COLOUR OF EGGS. 127 



the hedge-sparrow, cannot be seen between the eye 

 and the firmament, for the nest is compactly plas- 

 tered. Still less will his doctrine apply to the 

 eggs of the stone-chat (Saxicola rubicola, BECH- 

 STEIN), which builds on the ground; and least of all 

 to those of the red-start, which nestles in the hole 

 of a wall or of a tree. Were the notion of these 

 writers, indeed, not so commonly diffused as we have 

 observed it to be in popular compilations, it is so 

 obviously wrong to those who are acquainted with 

 the facts, that it would be wasting time to enter upon 

 its refutation. As it is we shall state a few other 

 objections. 



" Rooks," says Professor Brande, " build a nest 

 particularly exposed on the highest trees ; the jack- 

 daws conceal theirs in holes ; while the lapwing, 

 woodcock, and snipe lay on the bare ground, and 

 yet the colour of the eggs of all these birds is nearly 

 identical. Again, the blackbird and song-thrush are 

 birds of very similar habits ; they build in the same 

 places ; but the blackbird lays a dull rusty-coloured 

 egg, and the thrush a clear blue one, with a few 

 dark, well-defined spots. 



Egg of the Blackbird . 



The woodpeckers, it is asserted, lay white eggs ; they 

 ought according to the theory, but their practices seem 

 very different. The hawks, which are so able and 

 accustomed to defend their nests, we should expect 

 to find with pure white eggs, but they are dull- 

 coloured and inconspicuous ; the buzzards, the most 



