EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 223 



The eggs of this bird are from four to six in number. They are 

 exceedingly variable in size and colour. They may be separated 

 into three very distinct types, connected with each other by innu- 

 merable intermediate varieties. In the first the ground-colour is 

 pale green, spotted and dashed, chiefly at the larger end, with 

 olive-brown, and thickly marked with obscure underlying spots of 

 pale violet-grey and ashy-brown. In the second type the ground- 

 colour is very pale huffish-white, sparingly spotted with dark 

 greenish-brown, and thickly marked with underlying spots of 

 grey.- In the third type the ground-colour is reddish-buff, the 

 surface spots are dark reddish-brown, and the underlying ones 

 are pale lilac. In the greater number of the eggs of this bird the 

 markings are most numerous on the large end, and very often 

 form a zone. The spots, too, differ considerably in size ; and, as 

 a rule, the underlying ones are the largest. In some few instances 

 the zone is round the small end of the egg. They vary in length 

 from 105 to 086 inch, and in breadth from 072 to - 65 inch. 



THE KAVEN. 

 (Corvus corax.) 



Plate 55, Figs. 7, 9. 



The Kaven is now rapidly becoming scarce in England. In 

 Scotland, however, it is a fairly common bird in some parts of 

 the mainland and adjacent islands, especially on the Outer 

 Hebrides and the Western Isles, extending to the Orkneys, the 

 Shetlands and even to St. Kilda. According to Thompson, it is 

 generally distributed in Ireland in all suitable localities. The 

 Kaven is a circumpolar bird, being found both in the Palasarctic 

 and Nearctic regions. 



The nesting-site varies according to the locality which the birds 

 frequent. In some districts a lofty tree is selected, and this was 

 probably the bird's favourite choice when it was commoner in 

 England ; but now the incessant persecution to which it is subject 

 almost everywhere, drives it to the remoter wilds of Scotland and 

 the cliffs which skirt the ocean. 



The eggs of the Eaven are from four to six in number, five 

 being not an unusual clutch. They are bluish-green or greenish- 

 brown in ground-colour, more or less thickly marked with dark 



