APRIL. 73 



bough of the pear, and the small brown linnet 

 (fringilla linaria) often builds too in the latter 

 situation. Its nest is of the most beautiful de- 

 scription, fabricated of a mixture of moss and 

 wool, and lined with the pure white down of the 

 willow catkin ; the whole interior not much ex- 

 ceeding in size the hollow half of a hen's egg. 

 Its eggs, five in number, are of a delicate bluish- 

 grey, brown-spotted. 



If we step into the field, we find in the grass 

 at our feet the nests of various species of lark, 

 with their dark brown speckled eggs ; the whin- 

 chats with its eggs of sea-green, and the par- 

 tridge's with perhaps fifteen eggs of a deep 

 cream colour. So closely does the partridge sit 

 during incubation, that the mower often un- 

 awares cuts off its head with his scythe. In the 

 banks, now luxuriant with green herbs, the yel- 

 low-hammer builds a nest of grass, and lines 

 it with fine fibrous roots and horse-hair ; and 

 lays five eggs of a palish purple, ornamented 

 with deep purple flourishes of a hieroglyphic- 

 like appearance. The robin too builds in the 

 bank, and his nest may be immediately known 

 by the brown withered leaves collected at its 

 door, so to speak, as if he always bore them 

 in his escutcheon, in memory of his meritorious 

 behaviour to " the Babes in the Wood."' The 

 fame of that good deed is his perpetual de- 



