Cranes also fight so desperately among themselves as to be
caught when fighting, for they will not leave off; the crane lays
two eggs.
13
The jay has a great variety of notes: indeed, might almost say
it had a different note for every day in the year. It lays about
nine eggs; builds its nest on trees, out of hair and tags of wool;
when acorns are getting scarce, it lays up a store of them in hiding.
It is a common story of the stork that the old birds are fed
by their grateful progeny. Some tell a similar story of the bee-eater,
and declare that the parents are fed by their young not only when
growing old, but at an early period, as soon as the young are
capable of feeding them; and the parent-birds stay inside the nest.
The under part of the bird's wing is pale yellow; the upper part is
dark blue, like that of the halcyon; the tips of the wings are About
autumn-time it lays six or seven eggs, in overhanging banks where
the soil is soft; there it burrows into the ground to a depth of six
feet.
The greenfinch, so called from the colour of its belly, is as
large as a lark; it lays four or five eggs, builds its nest out of the
plant called comfrey, pulling it up by the roots, and makes an
under-mattress to lie on of hair and wool.
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