44 .VfSSEL THRUSH. 



molestation even during the time of incubation, when to 

 those who casually .approach their nest they display 

 unqualified hostility. 



The eggs are from three or four to five, usually 

 the latter, or sometimes six, it is said, in number, of 

 a greenish or pale reddish white colour, spotted and 

 blotted and more or less suffused irregularly with 

 brown, reddish brown, or purple red, they vary in 

 size as well as in colour and shape, some being nearly 

 as large again as others. They are hatched in about 

 sixteen days. 



One is of a pale dull green, marked with some 

 large reddish brown spots, and a few others of the 

 same, chiefly about the base. 



A second is of a dull yellowish brown, spotted 

 with dull red spots, and a few others, chiefly of dull 

 yellow and dull pink. 



A third is of a pale dull yellowish white, speckled 

 with small pale brown and pale yellowish-brown spots 

 all over. 



A fourth is of a pale dull brownish green, marked 

 with dark brownish and yellowish spots chiefly at the 

 smaller end. 



A fifth is of a rather dull blue with some blots 

 of pale brownish red. 



A sixth is pale dull pinkish white with brown and 

 red round spots all over. 



