120 GOLDCREST. 



almost always in the upper part; some however are 

 not perfectly round. It closely assimilates in colour 

 to the branch beneath which it is fixed. In a fir it 

 is mostly composed of moss, and, in a thorn tree, of 

 lichens. It is sometimes placed near the top of the 

 tree, and in other instances only two or three feet from 

 the ground: a very high gale has sometimes dis- 

 lodged the eggs ' When the wind blows the cradle will 

 rock.' These birds have been known to steal the 

 materials from the nests of Chaffinches to make their 

 own; one was noticed to do so most slily, watching 

 its opportunity, and approaching from the opposite 

 direction; but on the Chaffinch detecting and chasing 

 it, it did not repeat the theft. The nest is frequently 

 lined with feathers, and is altogether a singularly 

 elegant piece of architecture. The feathers are so 

 placed as to project inward; two nests have been found 

 on one branch. Mr. Hewitson says 'It is sometimes 

 placed upon the upper surface of the branch ; and I 

 have also seen it, but rarely, placed against the trunk 

 of the tree upon the base of a diverging branch, and 

 at an elevation of from twelve to twenty feet above 

 the ground.' He also mentions in the 'Zoologist,' 

 page 825, his having once met with the nest in a low 

 juniper bush, very little more than a foot from the 

 ground. James Croome, Esq. writes me word of one 

 he found in the stump of a thorn bush about four feet 

 from the ground, and another in a bush a few feet 

 from the hedge at a height of about six feet. De- 

 serted nests of this species are frequently to be met 

 with, but the reason is not known. 



The eggs are four, five, six, or seven, to eight, 

 or even ten or eleven in number; they are of a very 

 pale reddish or brownish white, the larger end being 



