154 



FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



colour of the eggs is stone or cream, spotted and blotched 

 with umber or blackish-brown, of various sizes and shapes. 



THE LANDRAIL. 



THE position selected by the Landrail for her nest is on the 

 ground, amongst grass, underwood, clover, or corn. It is 

 loosely constructed of dry herbage. Her eggs vary greatly 

 in number, from seven, eight, or nine to as many as fifteen, 

 and are of a dingy white, suffused with a reddish tinge, 

 freckled and spotted with red, brown, and purplish-grey. 



THE WIGEON. 



THIS bird has been known to breed in Scotland and Ire- 

 land, but its favourite places are Scandinavia, Finland, and 

 Northern Russia. The nest is placed in a clump of rushes 

 or a tuft of heather, its materials being reeds and decayed 

 rushes, with a beautiful inner lining of down off the parent 

 bird, which lays from seven to ten creamy-white eggs, of 

 a very oval shape. Broods have been hatched at different 

 times in the Zoological Gardens. 



THE SKUA. 



NIDIFICATION is carried on by the Skua in companies, in 

 the Shetland Islands only. The nest is placed on the 

 ground, and. is made of dead ling, moss, and dry grass, in 

 which are deposited two eggs only, of varying colour. Some 

 are of a dark olive brown, whilst others are of a greener 

 tint, with black-brown spots, intermixed with small speckles 

 of a whitish or rusty colour. 



