EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 219 



THE NUTHATCH. 



(Sitta ccesia.) 



Plate 54, Figs. 7, 8. 



In the southern and central counties of England the Nuthatch 

 is a common and fairly well-known bird ; but it becomes much 

 rarer and more local in the northern counties. It inhabits Cen- 

 tral and Southern Europe, and its range extends to the south as 

 far as Algeria, and to the east as far as Asia Minor and West 

 Persia. 



The site of the nest is almost invariably in a hole in a tree ; 

 but other situations are sometimes chosen, as, for instance, in a 

 hole in a wall, as mentioned by Hcwitson — and, stranger still, in 

 the side of a haystack. The nest, placed generally at some little 

 distance from the entrance, is crude and simple in the extreme. 



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

 and are pure white in ground-colour, blotched and spotted with 

 reddish-brown, with underlying markings of purplish-grey. There 

 are several striking varieties in the eggs of this bird ; but those 

 of a clutch generally resemble each other. The markings differ 

 considerably in size ; and on a few specimens fine specks of veiy 

 rich blackish-brown are seen, and more rarely one or two very 

 fine streaks of the same colour. The type with the semi-confluent 

 zone very closely resembles certain varieties of the eggs of the 

 Greenfinch ; but the pure white ground-colour and the reddish, 

 instead of purplish, tinge of the spots, serve to distinguish them. 

 They vary from 0'85 to 0'75 inch in length, and from 0'6 to 053 

 inch in breadth. 



PALLAS' S GEEY SHRIKE. 



(Lanius major.)* 



Pallas's Grey Shrike is as distinct from the Great Grey Shrike 

 as the Carrion Crow is from the Hooded Crow. Like so many 

 other Siberian birds, it is an accidental visitor to Western Europe, 

 but one which has occurred so frequently that it may almost be 

 looked upon as a regular, though rare, straggler to Great Britain. 

 Pallas's Grey Shrike breeds throughout Siberia south of lat. 65°, 

 where it is a partial migrant, wintering in Turkestan. 



* Lanius sibirkus — Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 165. 



