80 EGOS AND EQQ-COLLECTINQ. 



banks of large bodies of water in Scotland and Ireland. 

 I have seen it on the banks of streams, where it must have 

 been washed away by the first freshet. It is composed of 

 bits of heather, dry leaves, and down from the bird's own 

 body. The eggs number from six or seven to nine, or 

 even a dozen, and vary from huffish-grey to pale olive-grey 

 in colour. 



THE GREENSHANK. 



BREEDS chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland, and the 

 islands' lying to the west thereof. Its nest is merely a 

 slight declivity lined with a few bits of dry grass, dead 

 heather, or leaves. The eggs number four, of a stone 

 colour or creamy-white, spotted and blotched dark 

 reddish-brown and grey. 



THE WHIMBREL. 



THE islands to the west and north of Scotland are the 

 breeding home of the Whimbrel. A slight dry hollow in 

 the shelter of a tussock of grass or heath is selected on 

 some lonely piece of moor. The nest is lined with a few 

 blades of withered grass, sprigs of heather, or dead leaves. 

 The eggs number four, varying from darkish buff to olive- 

 green, spotted and blotched with reddish-brown, olive- 

 brown, and underlying markings of grey. 



THE REED WARBLER. 



THIS bird suspends its nest between the stems of reeds and 

 branches of willows and other trees growing from or over 



