145 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Family TURDID.^. Genus Accentor. 



Sul>faniUy ACCENTORIN^. 



HEDGE ACCENTOR. 



Accentor modularis {LhmcEus). 

 Double Brooded. Laying season, February to July. 



British breeding area : With the exception of a 

 few of the most barren of the Hebrides, and the Orkneys 

 and the Shetlands, the Hedge Accentor is very generally 

 distributed throughout the British Islands, breeding in 

 every county in more or less abundance, becoming m.ost 

 plentiful, however, in cultivated districts. It has consider- 

 ably increased its range northwards with the progress of 

 cultivation and tree-planting. 



Breeding habits : Like the ubiquitous Robin the 

 Hedge Accentor may be met with breeding almost 

 everywhere, especially in sheltered, well-timbered, and 

 cultivated districts. It is a resident in our islands, and 

 does not wander far from its usual haunts even in 

 winter, save in the most bleak and unsheltered areas. Its 

 favourite breeding-grounds are hedgerows, shrubberies, 

 gardens, and low underwood of all kinds. The Hedge 

 Accentor pairs very early in the year, many doing so in 

 January, and months before nest-building commences. 

 It is one of the very earliest species to breed, and is 

 unsocial and solitary right through the period. Several 

 nests may frequently be found in a single hedge, yet 

 each pair keeps exclusively to itself. The nest is placed 

 in a great variety of situations, though never very high 

 from the ground. Hedgerows are specially favoured 

 places, as are also low thickets and dense bushes, ivy, 

 either growing on timber, walls, or palings ; heaps of 

 hedge-clippings, briars, and brambles. Few nests are 



