140 BY THE WATERSIDE ONCE MORE 
I described how we had watched a hen chiff- 
chaff feeding her young—the nest being 
dilapidated.) It contained four small eggs, 
of a pinky, almost white, colour, with blackish- 
purple spots and dots, and were of a notice- 
able shape, being round at one end and 
decidedly pointed at the other. The shells 
were very thin. Grasses, dead leaves, moss 
and bits of bark were the materials of the 
nest, and it was arched over, or domed as it 
is called, with grass, an opening being left 
at one side for entrance. The interior was 
well lined with feathers, hair and some wool. 
Ted tells me he has found most of these nests 
on the ground andin grass, but they are often 
also built in a bank, or in the stump of an old 
tree. The bird issmall (four anda half inches 
long) sleek and delicate, and it is surprising how 
such loud notes as its ‘ chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, 
chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff’ (from which it gets 
its name, and which I have mentioned more 
than once), should come from sosmall a bird. 
It also utters if disturbed two notes, which 
some spell ‘whoo-id.’ It is not often one 
