50 EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING 
THE SWIFT. 
Tre Swift is the garret-lodger of nature, for she builds 
her nest in the very highest crevices and holes in steeples, 
towers, chimneys, rocks, and occasionally, like the Martin, 
under the eaves of inhabited houses. Her nest is com- 
posed of hay, straw, and feathers, in somewhat sparse 
quantities, which she appears to solder or cement to the 
stone and to each other with a glutinous substance elabo- 
rated by glands peculiar to certain birds of this genus. 
She lays two or three white unspotted eggs of a rather 
long oval shape. 
THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 
Tuts bird generally lays three eggs, four being occa- 
sionally found, of a pale olive-green or pale umber-brown, 
blotched with black-brown or dark grey ; however, they 
are very variable in ground colour, sometimes being of a 
bluish-white, unspotted. The nest is loosely built of the 
tops of sedges, reeds, or rushes, and is placed about a foot 
or more above the surface of the water or swamp. She is 
fond of low marshy districts, such as Norfolk, Kent, Essex, 
and some parts of Lincolnshire, and [ have frequently 
found her round the edges of high mountain tarns in the 
Pennine range. 
THE SNIPE. 
Tur Snipe generally lays four eggs, rather large for her 
size, of a grey colour, tinged with yellow or olive-green, 
and blotched with umber or rusty brown, of two shades, 
