Nest-building

“ Over and over it went, time after time, by its movements smoothing out the hay, at the same time rounding the interior of the nest, and pushing it outwards. There seems no reason to suppose that this Dormouse adopted a different plan of nest-building in captivity from that which it used in a natural state. The nests, of which I have examined scores around Shrewsbury, are constructed of long grass, with moss, &c., added for warmth. We know that birds build their nests by laying a foundation first, next raising the sides, and finally putting in the lining. ”

“ While I was watching the pine-tree household, the other nest, in the top of a low, flat-topped cedar, perhaps twenty-five feet high, and profusely fringed with Spanish moss, became of even more interest. I could not see into the nest, for there was no building high enough to overlook it, but I could see the bird when he stood upon the edge. Sitting, in a warm climate, is not particularly close work. ”

“ It is tempting to believe that they discuss the matter, that the hen says to the cock, “Now, James, my dear, it is necessary for us to build a nest without delay: come, let us select a secluded spot wherein to build”; and to picture the little birds hunting about together and criticising the sites each selects. Nevertheless, I think it most unlikely that any such discussion takes place. Nest building is largely instinctive. ”

“ Nest building materials are not of wide choice, usually consisting of fine grasses, caterpillar silk, weed stems, and plant down, with a lining of plant down or sometimes feathers. The moss among which the nest is suspended is woven into the structure to some extent. Horsehair and skeletonized leaves are sometimes employed. The nest is fairly deeply cupped and averages about 3 inches in outside diameter, 21⁄2 in inside diameter, and the same in depth. ”

“ The normal original nest, in a state of nature, is an elaborate and remarkably ingenious structure, sheltering its inmates from the weather and from their many enemies. Since they have sought the shelter of man and built under the eaves of barns and houses, the old style of their nests has been greatly changed, and the retort-like shape has nearly disappeared.
In building and in repairing their nests they work with great industry, and often complete their task with wonderful celerity. ”

“ In building the nest, therefore, the male is the worker and the female the architect; but an architect without talent, we must admit, for the structure is nothing but a mass of intertwined sticks without lining of feathers and flock, and, worse still, without firmness. Hence it is not unusual for this nest to fall to pieces before the brood has taken its flight ”

“ Some ornithologists are of opinion that it is an hereditary habit, others supposing that it is resorted to for the sake of coolness in hot weather; but a reason I incline to is that in parts of the country where houses and out-buildings are made of stone the birds find ample accommodation in joints, crevices, and crannies where the mortar has been dislodged, and are therefore not driven to the necessity of adopting trees, like birds found in districts where the houses are made of bricks, consequently closer, and affording less opportunity for nest-building. ”

“ The common house-sparrow furnishes another instance of intelligent adaptation of nest-building to circumstances, for in trees it builds a domed nest (presumably, therefore, the ancestral type) , but in towns avails itself by preference of sheltered holes in buildings, where it can afford to save time and trouble by constructing a loosely-formed nest. ”

“ Of the remaining nests, a few were fairly completed, and ready for their egg treasures at any time, but the greater number were only partially finished, and in their unfinished state had suffered so much from sleet and wind and rain, that we much doubt if their builders will have anything more to do with them, for it is a curious fact, that with such rare exceptions as only serve to accentuate and emphasise the rule, all birds prefer building a new nest from the very foundation to occupying an old one, or making the slightest repairs on one that has met with any serious injury. ”

“ Sometimes adapting its nest to the building material at hand, it weaves it of grasses and twigs, and suspends it from the limb of a bush or tree overhanging the water, where it swings like an oriole's. The entrance to the nest is invariably on the side.
More devoted homebodies than these little wrens are not among the feathered tribe. Once let the hand of man desecrate their nest, even before the tiny speckled eggs are deposited in it, and off go the birds to a more inaccessible place, where they can enjoy their home unmolested. ”

“ There is great commotion in this aërial city at the time of nest-building, for rooks are very clamorous and also much given to stealing from their neighbors. When a young and inexperienced couple suspend building operations for a moment, to go and get further material for construction, the neighbors pillage the half-completed nest; this one carries off a little stick, that one a blade of grass and some moss, to use in their own work. ”

“ Our own house-sparrow equally well adapts himself to circumstances. When he builds in trees, as he, no doubt, always did originally, he constructs a well-made domed nest, perfectly fitted to protect his young ones; but when he can find a convenient hole in a building or among thatch, or in any well-sheltered place, he takes much less trouble, and forms a very loosely-built nest. ”

“ Since nests are used only once there would be no tendency to adopt the old nest. However, abortive nests, usually little more than a few strands of nesting material secured to the fork, might stimulate the birds to continue building. Re-use of a single nest-site in 15.8 per cent of 38 nests built in 1960 seems to be more than fortuitous circumstance. ”

“ Such sticks must act as so many anchors, and may, perhaps, be the chief means by which the nest is kept stationary. To judge by the two birds which I particularly watched, the great crested grebe has the habit of building several nests, and, besides this, the male makes a small platform of weeds just off the edge of the bank, and near to the nest. Sometimes he seems in doubt whether to take his weeds to the nest or the platform, and in this hesitation, and in the building of more than one nest, we may, perhaps, see the origin of the latter structure. ”

