154 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Bill of medium length, slightly curved downward, 

 and hlack. Irides hazel. Head, neck, hack, wings, 

 tail-coverts and quills hlack, glossed with green, 

 purple, and blue, according to the light upon them. 

 The scapulars, and part of the inner webs of some 

 of the primaries, are white. The tail is very much 

 wedge-shaped. Chin, throat, and upper breast 

 black ; lower breast, belly, and sides white ; thighs 

 and under tail-coverts black. Legs, toes, and claws 

 black. 



The female is not so large, nor is her plumage 

 so brilliant as in the case of the male. 



Sifuafion and Locality.- — In trees and thorn 

 bushes at varyhig heights from the ground. In- 

 stances are on record of the bird having made its 

 nest even in a gooseberry bush. It is some- 

 times partial to situations near the habitations 

 of man, and a small clump of trees or thorn 

 bushes will suit its purpose quite as well as a big 

 wood or plantation, apparently, for I have as often 

 found it in one as the other. Pretty generally over 

 the British Isles, except Orkneys, Shetlands, and 

 outer Hebrides. Our illustration was obtained in 

 Westmoreland. 



Materials. — Dead thorn-sticks, brambles, and 

 twigs interlaced ; those forming the foundation 

 of the nest are knitted together with liberal 

 quantities of clay and mud. The nest is bulky, 

 domed, and spherical, with a hole on the side and 

 nearish the top. It is lined internally with fibrous 

 roots, and is such a substantial affair that I once 

 saw a gamekeeper shoot at one from the foot of a 

 fir tree some fifty feet in height without breaking 

 one of the six eggs inside. 



Eggs. — Six to eight or nine, the first number 

 being the most general. Dirty bluish-green, or 



