140 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



with grey ; tail-feathers ash-grey, with a broad 

 black bar near the end, which is tipped with 

 white ; imder-parts light rust colour, spotted and 

 streaked with black ; thighs, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts unspotted. Legs and toes yellow ; claws 

 black. 



The female is about two inches longer. Her 

 head and tail are reddish-brown, also the back, 

 which is duller than that of the male. On the 

 head are some dark streaks, and the back is barred 

 with bluish-black. The tail is very evenly and 

 prettily barred with black from the base to very 

 near the end, where the bars become broader. 

 Under-parts fainter than in the case of the male. 



Hitfidfion and LocaUfi/. — On ledges and in 

 crevices of sea cliffs and inland crags and precipices ; 

 holes in trees, towers, old ruins, church steeples, 

 and even dove-cotes have been utilised ; also in 

 deserted nests of Crows, Magpies, and Sparrow 

 Hawks throughout the United Kingdom. The 

 nest represented was situated on tlie stump of a 

 tree growing horizontally, as near as possible, from 

 the crevice of a Highland precipice. 



Materials. — Generally none at all, a cavity 

 being scratched in the soft earth and leaves in a 

 crevice or nook, which soon becomes plentifully 

 besprinkled with castings. Sticks, grass, and wool 

 are said to be sometimes used, but I never met 

 with either. 



Eggs. — Four to seven, generally five to six ; dirty 

 creamy-white in ground colour, thickly blotched 

 and clouded with reddish-brown. Very variable. 

 In some the ground colour is light brown, darkening 

 towards the larger end, blotched and spotted with 

 a darker shade. The colour in all varieties is, as 

 a rule, most abundant at the larger end. Size 



