78 EGGS AND EGG-COLLEUTINQ. 



speckled, and blotched with rich blackish -brown and pale 

 reddish-brown and underlying grey markings. 



THE KITTIWAKE. 



THE nest of the Kittiwake is situated on ledges of mari- 

 time cliffs round our coast, and at the Fame Islands I 

 have seen the bird occupying such a small corner that it 

 was unable to sit properly on its eggs. The nest is made 

 of seaweed and lined with dead grass. Its eggs number 

 two, three, and rarely four, and vary from light greenish- 

 blue to stone colour, or buffish-brown, blotched and spotted 

 with varying shades of brown and grey. The markings 

 sometimes form a zone round the larger end. 



THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 



ON the ground, amongst heather or sedges, this bird makes 

 its nest, in the eastern and northern counties and in Scot- 

 land. It uses next to no materials, but such as are present 

 consist of bits of dead reeds and leaves. Its eggs number 

 from four to seven or eight, pure white, unspotted, and 

 oval in shape. 



THE LESSER SPOTTED AVOODPECKER. 



ALTHOUGH nowhere abundant, this bird breeds in suitable 

 districts throughout England. Its nest is situated in a 

 hole in the trunk or some large branch of a tree, and \ 



