64 EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 
number from five to seven, similar to those of the Chaf- 
finch, the ground-colour being generally green, and the 
spots not so dark nor large. 
THE WHINCHAT. 
THE nest of this bird is composed of grass and moss of 
different kinds, the stronger on the outside, and the finer 
forming a lining for the interior, and is situated on the 
ground in positions where it is by no means an easy 
task for the most veteran collector to find it. It lays five 
or six eggs of a delicate bluish-green, rarely speckled or 
marked with red-brown. 
THE SOOTER. 
Tuer most northern counties of Scotland are the nesting- 
places of this bird, which gathers together such materials 
as twigs, grasses, dry stalks, and leaves, placing them 
under cover, or in hiding, afforded by the low-growing 
shrubs or plants, and lining the whole with down. The 
eggs number from six to ten, and are of a pale greyish- 
buff colour, sometimes slightly tinged with green. 
THE GREY WAGTAIL. 
Some naturalists describe the position of this bird’s nest as 
on the ground ; but, personally, I have generally found 
them in the niches of rocks, or under overhanging ledges or 
banks. The nest is composed of moss, bents, grass, 
horsehair, often lined with a coat of cow’s-hair, which they 
rub off against walls and trees in the spring-time. This 
bird’s eggs number five of six, and are of a grey colour, 
mottled and spotted with ochre-grey or brown, variable, 
