Egg of Song-Thrush. Egg of Chaffinch.
“The nest is quite smooth and hard inside. What is that queer brown stuff all over the inside of the nest?”
“That is clay, Tom. When the thrushes have built their nest, they line the inside of it with clay. This clay is soft at first, but it soon dries and turns quite hard.
“But, come, let us go, boys. The cock thrush has stopped his singing. He and his little wife are flying about in great alarm.”
When they came to the chaffinch’s neat little nest in the fork of the tree, they got a great surprise. The four little mottled eggs were gone. In their place were four tiny naked creatures, with little tufts of dark coloured down upon their heads and necks. They had very large mouths, and their eyes were closed.
“Oh, what funny little things,” said Frank.
As soon as he spoke, the baby chaffinches stretched out their slender little necks, opened their wide, gaping mouths, and cried for food.
“Pink, Pink, Pink!” came from a neighbouring tree.
“Come down, Frank!” Uncle George whispered. “Let us go back from the nest, and we will perhaps see the old birds feeding them.”
With another “Pink, Pink, Pink,” the cock chaffinch flew down and stood on the edge of the nest. He had something in his bill. This he dropped into one of the gaping little mouths, and flew away.