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24 EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 
J THE ROOK. 
Tue Rook lays four or five eggs of a pale green colour, 
spotted and blotched with greenish or smoky brown. She 
makes her nest of sticks, straw, hay, &c., and is rather 
particular about it, pulling it to pieces and rebuilding it 
several times. ‘Tall trees are usually selected, generally 
near to some mansion or village, where the rooks form a 
colony. This bird lays very early, and has been known 
to commence sitting even in November. 
THE COMMON WREN. 
Tus little bird lays four to eight eggs of a yellowish- 
white tinge, spotted at the larger end with a kind of 
brownish-red. It builds several supplementary nests, 
which are simply made of moss and lichen; this is at- 
tributed to the male bird by some naturalists; but how- 
ever this may be, as a rule two of these nests will be found 
to one of the others lined with feathers, which is intended 
for incubation. The nest is built in old barns, on the 
sides of cliffs, and in the roots of trees growing from high 
banks; it is dome-shaped, and has a very small entrance. 
J vue say. % 
Tun Jay lays five or six eggs of a pale greenish-blue, 
sometimes yellowish-white, thickly spotted with minute 
brown spots, generally confluent on the larger end, where 
there are several irregular black lines. She builds her nest 
in the thickest parts of woods, where it may be weli out of 
sight. It is composed of sticks, small twigs, small fibrous 
roots, and grass. 
