128 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



there can be but little doubt that the birds were 

 engaged with second broods. I have found the 

 nest on the side of a steep bank with a sod 

 hanging partly over it, under a tussock of coarse 

 marsh grass, and amongst heather on a common. 

 It is composed of dead grass, moss, and rootlets, 

 with a lining of horse- or cow -hair, down, or 

 feathers, according to whichever can be most 

 easily procured. Most of the nests I have examined 

 have been lined with cow-hair which had been 

 rubbed off against posts and stone walls. 



The eggs, numbering from four to six, are 

 greyish-white in ground colour, spotted and mottled 

 with brown of various shades. They are sometimes 

 marked with blackish-brown streaks at the larger 

 end. Considering the situation in which they are 

 laid, they can hardly be mistaken for those of 

 any other species except the Blue - headed Wag- 

 tail, the nest and eggs of which have very rarely 

 been met with in this country. 



WARBLER, GARDEN. 



THE Garden Warbler is a bird that loves to hide 

 itself amongst the thick foliage of our copses and 

 shrubberies, and in consequence is no doubt often 

 overlooked, in spite of its long - continued and 

 varied notes, which are uttered when all the other 

 members of its family are in full blast. It breeds 

 in nearly all suitable parts of England, the south of 

 Scotland, Ireland, and in one or two counties of 

 Wales, and is described as even abundant in some 

 districts, such as that of north Lincolnshire. 



Our illustration was secured in the kitchen 



