ful. Sir C. Anderson informed the Author of a nest in a
spiral staircase at Saundby Church in Nottinghamshire,
which was composed of sticks piled up to the height of five
or six of the narrow steps so as to reach a landing-place.
Jesse has described and figured (Scenes and Tales of Country
Life, p. 57 and frontispiece) a similar hut larger nest, built,
in seventeen days, in the bell-tower of Eton College Chapel,
and forming a solid pillar ten feet in height.* Mr. Gunn
recorded (Zool. s.s. p. 1847) another nest of this kind in
Hillington Church in Norfolk, completely blocking up the
tower-stairs by a substantial mass, some twelve feet in height
and a cartload in bulk, which had been completed in about
three weeks. Lord Clermont has kindly communicated to
the Editor an account of a structure as wonderful, built
between the 5th and 10th of April, 1868, in the church at
Tonesborough in the county Armagh, the arch in which
the bell hung being filled to half its height with the sticks
of a nest which surrounded the bell so that it could not be
rung until the curious obstruction was removed. In almost
every case the nest is lined with wool, straw or other soft materials,
among which shavings and horsedung must be par-
* Jesse cites this structure as a proof of the bird’s reasoning powers, a view
which seems to be mistaken. He says th a t:—“ As the staircase was a spiral
one, the birds began to make a pillar of sticks on that identical step, which
alone would give them the best foundation for their intended work. Had they
gone to the one above, or to the one below that which they had so sagaciously
fixed upon, it was very evident that they would not have acquired that precise
slope or angle for their pillar, which was necessary for the effectual support of
the nest.” Now it would appear far more likely, from what we otherwise know
of the Daw’s habits, that the sticks were dropped one by one inside the windowsill
without any such sagacious intent, and that the slope of the pillar, on which
he so much relies, was determined by the sticks first dropped not finally resting
where they fell, but slipping down to the next step as others lodged upon
them, and so on until a firm base was established. Directly the mass accumulated
so as to be clear of the step, the stack would naturally rise (as it seems
from the figure to have done) perpendicularly to the window-sill. Jesse also
remarks, in further support of his estimate of the bird’s reasoning faculty, that
“ each of the sticks had been broken, or rather cracked exactly in the centre, so
that they could be doubled up.” That only cracked sticks should be found is
not surprising, because no others could pass in the ordinary way, as already
described, through the narrow window, but that they were intentionally cracked
by the birds there is no proof whatever.
ticularly mentioned.* The eggs, which are laid towards the
end of April or at the beginning of May, are from four to six
in number, of a very pale bluish-green, more or less closely
freckled or spotted with ash-grey and olive-brown, but sometimes
of a french - white, marked with dove-brown only,
and not unlike Choughs’. They measure from 1*45 to 1*24
by from 1*06 to ‘92 in. The young, when taken from the
nest in June, are easily reared and become remarkably tame,
readily learning a variety of tricks.
The Daw lays itself open to many of the charges of
rapine and destructiveness that are brought against its larger
brethren, and is certainly of a fierce disposition, as its attacks
on the eggs and young of other birds frequently prove.
Yet its comparatively small size incapacitates it from inflicting
the serious losses of which the Raven and the Crow are
often the authors, and it is said not to steal potatoes as the
Rook does. Its pilferings in gardens and orchards are not
to be denied, and its trespasses in this way are sometimes
considerable; but on the whole it must be regarded as a
useful bird to the agriculturist, for in consuming injurious
insects it is hardly inferior to the Rook, whose foraging
parties it so often accompanies. It is a common attendant
on sheep, on the backs of which it may be frequently seen
to perch, and bears a good character for ridding them of
some of their parasites. In pastures it obtains a good deal of
food from the grubs which it finds under cowdung, but in a
general way its diet is almost exactly the same as the Rook’s.
Of late the diminution of the Chough in this country has
been attributed to the Daw driving away that species from its
haunts; but, as before remarked (page 256), further information
on this point is needed. The notes of the Daw
are somewhat shrill and seem to have few modulations, yet
when heard among those of the Rook the contrast is rather
pleasing, especially as the former are ejaculated at intervals
in a petulant volley, while the combined flock of the two
* The Editor was shewn by Mr. 0. B. Wharton a lump of clay, hearing marks
apparently of the bird’s beak, found by him in a nest the eggs of which were
smeared over with the same substance, as though intentionally.