STRANGE PLACES FOR BIRDS’ NESTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 32, 9 August 1890, Page 19

STRANGE PLACES FOR BIRDS’ NESTS.

Birds occasionally show a peculiar taste in seeking a place for nest-building. The author of ‘ Glimpses of Animal Life ’ tells of a water-wagtail which built her nest in a noisy brass foundry, and of a wren who chose her habitation in the body of a dead hawk, nailed to a barn. He also cites the following instances of bird daring and self-possession : At Hesse Darmstadt, about thirty years ago, a black redstart built her nest on the collision spring of a railway carriage which had remained for some time out of use. Five eggs were deposited, and the station-master for a long time refrained from using the carriage. At length, however, it could be no longer dispensed with, and was attached to a train and sent away. Four days and three nights elapsed before its return, and during all this time it was in motion. When it arrived at its own station, however, the young birds had not only been hatched, but were in a lively condition. It was evident that at least one of the parent birds must have travelled with the nest, and provided food for their babies. In 1887, a water-wagtail in England built her nest on the framework beneath a railway carriage which was run about forty miles daily. The male bird was each day observed by the ’ station-master, awaiting, with evident interest and anxiety, the return of his family from their periodical tours. The next year the same bird returned, built her nest in the old place, and again took her daily jaunts. Another pairof wagtails built their nest in a hollow, under a sleeper of the Brighton railway. Although trains were passing over the nest all day long, the young were hatched and reared in this noisy home. Other birds of this species built their nest in an old wall near a quarry, within a few yards of men who were constantly at work on stone, and occasionally blasting it.