. Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns . RDEN— So the division is made neatly all round themiddle of the egg, and just where it ought tobe! The mother bird may assist, too, inthe operation when she perceives the eggmoving, and the point of the beak showingthrough the first hole. But the shells ofbirds eggs are not always so evenly dividedin hatching. Then we started to explore. The bull-finch, we thought, and the hedge-sparrowmust be surely building here. Our surmisewas correct. As we approached a deodoratree, a hen bullfinch flew out of its lowerbranches, and there w
. Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns . RDEN— So the division is made neatly all round themiddle of the egg, and just where it ought tobe! The mother bird may assist, too, inthe operation when she perceives the eggmoving, and the point of the beak showingthrough the first hole. But the shells ofbirds eggs are not always so evenly dividedin hatching. Then we started to explore. The bull-finch, we thought, and the hedge-sparrowmust be surely building here. Our surmisewas correct. As we approached a deodoratree, a hen bullfinch flew out of its lowerbranches, and there we found her nest, withfour pale blue eggs, speckled and streakedwith purple at the larger end. One hadprobably yet to be laid, as five is the usualnumber ; and out of these would peck theirway, in due time, a handsome family. Trulybullfinches are beautiful. The deep blackof the head and tail, the rich red breast(some describe it as brick red), are beautifullycontrasted with the delicately grey-shadedbeak, whilst the black and grey wing is re- MIDDLE OF MAY 107. Plate XXXI : A bullfinchs nest in a deodora treeseen from above (|- size.) lieved—crosswise in the middle—by a barof white. It is the cock bird that shows these colours io8 IN AN OLD DESERTED GARDEN- to perfection, and he is the sturdier lookingof the two. But both male and female arewell set up strong birds, with powerful andsomewhat arched beaks, which they use togood purpose on the berries of which they areso fond ; and they find them very useful forother vegetable food, including buds—often,unfortunately, those of fruit trees. Theseconstitute their chief food. The male bird isformidable in a fight, though his familiar nameof bully is not borne out, I think, by anyspecial pugnacious qualities. The photographdoes not show the nest well, as it was sunkeninto the spine-like leaves of the deodora,and had to be taken from above. We werelucky to find this one, as they are oftenat the tops of high bushes. It was buil
Size: 1355px × 1843px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishern, booksubjectbirds
