90 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



Doubleday, Esq., established the fact. The breeding sta- 

 tions at present named are, Epping, Windsor, the vicinities 

 of Wolverhampton and of Penshurst in Kent; but pro- 

 bably other localities may be added to these, now that 

 attention has been drawn to the fact, and encouragement 

 given for careful observation. The nest, which has been 

 found in May and June, and which is of the rudest con- 

 struction, and composed of twigs, lined with fine roots and 

 a little hair, is sometimes placed in a thorn-bush, at a few 

 feet from the ground, and in an exposed situation ; but at 

 other times near the top of firs, at an elevation of twenty or 

 thirty feet from the ground. The eggs, from four to six in 

 number, are of a greenish-white or grey ground, streaked, 

 marbled, and boldly spotted with grey and greenish-brown. 



This bird is noticed as plentiful in some parts of France ; 

 not uncommon in Italy ; common in Germany, Sweden, 

 and part of Eussia. (PL VIII. fig. 49.) 



THE GREENFINCH. Coccotkraustes chloris. In the 

 neighbourhood in which we write, few nests, excepting 

 perhaps the Chaffinch's, are more abundant than those of 

 the Greenfinch. Possessing little of the elegance which 

 characterizes the nests of the Chaffinch and Goldfinch, that 

 of our present species is a somewhat careless structure, 



