181 



Durham, and also in Lancashire, and individuals have been obtained in 

 the Lake district and the S. E. borders of Scotland, and it has been 

 recorded as an accidental visitor to Skye. 



As a rule the nest is in a hole in a tree trunk, or in some large Nest. 

 branch, and is found at varying heights, occasionally not far from the 

 ground. When the entrance is too large it is plastered up by the birds 

 with clay or mud, which sets very hard, and most nests (but not all) 

 show traces of this mud daubing round the hole. The size and depth of 

 the nesting hollow are variable, and the nest itself consists of the laminae 

 of the inner bark of the Scotch fir, or fragments of the outer bark of the 

 silver birch ,* as a rule in sufficient quantity to enable the bird to sit close 

 to the entrance hole. When pine or birch bark is not available dead 

 leaves of oak or beech are utilized, and some writers state that dead 

 grass is also met with occasionally. While laying is in progress, the 

 eggs are often scattered and even half buried in the nest lining, but are 

 collected together when incubation begins. The hole is sometimes a 

 natural one: at other times an old woodpecker's nesting place is taken 

 possession of, and several cases are on record where a nest has been 

 found in a hole of a wall. Other abnormal sites are holes in sandbanks 

 or in Sand Martins' burrows, in the foundation of an old Magpie's nest, 

 and in the head of a downpipe from the spouting of a house; while the 

 well known nest from the side of a haystack from East Grinstead which 

 weighed 11 lb., is familiar to visitors to the British Museum. Nest boxes 

 are also readily adopted, the lid being generally plastered down and the 

 bottom of the box being filled up with mud. Starlings frequently dis- 

 possess Nuthatches as well as Woodpeckers of their breeding places, but 

 Norgate has on two or three occasions found the mummified remains of 

 Starlings in Nuthatches' nesting holes. ■!■ 



The number of eggs is underestimated by most writers, and varies Eggi. 

 from 5 to 11, but probably 5 to 8 is the usual clutch, although several 

 instances of 9 and 10 eggs in one nest have been recorded. On 

 May 19, 1906 A. G. Tomlinson found a nest in Berkshire with 14 eggs, 

 but a careful examination showed that some of the eggs were fresh and 

 others addled, so that in all probability the eggs were the first and 

 second layings of the same bird. As a rule the eggs in a clutch are 

 of the same type,** but there is considerable variation in a large series. 

 The normal egg is white, almost devoid of gloss, but not so dull as 



* P. H. Bahr counted 1860 pieces of this bark in a single nest (Br. Birds, 

 1907, p. 122). 



t Zool. 1880, p. 44. 



** Exceptions however occur sometimes: A. H. Evana has a white egg in an 

 exceptionally well marked set. 



