BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 307 



on each side being edged with white ; breast and 

 belly yellow, tinged with green and divided longi- 

 tudinally by a broad black stripe, which commences 

 at the chin, and passing down the throat, is joined 

 by the black on the sides of the neck, and extends 

 to the vent, which is white on either side ; lower 

 tail-coverts whitish ; legs, toes, and claws bluish- 

 grey. 



The female is not so distinctive in coloration ; 

 the black stripe on her under-parts is not so wide 

 or pronounced, and vanishes about the middle of 

 the belly. She is also said by some ornithologists 

 to be smaller. 



Situation and Locality. In holes in trees, walls, 

 posts, banks, and buildings. The bird will excavate a 

 hole for itself in a rotten tree sometimes. It also 

 occasionally fixes its abode beneath the nest of a 

 Crow, Book, or Magpie. The hollow tree shown in 

 our illustration is resorted to as a nesting site nearly 

 every year by this bird, whose little abode has 

 been recorded in a drinking-cup and a plant-pot. 

 In orchards, gardens, yards, well-timbered commons, 

 woods, plantations, parks, and other wooded places 

 throughout the United Kingdom with few ex- 

 ceptions. 



Materials. Dry grass, moss, hair, wool, and 

 feathers, somewhat carelessly put together. Some- 

 times no materials at all. Montagu and Morris 

 supposed that where materials were dispensed with 

 altogether, the bird had had her first eggs and nest 

 taken, and had not had time for more nest-building. 

 This theory, I am pleased to be able to say from 

 my own experience, is perfectly sound. A year 

 or two back I took a nest and eggs, quite fresh, 

 from a hollow apple-tree, and passing by the old 

 orchard a little while after I found that the bird 

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