115 



records nests on bunches of flattened reeds, and an abnormal site is mentioned 

 in the Zoologist for 1897, p. 336, where a nest was found suspended from 

 the boughs of a willow and overhanging the water, over 5 ft. above its 

 surface. In 1886 I came across a nest in Oxfordshire in a heap of dead 

 sticks by the water side: Ussher mentions nests between boulders on Lough 

 Mask, and two or three feet high in heather in Connemara, and Witherby 

 found one several feet up in a tree. On the Petschora Seebohni found 

 another built within an old Fieldfare's nest, 9 ft. above the water. The 

 principal materials used are dead grasses, bents, and reeds or rushes, with 

 occasionally a little moss or withered leaves of sedge or reed, lined with 

 finer grasses, a little hair, and in some districts the flowering tops of reeds. 

 Diameter of cup 2\- in., depth 1 — If in. The hen sits very closely, and 

 often flutters away from the nest as if injured. 



Generally 4 or 5, sometimes 6 in number. In Ireland a full set Eggs. 

 occasionally consists of 3 only, while on the other hand R. H. Read has 

 taken a clutch of 7 eggs in Norway. Two hens have been known to lay 

 in a single nest; nine eggs, consisting of two distinct sets of 6 and 3 eggs 

 respectively, were found in a nest on the Elbe in 1878. They are rather 

 variable in colouring, but are often of stone colour, varying from pale 

 greyish olive to warm buft". Some eggs however have a pale greenish 

 ground, others are decidedly rufous, and occasionally a set of white eggs 

 devoid of markings is met with. As a rule however they are boldly spotted 

 and streaked with very dark brown, almost black, and underlying worm 

 lines and spots of violet grey. The dark brown markings generally show 

 a penumbra of sepia or purple brown. Ussher describes a set with slender 

 streaks on a smoke grey ground. They are opaque looking in appearance 

 and have little or no gloss. 



In England eggs may be taken from about mid- April onward throughout Breeding 

 May, June and early July, and two or sometimes three broods are reared, ®^son. 

 but in Ireland the usual time is from May 20 through June and sometimes 

 July. Lilford has recorded a full clutch as early as March 23, but this 

 is quite exceptional. The breeding season does not appear to differ much 

 on the continent; but in Scandinavia few eggs are laid before mid May 

 and in Lapland not till mid June, while at the mouth of the Petschora 

 Seebohm received fresh eggs June 19 — 23. Period of incubation about 

 13—14 days. 



There appears to be little difference in size between eggs from the Measure- 

 north of Europe and those from further south. Average size of 172 eggs ™^°^^- 

 (72 by A. Bau, 37 by Rey and 73 by the writer), 19.39 X 14.43 mm., 

 Max. 22X15.4 and 19.5X15.5 mm., Min. 17.4X13.4 mm. Average 

 weight of 72 eggs, 130 mg. (Bau); of 37 eggs, 135 mg. (Rey). 5 full 

 eggs average 2.138 g. (Foster). 



