14 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRD 8. 



run when scented by the dog, but jumped up and 

 flew away with their legs hanging down directly 

 he approached too near where they were sitting. 



The shepherd adjudged it too early to find any 

 eggs, but upon returning to the field we had first 

 tried, by his dog's aid, we discovered a nest containing 

 six eggs in less than five minutes. This was during 

 the afternoon, and before twelve o'clock the following 

 day there were two more eggs in the nest, which 

 was very scantily lined with bits of dead rushes. 

 I again visited it, when it contained its full com- 

 plement of ten light-buff, freckled with red-brown 

 and ash-grey, eggs, and was surprised to find 

 that the owner had added a quantity of green 

 grass, which had dried and withered under her, to 

 its interior. This addition to the structure had 

 made it a little more concave than when first dis- 

 covered, and of course enhanced the bird's chances 

 of covering her ten large eggs. 



I paid this particular Corn-crake a visit once or 

 twice whilst she was brooding, and she sat so 

 closely that I could have easily caught her. In- 

 stead of running off amongst the tall grass, she 

 simply darted away a foot or two to give herself 

 the necessary impetus, and then took wing. 



Our illustration has been made from a photo- 

 graph taken when the nest contained eight eggs. 



CROSS-BILL 



THIS extremely interesting, though somewhat ir- 

 regular wanderer, breeds sparingly in various parts 

 of the United Kingdom where suitable conditions 

 for the procurement of an adequate and regular 



