13 4 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



THE STORM PETREL. 

 The Scilly Islands, St. Kilda, the Orkneys, Shetland, and 

 the Irish coast, are the breeding haunts of the Storm 

 Petrel. The nest is placed on the ground, amongst "cliffs 

 and under large-sized stones, being composed of pieces of 

 dry earth and stalks of plants. One single white egg, 

 about the size of a Blackbird's, is laid. 



i 



THE STONE CHAT. 



This pert little bird is very dexterous in the art of nest- 

 building, selecting for materials moss and dry grasses 

 to form the outer structure, and feathers, hair, &c, for 

 lining the interior. The position selected is generally on 

 the ground, at the bottom of a furze-bush, though some- 

 times quite away from any bush. The eggs number five 

 or six, and are of a pale blue-green, with minute reddish- 

 brown spots, chi afly at the larger end. 



THE WHEAT-EAR. 

 A sheltered and darkened situation is generally chosen by 

 the Wheat-ear wherein to build her nest — chinks of stone 

 walls, the ruins of cairns, in old rabbit-burrows, under 

 stones on moors, mountain wilds, &c. The nest, not very 

 artistic in construction, is composed of a variety of materials, 

 such as bents, grass roots pulled up by the sheep when 

 grazing, and dried in the sun, hair and wool gathered from 

 brambles, corners of rocks, and walls against which the 

 sheep have rubbed themselves. The eggs number five or 

 six, and are of a pale greenish-blue colour unspotted. 



