162 YELLOW-HAMMER. 



The eggs, from three to four or five, and occasionally six in number, 

 are of a pale purple white colour, streaked and speckled with dark 

 reddish brown; the streaks frequently ending in spots of the same colour. 

 Some have been known of a red colour, with reddish brown streaks 

 and lines, others quite white, others entirely of a stone- colour, and 

 others again of a stone-colour, marbled in the usual way. In a nest 

 in which was one egg of the ordinary size, there were two others of 

 the Lilliputian dimensions of those of the Golden-crested Wren. The 

 young are seldom able to fly before the second week in June, being 

 about a fortnight after they have been hatched; they keep together 

 at night for a short time before they finally separate. Two broods 

 are occasionally reared in the year. 