“ In choosing a building-spot, concealment does not seem to be taken into consideration; yet notwithstanding the nest is large and guilelessly exposed to view, it is far from being easily detected, chiefly because it swells forward like any other bulging moss-cushion growing naturally in such situations. This is more especially the case where the nest is kept fresh by being well sprinkled. Sometimes these romantic little huts have their beauty enhanced by rock-ferns and grasses that spring up around the mossy walls, or in front of the door-sill, dripping with crystal beads. ”

“ Carrying in their bills a stalk newly bitten off, or a teased-out fibre, they hang by their feet to a twig, or to the nest itself, keep themselves in position [Pg 219] by fluttering their wings, and work in their material, singing all the while. When one nest is built and finished inside, they proceed to make a second and a third; indeed, they may even pull a finished work to pieces again to satisfy their love of building. Thus they go on until the female, who has meanwhile been brooding, claims their assistance in the rearing of the young ones. ”

“ This species, however, has a peculiar habit of building several nests every season, and it is suggested that these are built to procure protection for the female, in order that when search is made for the nest where she is sitting, the male may lure the hunter to an empty nest. ”

“ Herbage will grow luxuriantly at the stream-side, and birds will be enticed to nest in places where, after a heavy rainfall, there will rush a raging torrent, to carry away birds, nests, eggs and all. Some say that nesting birds can foretell the weather, and choose their nesting-places accordingly—building on the banks and higher ground if the season will be wet, but in the hollows if dry. ”

“ Though naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock or earth, or in the mouth of a cave, the preference of the eastern species for the vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the more thickly settled parts of the country the bird is seldom seen at any great distance from a farmhouse, except where a bridge spanning a stream affords a secure spot for a nest. ”

“ These that flit through my smoky dusk may not make city nests, though the finding of such nests would not surprise me. Of course a night-hawk's nest, here or anywhere else, would surprise me; for like her cousin, the whippoorwill, she never builds a nest, but stops in the grass, the gravel, the leaves, or on a bare rock, deposits her eggs without even scratching aside the sticks and stones that may share the bed, and in three days is brooding them—brooding the stones too. ”

“ The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, which are said to have been introduced into the country, but a wild native kind not found in the village. I sent one to a distinguished naturalist, and it interested him much. When I was building, one of these had its nest underneath the house, and before I had laid the second floor, and swept out the shavings, would come out regularly at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet. It probably had never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and would run over my shoes and up my clothes. ”

“ These little foreigners will pile the mass of dried grass, hair, and other rubbish which composes their nest, on any ledge or shelf which will support it, and if a decayed stump or deserted nest affords such support, they are quite as ready to use it as they are to take possession of the little houses which kind hands fasten to the branches of trees. ”

“ I find no authority in the books for this bird to build upon the ground, yet here is the nest, made chiefly of dry grass, set in a slight excavation in the bank, not two feet from the water, and looking a little perilous to anything but ducklings or sandpipers. There are two young birds and one little specked egg, just pipped. But how is this? what mystery is here? One nestling is much larger than the other, monopolizes most of the nest, and lifts its open mouth far above that of its companion, though obviously both are of the same age, not more than a day old. ”

“ The nest, which is most artistically constructed, is usually suspended from a forked and slender branch; in shape it is like a deep basin. The walls are formed of blades of grass, vine-tendrils, wool, cobwebs, and a great variety of similar materials, the interior being snugly lined with a thick bed of wool, feathers, or fine grass; this beautiful structure is most skilfully fastened in its place by means of long threads or twigs, moistened with saliva from the beak of the bird, and then wound several times round the branch, their ends being woven into the body of the nest. ”

“ The Rooks are frugal nest-builders; they make the same structure do year after year. Early in March they begin to repair their old habitations, which, during the winter, we may see far up amid the naked branches, like so many bundles of dry sticks; the young pairs, we suppose, build new ones, unless they should find a nest left vacant by the removal, by death or otherwise, of parents or other relatives, for all the community must be closely allied. ”

“ There is a curious diversity in his nesting habits: he generally prefers a hole in a wall, or some safe, convenient cavity, and will make vigorous war on and eject other species, like the house-martin, from their nests and nesting-holes; but when such receptacles are not sufficiently numerous, or it appears safe to do so, he builds in trees, making a large, conspicuous, oval, domed nest of straw, mixed with strings, rags, and other materials, and thickly lined inside with feathers. ”

“ We are told that they build their cone-shaped nests of mud, sticks, and grass in shallow water, in colonies, and that their nests, BEING PLACED ON RAFTS of buoyant material, float about in the bayous, and are propelled and guided at the will of the sitting bird by the use of her long legs and feet as oars. The position of the bird upon the nest is also ludicrously depicted. It is described as sitting astride the nest, with the toes touching the ground; and to add still more comicality to the picture, it is asserted that the limbs are often thrust out horizontally behind the bird. ”

“ In the top of one of the gnarled bushes at the edge of the open, right over the water, was built a spacious but rickety-looking nest of dead sticks. It was the most un-nestlike of nests, a mere crazy platform, with no apparent qualifications as a home except the most perfect ventilation. One might reasonably suppose that the first requirement in the nest of a bird should be that it would hold eggs securely. ”

“ Nestbuilding is intimately associated with courtship and is a responsibility of both sexes. The male builds the suspension apparatus and the female constructs and lines the bag. Both sexes participate in adorning the exterior. Construction lasts from four and one-half to five days.
9. The nest is compact, pendant, and composed of strips of bark and strands of grasses that are interwoven and tightly bound with animal silk. Nests built in May are bulkier than those constructed later in the season. ”