266 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



quills chestnut and greyish-brown. A black streak 

 runs from the nostrils to the eyes, then turns down- 

 wards, making a collar of black from which spots 

 and streaks of the same colour extend towards the 

 upper part of the breast. Breast pearly grey ; belly, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts fawn colour ; sides and 

 flanks transversely variegated with crescent-shaped 

 marks of black, white, pearly-grey, and fawn colour. 

 Legs and toes red, claws brown. 



The female is not so large or bright and distinc- 

 tive in coloration, and lacks the rounded knob 

 which takes the place of a spur on the leg of the 

 male. 



Situation and Locality. On the ground at the 

 bottom of hedgerows, amongst tall grass and other 

 herbage in corn, clover, and grass fields ; occasion- 

 ally it is said to select the thatch of a hayrick. 

 In cultivated and uncultivated districts, such as 

 commons and waste lands and heaths, more or 

 less in all parts of England, but most plentifully 

 in the southern and midland counties. 



Materials. Dry grass and dead leaves, used as 

 a lining to the hollow selected. 



Eggs. Ten to eighteen ; yellowish-brown or 

 creamy-grey in ground-colour, spotted and speckled 

 with reddish or cinnamon-brown. The spots vary 

 in size and number, and the shell is coarse, pitted, 

 and very strong. Average size about 1.55 by 1.2 in. 

 (See Plate XV.) 



Time. April, May, and June. 



Remarks. Resident. It was introduced into 

 this country about two hundred years ago, but has 

 never gained a footing either in Scotland or Ireland. 

 Notes said to resemble cockileke. They sound to 

 me more like dick-to-cher, and by reproducing these 



