270 BRITISH BIRDS' XESTS. 



webs, and spotted with white on the lower portions 

 of the inside webs ; tail deep ash-colour, crossed 

 with broad bars of dull black and tipped with 

 whitish-grey ; throat, breast, sides, belly, and vent 

 reddish-brown, marked with transverse bars of orange 

 in some and brown in others ; legs and toes yellow ; 

 claws black. 



The female is about three inches longer, and 

 nearly twice as heavy. Her upper-parts are browner, 

 with the exception of the back of the head, which 

 is greyer. The breast and under-parts are lighter, 

 and the markings on them larger and browner, 

 Both sexes are subject to considerable variation, 

 and are said to grow greyer with age. 



Situation and Locality. In fir, alder, larch, oak, 

 pine, and other trees, in well-wooded districts 

 throughout the British Isles. It is generally 

 placed in a fork or on a strong horizontal 

 branch. Our illustration was procured in West- 

 moreland. 



Materials. Sticks and twigs, the finest in the 

 centre, which is simply a slight hollow on a large 

 platform. Many naturalists assert that the bird 

 often utilises the old nest of a Magpie or Crow ; 

 but Mr. Dixon says that the nest is always 

 made by the birds themselves. I have taken some 

 eight or ten nests personally, and in every single 

 instance I am able to endorse him. 



Eggs. Four to six, generally five ; ground 

 colour white, tinged with blue or bluish-green, 

 clouded, blotched, and spotted with pale brown 

 and dark rich brown. The markings generally 

 form a zone round the larger end of the egg ; 

 sometimes the ground colour is almost entirely 

 hidden, and at others nearly, if not quite, all 

 exposed. I have noticed in clutches of six eggs 



