54 BRITISH BIRDS* EGGS. 



cealing their habitations; though all its precautions and sa- 

 gacity are often ineffectual to secure its precious treasure 

 from the grasp of its most formidable enemy, the schoolboy. 

 Beneath an overhanging roof of verdant moss the nest is 

 carefully imbedded ; or a nook in some ruined, ivy-covered 

 wall, or, in some unsuspected spot, a cluster of dry leaves 

 may screen from view a brood of young, unfledged, helpless 

 songsters. The Eedbreast builds early, and lays five or six 

 eggs, of a pale brownish-red colour, freckled with a deeper 

 tint, and chiefly so at the larger end. (PL VII. fig. 45.) 



THE COMMON BEDSTART. Phcenicura ruticilla. This is 

 a bird of very local distribution, although, in places, it ex- 

 tends even to the northern parts of Scotland. Its nest is 

 usually placed in some hole of a wall, or in a hollow tree, 

 and is formed of moss, dry grass, and leaves, and lined with 

 hair and feathers. Its eggs, from four to six in number, are 

 of a greenish-blue, without markings, smaller and of a lighter 

 tint than those of the Hedge Sparrow. (PI. VI. fig. 34.) 



TITHYS BEDSTART. PkoenicuraJithys. In its habits the 

 present is said to resemble the last species, and its nest to 

 be formed of much the same materials ; but the eggs, when 

 blown, are white, though previously of a delicate pink : they 

 are five or six in number. (PL VI. fig. 26.) 



