22 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



incubation. The eggs are four, five, and occasionally six in 

 number, sometimes mottled all over with rich reddish-brown 

 colour, at others blotched and more partially covered with 

 the same. 



THE SPARROW- HAWK. Acciplter fringillarius. The 

 present species inhabits the woodland and more cultivated 

 parts of our island chiefly, and is not so frequently to be 

 seen as the Kestrel. Except in peculiar districts, the 

 Sparrow-hawk breeds in woods, and places the nest, a some- 

 what loose and careless structure, about middle height in 

 the trees. The eggs are from three to five in number, of a 

 very pale bluish-green colour, irregularly, but sometimes 

 very richly marked with brown. 



THE GOSHAWK. Astur palumlarms. This is a species 

 believed to be confined to Europe, but seldom met with in 

 a wild state in Britain. The nest is built on trees, and 

 composed of sticks loosely put together. The eggs, from 

 two to five -in number, are either spotless or indistinctly 

 marked with brown. 



THE GOLDEN EAGLE. Aquila chrysaetos. This species 

 is gradually decreasing in its numbers in the British Islands, 

 and is, perhaps, nowhere frequent except in the wilder por- 

 tions of the Highlands of Scotland. Its depredations 



