7474 Birds. 



Collected Observations on the Nests and Eggs of British Birds. 

 By Edward Newman. 



(Continued from p. 7449.) 



Hawfinch, Fringilla coccothraiistes. 



Situation. " The situation of the nest is various ; but it is most 

 comraonly placed in an old scrubby whitethorn bush, often in a very 

 exposed situation; they also frequently build on the horizontal arms 

 of large oaks, the heads of pollard hornbeams, in hollies, and occa- 

 sionally in fir trees in plantations ; the elevation at which the nest is 

 placed varying from five to twenty-five or thirty feet." — Mr. Double- 

 dag. 



Materials. " The most correct description of the nest which I have 

 seen is in Latham's ' Synopsis.' It is there said to be composed of the 

 dead twigs of oak, honeysuckle, &c., intermixed with pieces of gray 

 lichens; the quantity of this last material varies much in different 

 nests, but it is never absent ; in some it is only very sparingly placed 

 among the twigs ; in others the greater part of the nest is composed of 

 it ; the lining consists of fine roots and a little hair. The whole fabric 

 is very loosely put together, and it requires considerable care to remove 

 it from its situation uninjured." — Mr. Doubleday. 



Eggs, 4 — 6. " The eggs vary in number from four to six, and are 

 of a pale olive-green, spotted with black, and irregularly streaked with 

 dusky gray. Some specimens are far less marked than others, and I 

 have seen some of a uniform pale green." — Mr. Doubleday. 



Mr. Selby's account of the nest and eggs of this bird appears to me 

 entirely erroneous. 



Goldfinch, Fringilla carduelis. 



Situation. Gardens and orchards, seeming to prefer cultivated to 

 uncultivated districts ; often in evergreens, sometimes in roses and 

 other trees trained against a house. 



Materials. Lichen, moss, a little hay and wool most compactly 

 interwoven, and lined with hair and the sued-down of the willow. 



Eggs, 4, 5. White, tinged with blue, spotted with raw sienna at the 

 larger end. 



Siskin, Fringilla spinus. 



Situation. In furze bushes, about three feet from the ground : the 

 eggs were taken, hatched under a canary and reared. — Mr. Yarrell. 

 Mr. Newton (Zool. 3707) gives a most interesting account of siskins 

 breeding in confinement. The nest is rarely found in Britain. 



