Birds' Nests: An Introduction to the Science of Caliology

WHAT is there about a bird's nest that touches us so nearly? 'l
That it is coyly hidden or frankly inaccessible, hard to find or impossible to reach, is a factor, but there is more than the pique of an accepted challenge in the pleasurable start with which your average man spies a nest.
Nor will the extreme beauty of many eggs account for our interest-(a Kingfisher's, when fresh laid, is a big, glossy bead of pale pink Sicilian coral). No, the impulse is not æsthetic; it is more deeply roote...