EGGS AND £GG-COLLECTING. 45 
even in old chimneys, but it is my opinion that they only 
locate themselves in such a smoky atmosphere when no 
better place is procurable; they have also been found 
amongst the brickwork of disused limekilns. The nest is 
composed of clay or mud mixed with straw, hay, and rushes, 
lined with soft light feathers, usually gathered whilst the 
bird is on the wing. When a boy, I have amused myself 
for hours flying feathers for the dexterous Swallows and 
Martins to carry off to their nests, and have always 
observed that if the Swallow let a feather fall from her 
nest whilst building it, and did not catch it before 
reaching the ground, she allowed it to remain there, often 
to betray the locality of her eggs. The Swallow does 
not exhibit the same amount of care over the formation 
of her nest as the Common Martin or Sand Martin, and 
leaves it open at the top. She lays four or five eggs, 
white, which are unlike those of the other species of the 
family, inasmuch as they are speckled with brown, which 
generally forms a belt round the larger end of the egg. 
THE SPARROW-HAWE. 
Tus Sparrow-Hawk lays from four to six eggs of a bluish- 
white, spotted more numerously at the larger end with 
red-brown blotches. It is said to often utilise the disused 
nest of the Magpie or Crow, but I am inclined to the 
opinion that this is not often the case, as the half-score 
or so of nests which have come under my personal obser- 
vation have in every instance been built by the Sparrow- 
hawk herself. 
