90 



APRIL. 



niarkecl with large pink spots. The wren has 

 inserted its oval nest of green moss, leaving 

 only a small side-entrance, into the roof of a 

 shed, or into the stump of an old ivied thorn. 

 The chaffinch delights to build its beautiful 

 nest, spangled with silvery lichens, and lined 

 with soft cow-hair, in the apple-tree ; the gold- 

 finch on the very topmost bough of the pear, 

 and the small brown linnet (fringilla linaria) 

 often builds too in the latter situation. Its 

 nest is of the most beautiful description, fabri- 

 cated of a mixture of moss and wool, and lined 

 with the pure white down of the willow cat- 

 kin ; the whole not much exceeding in size the 

 half of a hen's egg. Its eggs, five in number, 

 are of a delicate bluish-grey, brown-spotted. 



If we step into the field, we find in the grass 

 at our feet the nests of various species of lark, 

 with their dark brown speckled eggs; the 

 whinchat's with its eggs of sea-green, and the 

 partridge's with perhaps fifteen eggs of a deep 

 cream colour. So closely does the partridge 

 sit during incubation, that the mower often 

 unawares cuts off its head with his scythe. 

 In the banks, now luxuriant with green herbs, 

 the yellow-hammer builds a nest of grass, and 



