EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 159 



Sweden, in large numbers. They build their nests near to 

 the trunks of spruce trees, employing such materials as 

 sticks and coarse grass, and weeds gathered wet, intermixed 

 with clay, and lined internally with long grass. The eggs 

 number from three to six, somewhat resembling those of 

 the Blackbird or Ring Ouzel. 



THE EED-BACKED SHRIKE. 



THE Red-backed Shrike lays five or six eggs of a pink- 

 white or cream-colour, with brown spots predominating 

 at the larger end. Her nest is composed of wool, moss, 

 bents of grass, and hair, and is situated in furze-bushes, 

 whitethorn hedges, &c. 



THE CHOUGH. 



THIS bird builds her nest in sea -cliffs, in caves, old 

 ruins, &c., near the sea. It is composed of sticks, lined 

 with a liberal application of wool and hair. Her eggs 

 number five or six of a dirty white colour, spotted and 

 blotched chiefly at the larger end with raw sienna-brown 

 and ash colour. 



THE PUFFIN. 



PUFFINS only lay one egg, of a grey colour with a dingy 

 tinge ; the nest is minus materials, so the egg is placed on 

 the bare earth at the extremity of a burrow or fissure in a 

 sea cliff. The bird very often adopts a rabbit-burrow if 



