24 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



tail-coverts brownish-black in ground-colour, finely 

 freckled with ash-grey spots. Wings dark chest- 

 nut-brown, minutely speckled with dusky spots, 

 except quills, which are dusky. Where the shoulder 

 or point of the wing meets the body is a little 

 patch of white ; the scapulars are also tipped with 

 the same colour. Tail rounded at the tip, the 

 feathers being dusky, spotted sparingly with light 

 grey on the sides ; a few shorter ones lying over 

 the principal quills are tipped with white. Chin 

 and throat dull black, the feathers being some- 

 what elongated. Upper breast dark glossy green, 

 lower breast and all under-parts black, spotted 

 sparingly with white about the thighs and vent. 

 Legs covered with brown hair-like feathers ; toes 

 and claws black. 



The female measures about twenty-six inches 

 in length, and differs very considerably in the colour 

 of her plumage. The feathers of her head, neck, 

 back, wings (except quills, which are dusky), rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and tail tawny-brown, barred 

 with blackish-brown and tipped with white. Throat 

 tawny-red ; breast of a lighter tinge, spotted spar- 

 ingly with white ; belly and under-parts generally 

 barred with pale tawny and black, the feathers 

 being tipped with greyish-white. Legs greyish- 

 brown ; toes and claws pale brown. 



Situation and Locality. On the ground, gener- 

 ally at the foot of a tree, as shown in our illus- 

 tration, sometimes under a bush or bramble, 

 amongst long grass or heather, in Scotch fir, larch, 

 and spruce forests ; also, but more sparsely, in 

 oak and birch forests, through the midlands of 

 Scotland. 



Materials. Small quantities of dead grass, 



