230 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



localities throughout the Palaearctic region, very rarely nesting 

 north of the Arctic circle. 



The Nutcracker is an early breeder, and seems always to choose 

 a not very tall pine tree, and there, from 18 to 25 feet from the 

 ground, it builds a bulky nest on a branch against the stem. The 

 outside diameter is about a foot, and the inside depth about five 

 inches. The hollow containing the eggs is four inches in diameter, 

 and from one-and-a-half to two inches deep. The foundation is 

 composed of lichen-covered twigs of larch and spruce, finished off 

 with fresh birch twigs, and lined with dry grass and the inner bark 

 of trees, with a little loose earth. The final lining is of grass, 

 generally dry, but sometimes fresh. 



The number of eggs varies from three to five. They are very 

 pale bluish -white in ground-colour, sometimes creamy -white, 

 thickly spotted with olive-brown, and freckled over most of the 

 surface with faint underlying markings of violet-grey. Some 

 specimens are much more sparingly marked than others, and have 

 the spots chiefly on the large end and very small. In others a 

 few of the surface-spots are large, intermingled with smaller 

 markings of the same colour ; and, in one specimen in my collec- 

 tion, there are traces of a streak of rich brown. They vary from 

 14 to 1*26 inch in length, and from 10 to 0'92 inch in breadth. 



THE STABLING. 

 (Sturnus vulgaris.) 



Plate 54, Fig. 13. 



The Starling is one of the commonest and most widety distri- 

 buted of our indigenous birds. In Scotland it has considerably 

 increased in numbers within the last half-century. It breeds 

 throughout Europe north of lat. 44°, and is a resident in the 

 Azores. In Scandinavia it is found as far north as lat. 69°, in 

 Sweden and Finland up to lat. G5°, and in the Urals only up to 

 lat. 57°. 



The nest is a somewhat slovenly structure, made of straw, 

 dead grass, and rootlets, sometimes with a twig or two, and 

 is lined with a few feathers, a little wool, or even a scrap or 

 two of moss, paper, rag or twine. In many cases the birds do 

 not trouble about a lining at all ; and the cup of the nest is 



