OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 105 



in number, and vary in ground colour from olive-brown to olive- 

 green, indistinctly mottled with pale reddish brown. The shell 

 is glossy and smooth, the pores being very slightly defined. They 

 measure on an average 2'o inches in length by i'5 inch in breadth. 

 The female appears to incubate the eggs, but the male is in close 

 and constant attendance upon his mate. In some cases it would 

 appear that two broods are reared in the year, a second clutch 

 being laid about the end of July ; although there is no evidence to 

 show that these late nests are not the produce of birds whose 

 earlier efforts may have been unfortunate. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Otis, with the general colour above 

 buflSsh brown, vermiculated with black in the male in summer, 

 blotched with black in the female at both seasons, and in the male 

 in winter ; with two black and two white gorgets in the male in 

 summer. Length, 17 inches. 



