130 BRITISH BIBBS' NESTS. 



wiDgs dusky browu, the feathers heiug edged with 

 reddish-brown; wing-quills dusky brown; tail-coverts 

 olive-brown ; tail-quills dusky brown and slightly 

 forked ; chin, throat, sides of neck, and upper 

 parts of breast dark bluish-grey ; breast and belly 

 buffish-w^hite ; sides pale yellowish-brown, streaked 

 with a darker tinge of the same colour ; vent 

 and under tail-coverts pale tawny brown ; legs 

 and toes dark orange-brown; claws black. 



The female is duller in plumage, with more 

 markings on the head and sides, and is a trifle 

 smaller. 



Situation and Localitij. — Hawthorn hedges are 

 favourite situations ; the nest may, however, be 

 found in all kinds of low bushes, such as furze, 

 gooseberry, briars, brambles, and nettles. I met 

 wdth three nests, containing eggs, close together 

 amongst the black-currant bushes of a small garden 

 last year in Westmoreland ; and remember on 

 one occasion finding one quite on the ground in 

 Yorkshu-e ; and one, which was somewhat bulky in 

 appearance, in a bundle of pea-sticks in the corner 

 of a Surrey garden. Its size aroused my curiosity, 

 and I foucd that a new nest had been built on 

 the top of an old one, which contained three addled 

 eggs. Found pretty generally throughout the United 

 Kingdom, with the exception, perhaps, of the islands 

 lying to the north, and some of the smallest and 

 bleakest of those to the west of Scotland. Our 

 illustration is from a photograph taken in Hert- 

 fordshire, and shows a ty^^ical situation. 



Materiah. — Slender twigs (sparingly used and 

 sometimes entirely absent), roots, moss, and dry 

 grass, with an inner lining of wool, hair, and 

 feathers. I have on several occasions seen nests 

 made entu'ely of moss and cowhair. 



