8 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



black. Nape, back, and lesser wing-coverts grey ; 

 greater coverts black, tipped with greyish-white, 

 which forms a bar across the wing-quills, which 

 are dusky. Rump white, upper tail-coverts and 

 tail-quills black. Cheeks, breast, and belly tile- 

 red. Vent and under tail-coverts white. Legs 

 and toes flesh colour ; claws brown. 



The female has the black on the head, wings, 

 and tail not so intense ; her nape and back are 

 greyish-brown, and breast, belly, and under-parts 

 dirty brown. 



Situation and Locality. In the lower branches 

 of trees, in evergreens, the tops of high bushes, 

 in thick quick - set hedges and thickets, in suit- 

 able localities throughout the British Isles ; rarer 

 towards the extreme north of Scotland and in 

 Ireland. The one represented in our illustration 

 on the opposite page was situated in a thick wood, 

 although, according to my experience, the bird is 

 fonder of rough, open, uncultivated land with 

 scattered clumps of thorn bushes for breeding in. 



Materials. Small twigs and fibrous roots, inter- 

 laced so as to form, as a rule, a broad and flat 

 platform, in the centre of which is the cup-shaped 

 recess lined with fine fibrous roots and sometimes 

 a little wool, hair, or a few feathers. 



Eggs. Four to six. Pale greenish-blue, spotted, 

 speckled, and sometimes streaked with dark purplish- 

 brown, and with underlying blotches of brownish- 

 pink. The markings generally form a zone round 

 the large end of the egg. Size about .77 by .57 in. 

 (See Plate II.) 



Time. April, May, June, and July. I have seen 

 a brood of half-grown young ones, however, in the 

 nest as late as the middle of September. 



