EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 65 
THE SMEW, 
TE nesting-place of this bird is in high latitudes, such as 
north-east Russia, and the situation chosen is in the 
hollow trunk of a tree. The material of which the nest is 
composed is taken from the bird’s body, and consists 
entirely of down. Her eggs number from seven to eight, 
very similar to those of the Wigeon, creamy-white in 
colour, fine-grained, and rather glossy. 
THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 
Moist swampy localities are chosen by this bird as the 
situation for its nest, which is composed of dried grass, 
moss, and an inner lining of finer grass, reed-down, or 
horsehair, and generally, though not always, placed on the 
ground, among rushes or coarse long grass. It lays four 
or five eggs of a pale reddish-brown or grey with a rosy 
tinge, streaked, veined, and spotted with brown of a rich 
dark purple shade. 
THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
TuE position of the Woodpecker’s nest is in the hollow 
trunk of some tree. A hole generally about two feet deep 
is chosen, but the parent bird does not seem to consider any 
attempt at nest-building in any way necessary. The eggs 
are laid on pieces of wood chipped off inside, and number 
four or five, white, occasionally stained or dyed by the 
material on which they are laid. 
THE ROOK PIPIT. 
Lepeus or crevices of rocks near the sea-shore are the 
favourite building-places of this bird. It collects such 
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