18 



Swindon Eeservoir in 1866, and the second from the same 

 neighbourhood. In these cases the eggs are quite blue 

 without any marking and perfectly round, very similar in 

 fact to those of the Rock Thrush, only rounder. In the 

 second case I watched the parent birds myself, and there- 

 fore know them to have been the common blackbird. In 

 the first case I had the egg and the description from a 

 friend on whose knowledge of birds I can implicitly rely 

 and who believes the birds to have been our present species, 

 though he only caught a glimpse of them. 



Accentor Modularis. 



UedrjG Accentor. 



LOCAL NAME. EGG OBSEEVED. 



Hedge Sparroio. April 12th, 1865. 



April 4th, 1866. 

 April 7th, 1867. 

 April 16th, 1869. 

 1870. 



This sober little bird is even commoner than it appears 

 io be, as its shy mouselike movements helj) to screen it 

 from all but the observant eye of the naturalist. It is to 

 be found however in every hedgerow, where also may be 

 .seen an abundance of its exquisite nests and eggs during the 

 breeding season which commences early. 



It is to be regretted that we have no adequate English 

 name for this species, the name of Hedge Accentor being 

 too pedantic, whilst that of Hedge Sparrow causes error by 

 leading people to confuse it with the true Sparrows. 



