EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 63 
found in trees which are trained against walls, barns, 
tool and summer houses. It is composed of a diversity 
of material, and no fixed rule seems to be adhered to— 
bents, straws, moss new and old, hairs, feathers, &c. The 
eggs number four, five, or even six, of a grey-white 
spotted with faint red; sometimes, but rarely, pale blue, 
unspotted. The ground-colour varies from grey or bluish- 
white to pea-green, the markings also being in various 
shades, clouded, spotted, and blotched with faint red or 
reddish-brown. 
THE TREE SPARROW. 
Hoxzs in pollard and other trees are chosen as desirable 
situations by this bird for perpetuating its race, and some- 
times in the thatches of old barns along with the Common 
House Sparrow. Its nest is very similar to that of its 
more widely-distributed and better-known kinsman, viz., 
of hay, dry grass, and straw, with a liberal lining of nice 
warm feathers. The eggs generally number four or five, 
of a grey colour, thickly spotted with umber-brown or 
darker grey, sometimes white with grey spots or blotches, 
and may be described, like the Common Sparrow’s, as variable. 
THE BRAMBLING. 
ScanpDinavia and other countries situated in high latitudes 
are the breeding-haunts of this little bird, which builds a 
nest very similar tothe Chaffinch. It is placed fourteen or 
twenty feet from the ground, in the fork of a branch 
shooting out from the trunk of a birch or spruce fir-tree, 
and composed of moss, lichens, bark, mixed with thistle- 
down, and lined with fine grass and feathers. Its eges 
