few years longer, and the ringdove moans in the tops of the trees, which have then begun to open towards the surface of the ground, and the covers for the brake-birds, and restingplaces for all birds that build hideling and near the earth, are gone. The cuckoo is then heard less frequently, unless there are coppices of deciduous trees, or young pines come up in succession, in the vicinity. If the trees form a belt between rich grounds, the magpie, though he loves the 'home' trees better, will sometimes come, a little after the woodpigeon; and if the plantation is deep and secluded, the jay will, perhaps, come a little earlier. To all these succeeds the rook, which nestles in the mature trees, with the long boles clear of branches, and he quits them not until they are cut down or perish in the lapse of time."

In my note-book there is a sketch of a curious habitation occupied by a Cole Tit. One of the large trees at Walton Hall had been infested by the fungus, which has already been mentioned, and had broken asunder some eighteen or twenty feet from the ground. Several spots where these fungi had softened the wood were excavated by Mr. Waterton, in order to make nesting-places for various birds. In such spots the owls come. and breed, and so do the jackdaws, starlings, and other birds. To one of these cavities Mr. Waterton fitted a door, composed of bark, and in the upper part of the door, he cut a little circular

hole. The Cole Tit soon found out the hollow, and discovering that the cavity would make a good dwelling-place, and that the hole afforded an easy mode of entrance and egress, she proceeded to make her nest therein. When I saw the tree, the Cole Tit had not begun to build, but the relics of the old nest were there and could easily be seen by opening the door.

ANOTHER example of birds that make their nests within the hollow of trees is the strangely-formed TouCAN (Ramphastos Ariel).

There are many species of Toucan, all of which are easily recognisable on account of the colours of the beak, for in all these birds the enormous bill is decorated with strangely brilliant tints. In one species the beak is rich orange and black, in another it is scarlet and yellow, and in another it is green and red; and in all it is of enormous dimensions when compared with the body, and is of great strength, though very light. Indeed, it is but a mere shell of horny substance, in some places.

G

not thicker than writing paper, and coloured by means of certain membranes in the interior, which shine through the semi-transparent horn.

It has long been known that the Toucal nested in hollow trees, and that it preferred those cavities which could only be entered by a small aperture, the reason for this predilection being rather absurd. It was supposed that the young of the Toucan were liable to the attacks of monkeys and large birds of prey, and that whenever the parent bird was alarmed, all she had to do was to poke her beak out of the aperture. The assailant, on seeing such a huge bill, fancied that an animal of corresponding size must be behind it, and therefore fled from so doughty a foe. One writer puts this idea in a very quaint manner. The monkeys, he says, are very noisome to young birds, and try to pull the unfledged Toucans out of their nests. But the mother bird, when she sees a monkey approaching, "so settles herself in her nest as to put her bill out at the hole, and gives the monkeys such a welcome therewith, that they presently pack away, and glad they escape so."

According to some writers, the Toucan makes the burrow for itself, using the huge beak as the tool wherewith it excavates its work. I very much doubt, however, whether the bird has the power of doing so, and think that, at the most, it only adapts and slightly alters the interior of the hollow, in order to suit its own purposes.

The Toucan is always a tree-loving bird, and does not wander from the forests. It is a native of South America, and may generally be seen perched on the topmost boughs of the lofty mora-tree, far beyond the reach of the shot-gun, and requiring a single bullet, or the Indian's tiny poisoned arrow, to bring it from its lofty elevation. It flies only by jerks, takes no long aerial journeys, and its body always seems overweighted by the enormous beak, which makes the head bow downwards as the bird passes through the air.

PERHAPS the SWIFT (Cypselus apus) may take rank among the semi-burrowing birds.

It always lays its long white eggs and makes its simple nest in holes, and in some cases is able to form the tunnel in which it breeds. When it takes up its habitation far from human abodes, it contents itself with crevices in rocks, hollow trees, and