216 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vii. 



ground, when, in furze 1| to 5 ft., the latter height 

 being exceptional. I have never seen a nest in very 

 thick furze, the favourite site being in a small piece of 

 furze through which there is growing ling, goose-grass, 

 and other herbage, and in some cases bracken. 



Many so-called " cocks' nests " are built, but whether 

 these are ever used for roosting purposes, or as protection 

 during cold weather, I cannot say ; they are easily 

 distinguishable from the nests used for breeding pur- 

 poses, and as a rule are built entirely of goose-grass and 

 are unhned. 



The fifty to sixty nests which I have very carefully 

 examined have been weU built, firm, and compact : 

 only two or three could reaUy be termed flimsy ; and 

 some were so well built that hght was scarcely visible 

 through them. They are very characteristic and not 

 easily confused with those of any other British breeding 

 bird, and I do not agree with those writers who maintain 

 that they resemble nests of the Common Whitethroat. 

 Most of those who have described the nest apparently 

 had very Httle material for comparison, and some of 

 the descriptions are obviously misleading. In a series 

 of sixteen nests I find no less than twenty-four distinct 

 plants, grasses, and other materials made up as follows, 

 the position in the nest occupied by the materials being 

 denoted thus : a outside, b intermixed, c fining. 



Used abundantly. — Goose-grass, a, b ; grass, two species 

 of Agrostis, a, b, c ; fing (Calluna vulgaris), a, b : moss 

 (Hypnum cupressiforme), a, b ; feathers, a, b, o ; grass, 

 flowering heads {Aira flexuosa), a, b, c ; grass roots with 

 rootlets adhering, b. 



Used sparingly. — ^Dwarf furze (Ulex nanus), a, b ; 

 ground-fichen [Cladonia gracilis), a, b ; spiders' egg- 

 cases, two species unidentified, a ; ling and grass rootlets, 

 c ; thistle-down, unidentified, a ; bents of two plants, 

 unidentified, a, b ; horsehair, cowhair, c. 



I 



