424 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



back of the head to the throat, where it becomes 

 almost black. Back and rump lemonish-green ; 

 wings and tail blue, the former marked with white 

 on the coverts and tertials. Chin and throat blue- 

 black ; breast, belly, and under-parts yellow. Legs, 

 toes, and claws dull leaden-blue. 



The female is less brilliant and distinctive in her 

 coloration. 



Situation and Locality. In holes, in trees, walls, 

 banks, and often in such queer places as disused 

 pumps, letter-boxes, stone bottles, flower-pots, boxes, 

 and cocoanuts, hung in trees for its accommoda- 

 tion. Our illustration is from a photograph of a nest 

 in a hollow fruit tree. The entrance to the nest 

 was in the centre of a decayed branch which had 

 been sawn or broken off close to the trunk, at the 

 place where the dark excrescence-like growth ap- 

 pears, the hole through which the eggs are to be seen 

 being cut artificially through the wood, so as to 

 show its exact position. In barns, stables, cottages, 

 orchards, gardens, woods, and cultivated districts 

 generally, throughout the United Kingdom, with 

 the exception of the islands lying to the west and 

 north of Scotland. 



Materials. Grass, moss, hair, and wool ; some- 

 times a few soft leaves woven together, with an inner 

 lining of feathers. I have met with specimens 

 containing few or none of the last. 



Eggs. Six to nine, sometimes as many as eleven 

 or twelve, white, spotted with light red or red-brown, 

 sometimes evenly distributed, at others most numer- 

 ous at the larger end. A sight of parent birds 

 only will definitely settle identification. Size 

 about .6 by .46 in. (See Plate III.) 



Time. April, May, and June. 



