EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 215 



A nest I found in Norfolk was built about a foot from the 

 ground, on a clamp of sedge (Carex), and was partially concealed 

 by overhanging reeds. It was built of flat grasses, rather deep, 

 and was lined with the flower of the reed. 



The usual number of eggs varies from four to seven. They 

 most closely resemble in some respects the eggs of the Buntings, 

 but always possess peculiar characteristics which readily distin- 

 guish them. They are white, slightly suffused with brown, and 

 possess considerable gloss, being somewhat sparingly marked with 

 short wavy lines, specks, and streaks of dark brown. Some speci- 

 mens are a trifle more thickly marked than others ; but otherwise 

 little variation is seen. The eggs are remarkably large for the 

 size of the bird, and vary from 075 to 065 inch in length, and 

 from 06 to 0*53 inch in breadth. 



THE COMMON HEDGE SPAEEOW. 

 (Accentor modularis.)* 



Plate 54, Fig. 1. 



The Hedge Sparrow — the Hedge Accentor, Hedge Warbler or 

 Hedge Chanter of those who wish to protest against the absur- 

 dity of classing so round-winged and thin-billed a bird amongst 

 the Finches — is the Dicky Dunnock or Shuffle Wing of the 

 plough boy. It is a resident throughout the British Islands 

 wherever there are bushes, but in sub-arctic Europe it is a 

 migratory bird, crossing over Heligoland in some numbers in 

 autumn to winter in our Eastern counties. In sub-tropic Europe 

 it is a resident in the north and a winter visitor in the south, 

 wandering in autumn as far as Asia Minor and Palestine and 

 occasionally to North Africa. It is not known to have occurred 

 east of the Ural mountains. 



The nest is a handsome little structure, composed of green 

 moss, a dead leaf or two, a little dry grass, and strengthened with 

 a few fine twigs ; moss usually forms the greater part of the nest, 

 and it is lined with a thick warm bed of hairs, feathers, and wool. 



The eggs of the Hedge Sparrow are from four to six in number, 

 and differ very little in shape or colour. They are a beautiful 

 greenish-blue in colour, spotless and somewhat rough in texture 



* Tharrhaleus modularis — Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 305. 



