150 CIUAFFINCH. 
an inch and a half, but usually an inch and three- 
quarters; the whole is firmly fixed between the branches, 
to which some of its component parts are attached for 
the purpose. 
In the neighbourhood of Belfast, where there are 
“branches” of the cotton manufacture, these birds use 
that material in the construction of their nests; and 
m answer to the objection that its conspicuous colour 
would betray the presence of the nest, and not accord 
with the theory that birds assimilate the outward 
appearance of their structures to surrounding objects, 
it was replied, says Mr. Thompson, that, on the con- 
trary, the use of cotton in that locality might rather 
be considered as rendering the nest more difficult of 
detection, as the roadside hedges and neighbouring trees 
were always dotted with tufts of it. 
The eggs are four or five in number, of a short oval 
form, and of a dull bluish green colour, clouded with 
dull red, often blended together into one tint. ‘They 
are slightly streaked, and somewhat spotted irregularly 
over their whole surface with dark dull well-defined 
red spots. Some have been found of a uniform dull 
blue, without any spots. 
N. Rowe, Esq., of Worcester College, Oxford, tells 
me of two he had which were quite round, the ground 
colour very pale blue, with three or four round black 
spots scattered over the surface. 
W. Bridger, Esq. has obligingly forwarded the nest, 
and the Rev. R. P. Alington a drawing of the nest, 
which, though neither of them have had to be made 
use of, I am equally obliged for. 
