270 BRITISH BIBBS' NESTS. 



webs, and spotted ^Yitll white on the lower portions 

 of the inside webs ; tail deep ash-colour, crossed 

 with broad bars of dull black and tipped with 

 whitish-grey ; throat, breast, sides, belly, and vent 

 reddish-brown, marked with transverse bars of orange 

 in some and brown in others ; legs and toes yellow ; 

 claws black. 



The female is about three inches longer, and 

 nearly twice as heavy. Her upper-parts are browner, 

 with the exception of the back of the head, which 

 is greyer. The breast and under-parts are lighter, 

 and the markings on them larger and browner. 

 Both sexes are subject to considerable variation, 

 and are said to grow^ greyer with age. 



Situation and Locality. — In fir, alder, larch, oak, 

 pine, and other trees, in well-wooded districts 

 throughout the British Isles. It is generally 

 placed in a fork or on a strong horizontal 

 branch. Our illustration was procured in West- 

 moreland. 



Materials. — Sticks and twigs, the finest in the 

 centre, which is simply a slight hollow^ on a large 

 platform. Many naturalists assert that the bird 

 often utilises the old nest of a Magpie or Crow ; 

 but Mr. Dixon says that the nest is always 

 made by the birds themselves. I have taken some 

 eight or ten nests personally, and in every single 

 instance I am able to endorse him. 



Eggs. — Four to six, generally five ; ground 

 colour white, tinged with blue or bluish-green, 

 clouded, blotched, and spotted with pale brown 

 and dark rich brown. The markings generally 

 form a zone round the larger end of the egg ; 

 sometimes the ground colour is almost entirely 

 hidden, and at others nearly, if not quite, all 

 exposed. I have noticed in clutches of six eggs 



