HA WFINCH. 27 



of a yew, a fir, or a holly. The altitude varies consider- 

 ably. Some nests are built as much as forty or fifty 

 feet from the ground ; others only a few feet. In 

 many cases several pairs make their nest in the same 

 plantation or enclosure, especially in districts where 

 suitable cover is scarce. The nest is made externally 

 of twigs, roots, scraps of lichen, and the dry stalks of 

 various plants, and internally of dry grass, finer roots, 

 and hair. It is large, flat in appearance, and although 

 rudely fabricated outside is neat and well finished with- 

 in. The hen-bird is a close and silent sitter, and when 

 flushed glides very quietly from her eggs into the sur- 

 rounding cover. If the first nest be destroyed another 

 attempt to rear a brood is generally made. The Haw- 

 finch becomes even much more silent than usual as soon 

 as the eggs are laid. 



Range OF egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the Hawfinch are from four to six in 

 number, the latter being perhaps more frequent than the 

 former. They vary from pale olive or pale bluish-green 

 to pale brownish-buff in ground colour, streaked and 

 more sparingly spotted with dark olive-brown and pale 

 grayish-brown, becoming almost violet-gray in buff 

 ground-coloured examples. The streaks are frequently 

 intricate, and as pronounced as those on a typical 

 Bunting's Q<g%. The amount of markings varies con- 

 siderably, and, as a rule, on the eggs on which the spots 

 are largest and most clearly defined the streaks are finer, 

 more scratchy, and paler. Average measurement, -95 

 inch in length, by 75 inch in breadth. Incubation, per- 

 formed by the female, lasts from fourteen to fifteen days. 



Diagnostic characters : The size, combined with 

 the streaky markings and their colour, serve to dis- 

 tinguish the eggs of the Hawfinch from those of every 

 other allied British species. 



