EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Archangel in lat. 63°, and in the Ural Mountains and eastwards 

 not extending above lat. 60°. 



The nesting-site of the Goldcrest is generally in the branches 

 of pines, firs, or drooping yew-twigs, usually the very extremity 

 of the branch being selected, where two or three twigs branch 

 out, and where the nest is wafted to and fro by every breath of 

 air. The end of a drooping branch of spruce is a site often 

 chosen. The nest is almost spherical, slung under the branches 

 like a hammock, and made outwardly of the greenest moss, a few 

 grass stems and hairs, and felted with spiders' webs and some- 

 times a few lichens, and then usually lined with a quantity of 

 feathers. The foliage on the selected branches is carefully inter- 

 woven with the nesting materials, so that at a casual glance it 

 appears nothing but a tangled mass of vegetation. 



The eggs of the Goldcrest are from five to eight in number, 

 sometimes as many as ten. Usually they are of a most delicate 

 reddish-white, speckled with tiny red markings, which often form 

 a zone round the larger end of the egg. Some specimens are 

 pure and spotless white, whilst others have the spots confluent 

 and so numerous as to give the egg a uniform reddish or yellow- 

 ish-brown appearance. They measure from 0"6 to 0"52 inch in 

 length, and from 43 to 0"4 inch in breadth. 



THE FIBECBEST. 



(Begulus ignicap ilhis . ) 

 Plate 53, Fig. 11. 



The Firecrest has a very restricted range. Its northern limit 

 appears to be the Baltic Provinces, where, however, it is very 

 rare. To the west it breeds throughout Europe south of the 

 Baltic, and is extremely abundant in Algeria, although it has not 

 been recorded from North-eastern Africa. Eastwards its range 

 does not apparently extend beyond the Crimea and Asia Minor, 

 and it occasionally visits Great Britain in winter. 



The nest of the Firecrest does not differ from that of the 

 Goldcrest. 



The eggs are as numerous as those of the Goldcrest, and are 

 usually nine or ten in number, sometimes less, and, in rare 

 instances, more. They may always be distinguished from the 



