41 



BEDWING. 



SWINEPIPE. WIND THRUSH. 

 PLATE C. 



Turdus Iliacus, LlXNJSUS. 



Merula Iliaca, JARDnfE. SELBT. 



THE nest is placed in the centre of a thorn or other bush, alder, 

 birch, or other tree, and is made of moss, roots, and dry grass out- 

 wardly, cemented together with clay, and lined inwardly with finer grass. 



Mr. Wolley says that this bird 'makes its nest near the ground, in 

 an open part of the wood, generally in the outskirts, on a stump, a 

 log, or the roots of a fallen tree; sometimes amongst a cluster of 

 young stems of the birch, usually quite exposed, so as almost to seem 

 as if placed so purposely the walls often supported only by their 

 foundation. The first or coarse part of the nest is made for the most 

 part of dried bents, sometimes with fine twigs and moss; this is lined 

 with a thin layer of dirt, and then is added a thick bed of fine grass 

 of the previous year, compactly woven together, which completes the 

 structure. Outside is often a good deal of the kind of lichen called 

 rein-deer moss, and one nest particularly, which I have preserved, is 

 entirely covered with it; when it was fresh, and the fine ramifications 

 of the lichen unbroken, it had a most beautiful appearance.' 



The eggs are said to be found in June, and to be towards six in 

 number; they are of a pale bluish green, spotted with reddish brown. 

 J. E. De Capel Wise, Esq., of Lincoln College, Oxford, has obligingly 

 forwarded specimens of the nest and eggs. 



One variety is of a pale yellowish red, with a very few small brownish 

 red spots. 



A second is grounded with light green, handsomely marked with 

 waves and spots of pale brownish red. 



A third is of a dull green, intermingled with dull reddish brown. 



VOL. II. G 



