278 BBITISH BIBD,"^' NESTS. 



Materials.— Mnd, straws, dry grass, and feathers 

 in liberal quantities. 



Egg.'i. — Four to six, generally five, white, speckled 

 and blotched with dark red-brown, and underlying 

 markings of ash-grey. The markings are generally 

 most numerous round the larger end. I have seen 

 eggs once or twice with hardly any m.arking on 

 at all. Size about -83 by -55 in. 



T/7«6'.— May, June, July; and sometimes eggs 

 may be met with as late as the beginning of August. 



Bemarl->;. — Migratory, arriving in April and 

 departing in September and October. Notes, wet- 

 ivet, a warbling kind of song note, and piul-, })inl- 

 when the bird is alarmed. Local and other names : 

 Barn Swallow, House Swallow^ Chimney Swallow, 

 Common Swallow. Not a very close sitter until 

 incubation has advanced some stages. 



SWAN, MUTE. 



Descrijjtion of Parent Birds. — Length, from 

 about four feet eight inches to five feet ; beak 

 fairly long, black on the edges and tip, rest red. 

 The knob, or tubercle, on the base of the upper 

 mandible, and the naked skin between the eyes 

 and the base of the bill, black. Irides brow^n. 

 The whole of the plumage is snowy wdiite. Legs, 

 toes, and webs black. 



The female has the knob smaller, the neck more 

 slender, and swims deeper in the water. 



Sihiation and Local it ij. — On the ground amongst 

 reeds and coarse vegetation. On small islands and 

 banks. Close to the w'ater of sluggish rivers or 

 lakes in various parts of the country, but principally 

 on the Thames, Avon, Norfolk Broads, and at 



