PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES -.: 



sojourn is a brief one, for in August the family parties begin to wander, and most 

 of the birds have quitted our shores by the end of the month. But emigration 

 drags out for some time longer, and a bird has been recorded from a Suffolk lightship 

 as late as 21st October (1906) (of. R. O. C. Migration Reports, ii. p. Ill ; v. p. 248. 

 etc. : and Ticehurst, R. of Kent, 19OJI, p. 119). As regards habits, this species 

 appears to migrate " generally singly and sometimes in couples " or small parties 

 at any rate, so far as concerns our area (of. B. 0. C. Migration Report*, i. p. 79, 

 etc.). [A. u T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Generally placed in straggling hedgerows, thorn 

 bushes, or clumps of brambles on commons, waste lands, or by the sides of lanes 

 and roads. Some nest* are quite close to the ground, and others as much as 10 feet 

 above it, but the usual height is about 3 to 5 feet. A good deal of moss is used in 

 th- foundation of the nest, which is somewhat bulky, and is constructed of stalks, 

 bent, etc., lined with tine roots and grasses, as well as wool, hair, and down. 

 (PI. xxvin.) Both share in building, but the shaping of the nest is usually, if not 

 always, done by the hen. The eggs are usually 5 or 6 in number, but sets of 7 

 are not very scarce, and 8 eggs have been found in one nest on the Continent. 

 They vary much in colouring, but on definite lines, and have certain charac- 

 teristics in common. As a rule they are sparingly marked with spots, which 

 form a zone at the big end, while the ground colour varies from white to 

 cream, salmon-pink, pale olive-brownish or greenish, sometimes almost blue, and 

 exceptionally deep reddish or bright green. Eggs with a pink or reddish ground 

 are marked with sienna or red, and greenish eggs with umber, and as a rule the 

 markings are brown or reddish, with leaden shell markings. (PI. D.) Average 

 size of 360 Continental eggs, -87 x *64 in. [22*1 x 16*4 mm.]. British eggs are, as a 

 rule, rather larger. The breeding season begins about mid-May, but most eggs are 

 laid towards the end of the month or early in June. Incubation lasts for 14 days, 

 and is performed by the hen alone according to Naumann, and only one brood is 

 reared in the season. [F. c. R. J. ] 



5. Food. Small birds, lizards, mice, beetles, humble-bees, and insects 

 generally. The young are fed by both parents, principally on insects, occasionally 

 on birds and shrew-mice, [u. i~ T. ] 



6. Song Period. The few notes composing its song can be heard irregu- 

 larly during May and June. [ K. L. T.] 



