130 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



timber. I have found it in a shed, and simply placed on 

 a stone projecting from a bare wall. It is made of dry 

 grass, sometimes a few twigs, and a little moss, and 

 lined first with a thick plaster of mud or clay, and 

 finally with dry grass. It is bulky, but somewhat 

 shallow and very compact. The Blackbird is a close 

 sitter, but is neither so noisy nor so demonstrative at the 

 nest as the Song Thrush, the Missel-Thrush, or the 

 Ring Ouzel. 



RANGE OF EGG COLOURATION AND MEASUREMENT : 

 The eggs of the Blackbird are from four to six, and, in 

 very exceptional cases, eight in number. They vary in 

 ground colour from pale blue to bright bluish-green, 

 mottled, blotched, and spotted with reddish-brown, and 

 with underlying markings of gray. On some varieties 

 the markings are very handsome bold blotches and 

 splashes intermingled with smaller spots ; on others they 

 are closely mottled and freckled over the entire surface ; 

 on others they form a zone or circular patch on the 

 larger end. Occasionally a few dark specks or streaks 

 occur. A rarer variety is almost spotless and pale blue, 

 or marked with a few lilac or pale brown spots and 

 dashes. These are certainly not the produce of a union 

 between a Blackbird and a Thrush, as has been sug- 

 gested. The eggs of the Blackbird vary considerably in 

 size and shape, some being very elongated, others 

 almost globular. Average measurement, 1*2 inch in 

 length, by '85 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed 

 by both sexes, lasts from thirteen to fifteen days. 



DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS : It is impossible to give 

 any character by which the eggs of the Blackbird can 

 be distinguished from those of the Ring Ouzel. As a 

 rule the breeding-grounds of the two species are dif- 

 ferent, and the noisy behaviour of the Ring Ouzel at 

 the nest is very noteworthy. The Blackbird may 



