284 RURAL BIRD LIFE, 



nests are on every side : still he shuns them all and 

 makes his own. You find it far up the branches of the 

 oak, more so probably than any other forest tree ; in the 

 gloomy fir woods he makes his cradle also ; while not 

 unfrequently the alder, towering to the height of sixty 

 feet or more, bordering the stream flowing through the 

 forest, is destined to bear his eggs. It is not a very 

 large structure, and from the appearance below you 

 would often take it for a mere lodgment of sticks, and 

 not the home of a bird. It is invariably placed close 

 to the trunk of the tree, and rarely in a crotch, merely 

 lying on some broad limb, and firmly backed by the 

 stem. It is made of dry sticks, nothing more, save in- 

 deed a few pieces of bark, and probably a little down 

 from its feathered prey ; or if incubation is advanced, 

 numbers of pellets, the refuse of the bird's food. If in 

 the fir woods the branches of that tree are used alone, 

 the withered ones being preferred, although we ofttimes 

 see one or two living sprays mingled amongst them, their 

 bright green opening buds contrasting richly with the 

 dull sober colours of the decayed ones. The eggs of 

 the Sparrowhawk are four or five in number, and very 

 beautiful objects. Their ground colour is a pale 

 greenish-blue, and the markings are of a rich reddish- 

 brown, sometimes approaching to black. They vary 

 considerably in markings : some are almost spotless, 

 others so boldly and richly marked as to hide the 

 ground colour, while on many the colouring matter is 

 all collected on the larger end, and forming a zone. 

 You may remove the eggs of the Sparrowhawk, and still 

 the bird will continue laying in the nest : this peculiarity 

 is common to the Starling and most other life-paired 

 birds. The Sparrowhawk is a close sitter, and will not 

 unfrequently allow you to almost reach the nest before 



