24 EGGS AKD EGG-COLLECTING. 



THE ROOK. 



THE Rook lays four or five eggs of a pale green colour, 

 spotted and blotched with greenish or smoky brown. She 

 makes her nest of sticks, straw, hay, &c., and is rather 

 particular about it, pulling it to pieces and rebuilding it 

 several times. Tall trees are usually selected, generally 

 near to some mansion or village, where the rooks form a 

 colony. This bird lays very early, and has been known 

 to commence sitting even in November. 



THE COMMON WREN. 



THIS little bird lays four to eight eggs of a yellowish- 

 white tinge, spotted at the larger end with a kind of 

 brownish -red. It builds several supplementary nests, 

 which are simply made of moss and lichen ; this is at- 

 tributed to the male bird by some naturalists; but how- 

 ever this may be, as a rule two of these nests will be found 

 to one of the others lined with feathers, which is intended 

 for incubation. The nest is built in old barns, on the 

 sides of cliffs, and in the roots of trees growing from high 

 banks ; it is dome-shaped, and has a very small entrance. 



THE JAY. 



THE Jay lays five or six eggs of a pale greenish-blue, 

 sometimes yellowish-white, thickly spotted with minute 

 brown spots, generally confluent on the larger end, where 

 there are several irregular black lines. She builds her nest 

 in the thickest parts of woods, where it may be well out of 

 sight. It is composed of sticks, small twigs, small fibrous 

 roots, and grass. 



