EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING 151 



THE SWIFT. 



THE Swift is the garret-lodger of nature, for she builds 

 her nest in the very highest crevices and holes in steeples, 

 towers, chimneys, rocks, and occasionally, like the Martin, 

 under the eaves of inhabited houses. Her nest is com- 

 posed of hay, straw, and feathers, in somewhat sparse 

 quantities, which she appears to solder or cement to the 

 stone and to each other with a glutinous substance elabo- 

 rated by glands peculiar to certain birds of this genus. 

 She lays two or three white unspotted eggs of a rather 

 long oval shape. 



THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



THIS bird generally lays three eggs, four being occa- 

 sionally found, of a pale olive-green or pale umber-brown, 

 blotched with black-brown or dark grey ; however, they 

 are very variable in ground colour, sometimes being of a 

 bluish- white, unspotted. The nest is loosely built of the 

 tops of sedges, reeds, or rushes, and is placed about a foot 

 or more above the surface of the water or swamp. She is 

 fond of low marshy districts, such as Norfolk, Kent, Essex, 

 and some parts of Lincolnshire, and I have frequently 

 found her round the edges of high mountain tarns in the 

 Pennine range. 



THE SNIPE. 



THE Snipe generally lays four eggs, rather large for her 

 size, of a grey colour, tinged with yellow or olive-green., 

 and blotched with umber or rusty brown, of two shades, 



