Birds Nesting and Egg Collecting. J. G. Black
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FIG. 2—RAVEN
(see page 43)
BIRDS NESTING.
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PART I.
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HOW TO SET ABOUT IT.
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$ 1. WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU.
Boxes.—If you mean to collect eggs, the first thing you need is a box; and the most useful box I ever had was a tin cigarette-box (100 size) divided into compartments with strips of cardboard. Each division was lined with cotton wool, and the lid covered with the same, so that all one had to do was to open the lid, slip the egg into an empty space, and shut it again, to have one’s egg safely packed. Larger eggs than the box was meant for could easily be accommodated by pulling out a division and making two spaces into one. This is better than carrying a lot of little pill-boxes, as you are very liable to pull out one that has an egg in it already, and you don’t want to stay at the top of a tree in a high wind any longer than you can help. I remember I was in that very predicament when the idea first came to me. If you have to pack eggs in a box without divisions, the only safe way is to roll up each one in a strip of cotton-wool; otherwise you are very likely to find when you get home that they have all collected into one corner, and it is sure to be the best that is broken.
Stick.—The next necessity is a stick. Of course everyone knows the value of a hooked stick in climbing a tree, but if you take my advice you will borrow that when you need it, and for your own use carry a long light hazel or something of the sort. The thick end will help you along the road, and the thin end does for poking about among nettles, beating bushes, etc., and will find you lots of nests that are just out of reach of the ordinary walking stick. It should be long and thin, but stiff, so that if you can get hold of one that was cut last year it will serve the purpose better than a green one.
Mirror.—Another very useful thing is a small mirror, like those periscopes made to fix on the point of a bayonet, which you can rig up to go on the end of your stick, so that you can see into nests up above in a hedge or tree without climbing right to them. Not only is it a prickly business at times, but you may make the bird desert, or leave traces which will give away the nest to the next comer; so that it is worth while to make sure that a nest has eggs before you disturb it.
Scoop.—The next thing you need is a small wire scoop for getting eggs out of holes. This is easily made, the scoop part out of the finest wire you can get, and the shank of stouter iron wire, thick enough to stay in any shape into which you may bend it. It need not be much more than a foot long, as you can easily bend it on to a stick if you want to reach further. It takes up no room in your pocket when folded up, and you should never go out without it.
Field-glass and Camera.—A good field-glass is very useful indeed, and if you have a camera that will focus down to 3 feet or so, you will naturally take that along, too.
Note-book.—You may think a note-book is nothing but a nuisance, but believe me if you come across a bird or a nest that you don’t know, you will do far better to write down anything you notice about it on the spot than to trust to your memory. If you only notice that the bird has a speckled throat, or a bar on the wing, or something of that sort, the index at the end of the book will give you a pretty good idea what it is.
$ 2. WHERE TO LOOK.
Roads.—Roadsides are not such good hunting grounds as they used to be, owing to the amount of dust that motor cars raise; but the lanes and by-roads are still fairly free from this nuisance, and wherever you are going to a good part of your walk is likely to be on the hard road. Your long stick is very useful for beating hedges and banks and the near sides of ditches, and you save a lot of time by its use, as without it you would be looking into all sorts of holes, most of which would turn out to be false alarms. If there are four of you going along a road, it is best for two to take the sides of the road, and the other two the further sides of the hedges, so as to miss nothing. If you are alone it will generally be better to hunt the sunny side, unless the other has very much better cover.
Any kind of hedge is worth looking at, but especially the small, well-clipped sort, and the very tall. Steep banks, old walls with crevices in them, beds of nettles, and bramble-bushes are all useful places along a roadside; and ivy-covered walls nearly always produce something, though ivy on trees is not quite so good. The only way to hunt a dry ditch is to walk right along it. You not only see both sides of the ditch, but get nearer to the hedge beyond.
Woods.—Big woods look tempting, but small ones are generally better for nesting. If you see Jays or Magpies about a small wood you can find their nests quickly enough, but you may spend a long day in a big wood and have very little to show for it. Then the smaller birds are hardly to be found except round the edges of the big wood, while a small one with undergrowth may have nests in any part and at any level. A good plan with a small wood is to go up to every nest early in the season and throw down all old Woodpigeons’ and Squirrels’ nests, leaving the Magpies’ and Carrion Crows’ and Sparrow-hawks’ on the chance of a Kestrel or an Owl taking them on (unless they are very ancient, or the trees very hard to climb).
Perhaps the best wood of all is a long strip with a burn running through or beside it. As to trees, fir woods give better results up aloft as a rule, while oak, beech, etc., show a greater number of small birds on the ground floor. So if your strip has some of each, you’ve got the ideal wood for birds nesting.
Water.—Ponds are always worth visiting, and marshes likewise; there may not be a great variety of birds, but there may be some rare ones. And you can get as wet as you like, perhaps wetter.
Running water seems to attract any number of birds, and there is no better plan for a birdnesting ramble, long or short, than to follow the course of a stream. It seems to lead straight from one good place to another, and such a walk will introduce you to more different birds in the time than any other I know of.
Open Country.—In going across country, besides ponds, marshes, small woods, good hedges and thickets, which I have mentioned already, the things best worth turning aside for are quarries, especially disused, old limekilns, ruins, outlying cow-byres, rough corners of fields, and single bushes. Of course any stretch of heather or bent grass has its own particular set of birds, and a bracken-covert may hold a Woodcock early in the season, a Greyhen in the middle, or a Nightjar at the end. Whins, too, are very favourite nesting places, and you can tackle them better when they lie in scattered clumps than when they are all in a thick solid mass. If you come across a young fir plantation, with the trees about shoulder-high, and plenty of rough grass below, you are sure to find something in it, especially round the edges.
Dwelling-Houses.—Finally, although some birds have to be sought right out in the wilds, it is always worth while to make a careful search, if possible, in gardens, farm-buildings, etc., as this list of birds that have been found nesting in the grounds of Corchester will show. And there are few places where they have to put up with so much noise and disturbance:—
Thrush.
Missel Thrush.
Hedge Sparrow.
Greenfinch.
Redpoll.
Whitethroat.
Willow Wren.
Wren.
House