I30 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



tiaibcr. I have found it in a shed, and simply placed on 

 a stone projecting from a bare wall. It is made of dry- 

 grass, sometimes a few twigs, and a little moss, and 

 lined first with a thick plaster of mud or clay, and 

 finally with dry grass. It is bulky, but somewhat 

 shallow and very compact. The Blackbird is a close 

 sitter, but is neither so noisy nor so demonstrative at the 

 nest as the Song Thrush, the Missel-Thrush, or the 

 Ring Ouzel. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Blackbird are from four to six, and, in 

 very exceptional cases, eight in number. They vary in 

 ground colour from pale blue to bright bluish-green, 

 mottled, blotched, and spotted with reddish-brown, and 

 with underlying markings of gray. On some varieties 

 the markings are very handsome — bold blotches and 

 splashes intermingled with smaller spots ; on others they 

 are closely mottled and freckled over the entire surface ; 

 on others they form a zone or circular patch on the 

 larger end. Occasionally a few dark specks or streaks 

 occur. A rarer variety is almost spotless and pale blue, 

 or marked with a few lilac or pale brown spots and 

 dashes. These are certainly not the produce of a union 

 between a Blackbird and a Thrush, as has been sug- 

 gested. The eggs of the Blackbird vary considerably in 

 size and shape, some being very elongated, others 

 almost globular. Average measurement, i'2 inch in 

 length, by "85 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed 

 by both sexes, lasts from thirteen to fifteen days. 



Diagnostic characters : It is impossible to give 

 any character by which the eggs of the Blackbird can 

 be distinguished from those of the Ring Ouzel. As a 

 rule the breeding-grounds of the two species are dif- 

 ferent, and the noisy behaviour of the Ring Ouzel at 

 the nest is very noteworthy. The Blackbird may 



