152 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Materials. A few small twigs, fibrous roots, 

 dry grass-stems, moss, and wool, with, an inner 

 lining of hair and feathers, sometimes with rabhit 

 or vegetable down. 



Eggs. Four to six, greyish-white, slightly 

 tinged with blue or green, speckled and spotted 

 with purple, red, and reddish-brown ; the spots 

 are generally most numerous round the larger end 

 of the egg. They closely resemble those of several 

 other birds, such as the Greenfinch, Goldfinch, and 

 Twite, and can only be distinguished with certainty 

 by watching the parent birds on to or off their nests. 

 Average measurement about -72 by '52 in. 



Time. April, May, and June, sometimes as late 

 as July, and even August. 



Remarks. Migratory in bulk, but resident in 

 small numbers. Notes : song, soft and low, mixed 

 with some sweet and shrill notes. Local and other 

 names: Brown Linnet, Common Linnet, Grey Linnet 

 (a name referring to the young bird before the first 

 moult), Whin Linnet, Eed-breasted Linnet, Eose 

 Linnet, Greater Kedpole, Eed Linnet, Linnet Finch, 

 Eed -headed Finch, Lintie, Lin white. Sits close. 



LINNET, MOUNTAIN. See TWITE. 



MALLARD. See DUCK, WILD. 



MAGPIE. 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 eighteen inches, more than half of which is 

 accounted for by the bird's abnormally long tail. 



