4 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



gardens, orchards, thickets, shubberies, and other 

 suitable places, at varying heights of from two to 

 ten or twelve feet from the ground. In all parts 

 of England and Wales, and more sparingly in 

 Scotland and Ireland. It is a very widely dis- 

 tributed bird. 



Materials. Fibrous roots, straws, and dead grass, 

 with an inner lining of hair. It is a flimsy structure, 

 sometimes strengthened by wool or spiders' webs. 



Eggs. Five to six, very variable, and often 

 difficult to identify, as they closely resemble those 

 of some of the other Warblers. The commonest 

 type is that of a greyish-white underground, suffused 

 with buffish-brown, and spotted, blotched and marbled 

 with dark brown. Sometimes they are found pale 

 brick-red, marked with a darker tinge of the same 

 colour, and reddish-brown ; also faint blue, marked 

 with grey and yellowish-brown. Size about '78 by 

 58 in. 



Time. May and June. 



Remarks. Migratory, arriving in April and leav- 

 ing in September, odd specimens remaining till 

 November or December. Notes : alarm, tack, tack, 

 or tec, tec. Song of great power and freedom. 

 Local and other names : Hay Jack, Hay Chat, 

 Mock Nightingale, Nettle-creeper, Nettle-monger, 

 Blackcap Warbler. Sits very closely. 



BULLFINCH. 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about six 

 inches. Bill short, broad, and thick at the base, 

 and black. Irides dark brown. Eound the base 

 of the beak, and all the upper part of the head, 

 black. Nape, back, and lesser wing-coverts grey; 



