40 TELLOW-HAMMEE. 



/ 



which, in the month of June, the female laid her eggs upon 

 the bare ground, sat upon and hatched them ; and Mr. Salmon, 

 of Thetford, mentions in the second volume of 'The Naturalist,' 

 old series, page 274, his having on one occasion, on the 29th. 

 of May, 1834, found the nest at the height of seven feet 

 from the ground, in a broom tree. Mr. Hewitson too, found 

 one at a height of six feet from the ground in a spruce fir. 



The eggs, from three to four or five, and occasionally six 

 in number, are of a pale purple white colour, streaked and 

 speckled with dark reddish brown; the streaks frequently 

 ending in spots of the same colour. Some have been known 

 of a red colour, with reddish brown streaks and lines, others 

 quite white, others entirely of a stone-colour, and others again 

 of a stone-colour, marbled in the usual way. In a nest in 

 which was one egg of the ordinary size, there were two others 

 of the Lilliputian dimensions of those of the Golden-crested 

 Wren. The young are seldom able to fly before the second 

 week in June, being about a fortnight after they have been 

 hatched; they keep together at night for a short time before 

 they finally separate. Two broods are occasionally reared in 

 the year. 



The male is very variable in the tints of his plumage, the 

 yellow being in some much more extended than in others; 

 this is the case with older birds, in whom also it is of a 

 paler hue: in some the red on the breast and lower part of 

 the back is more or less deep than in others. Weight, 

 about seven drachms; length, seven inches, or a trifle over; 

 bill, bluish horn-colour, the upper one with a tinge of brown; 

 iris, dark brown; about the base of the bill the feathers are 

 terminated with short bristles. Head on the crown and 

 sides, bright yellow, with a few streaks of dusky black and 

 olive brown, frequently forming a line on each side from the 

 forehead over the eye to the back of the head; neck on 

 the back and nape, the same; chin, throat, and breast, bright 

 yellow, the latter clouded and more or less streaked on the 

 sides with reddish brown and olive-colour; back, on the upper 

 part, bright reddish brown with a tinge of yellow, yellowish 

 orange, or yellowish green, each feather being dark brown in 

 the centre; 011 the lower part it is orange brown, the feathers 

 margined with greyish white or yellowish, according to the 

 season. 



The wings extend to the width of eleven inches; underneath 

 they are grey; greater and lesser wing coverts, dusky black, 



