IDEAL HOMES IN BIRDLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1924, Page 1

IDEAL HOMES IN BIRDLAND.

liv Oliver G. Pike, F.Z.S., l-'.R.P.S.)

When u bird lias once found a situation Tor its nest that it looks ujior as ideal it will cling to it for years and tho young which are reared in these often curious places will endeavour to liitil Miniliar situations for their own nests when they build for themselves.

On a portion of the Kentish coast the sea Inis been receding for a great number of years, and it has left behind a large tract of pebbles many miles wide. When 1 first visited tilts spot about twenty years ago we found a nest of the wheatear underneath an old pan which no doubt had been washed up by the sea. Two years ago I was bird-watching there with my wife and she expressed a desire to see tt wheatear’s nest. 1 just scanned the stones.with my fieldglasses," spotted a rusty pan about 100 yards ahead, and on going to it we were greeted by three hungry young wheatears. Many thousands of years ago an ancestor of ours but an old poi lying on the ground outside his camp. A pair of robins chose this as their home. At the present time the descendants of this intelligent pair of robins are to be found all over the country, and each year nests of this bird are discovered in old tins and kettles which have been lying about. In one of the suburbs of London, a pair of blue tits built their nest in a lamp-postl I often watched them going in just under the glass. \\ here the nest was it was impossible to say, but probably they went right to the bottom and built their home level with the ground.

When the young birds were reared they escaped from their curious home —there were nearly eight of I hem ill all. Six years later, nearly a dozen Inmp-po-is in the locality were occupied by blue tits, showing that the young which had first been reared in this remarkable place, also their young had found it an ideal home.

A large flower pot had been lelt standing by the side of our garden [lath, and two great tils promptly took los-cssioti and there reared a latnily. For years afterwards if largo flower pots were placed in suitable positions iliev were utilised by the whole family.