NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 19 



breeding haunts of this species appear to be birch woods 

 and tliickets, and in the high north near the Hmits of 

 forest growth, where these trees dwindle down into mere 

 bushes, they still seem to be preferred, but stunted willow 

 thickets are often selected. The nest is rarely if ever 

 built at any great distance from the ground, even where 

 the timber is of fair size, and in districts where the 

 growth is stunted it is seldom more than four feet above 

 it. Sometimes it is placed almost on the ground in a 

 tuft of herbage. The nest is made externally of twigs, 

 roots, moss, and dry grass, lined with vegetable down of 

 some kind, principally from willow catkins and cotton 

 grass, or feathers, and hair. The lining varies a good 

 deal according to locality and availability. It is not 

 known that the conduct of the female at the nest differs 

 from that of the Lesser Redpole. 



Range of egCx colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Mealy Redpole are five or six in number. 

 They are blue in ground colour, but on some a greenish 

 tinge predominates, on others it is scarcely perceptible. 

 They are spotted and speckled with purplish-brown, and 

 with underlying markings of paler brown and gray. 

 Most of the markings are on the larger end of the tgg'^ 

 and on some eggs a few streaks of dark brown occur. 

 A rare variety is very sparingly marked. Average 

 measurement, */ inch in length, by "5 inch in breadth. 

 Incubation is probably performed by the female alone, 

 but the duration of the period is unknown. It is pro- 

 bably the same as that of the Lesser Redpole, namely, 

 fourteen days. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the jMealy 

 Redpole are perceptibly larger than those of the Lesser 

 Redpole, but do not differ in colour or character of 

 markings. The locality of the eggs is a fairly reliable 

 means of identification. 



