OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 215 



grass, where its discovery is very difficult. It is a slight affair, a hollow lined 

 with a few bits of dry withered herbage. The eggs are four in number, greenish- 

 grey in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with reddish-brown, and with under- 

 lying markings of greyish-brown. They measure on an average 1'7 inch in length 

 by 1'2 inch in breadth. One brood only is reared in the year. Incubation, 

 according to Tiedemann, lasts sixteen days. The Eeeve is a close sitter; perhaps 

 because she has no watchful mate near by to warn her of coming danger. 



Diagnostic characters. Machetes, with the axillaries white, but with 

 no white on the quills or central upper tail coverts. Adult males subject to 

 considerable amount of variation, especially in the colour of the ruff or collar. 

 Length, 12 inches male ; 10 inches female. 



