128 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



I have, however, known it made at the end of a long, 

 slender yew branch. It is composed of twigs, coarse dry- 

 grass, chickweed, and often large masses of wool, 

 cemented and lined, first with mud, then with a thick bed 

 of very fine grass, much of it often green. Sometimes it 

 is made externally of bog moss, with a few twigs inter- 

 mingled, sometimes with green leaves studded here and 

 there ; but in all cases a lining of fine grass is inserted. 

 Very often the nest of this Thrush is made in the most 

 exposed and frequented situations, sometimes with a 

 great tuft of wool hanging from the outside. The birds 

 sit closely, but when disturbed are remarkably noisy 

 and demonstrative, flying from branch to branch full of 

 anxiety. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Missel-Thrush are four in number, 

 never more, and rarely less. They vary from bluish or 

 greenish-white to pale reddish-brown in ground colour, 

 spotted, blotched, and freckled with rich purplish-brown, 

 and with underlying markings of gray. The markings 

 vary considerably in number and distribution, but are 

 usually most frequent on the large end of the Q^'g, where 

 they frequently form a zone. If blotched the colour is 

 paler. Average measurement, r25 inch in length, by 

 "86 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed by both 

 sexes, lasts fifteen or sixteen days. 



Diagnostic characters : The size, buff or greenish 

 ground colour, and purplish-brown spots combined, make 

 the eggs of the Missel-Thrush easily identified. 



