EaaiS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 27 



THE WHTNEOK. 

 The eggs of this bird are from five to eight in number, of 

 a pure white. She makes her nest in holes in the trunks 

 of trees. It is made of dry, rotten wood, which is ground 

 down to a kind of powder, and it has been found lined 

 with moss and feathers. 



THE GOLDEN-CEESTED WREN. 

 This little bird, like the others of its tribe, lays a consider- 

 able number of eggs for its small size. They are eight or 

 nine in number, thickly spotted with reddish-brown, these 

 spots being confluent at the larger end. The underground 

 colour is a faint fleshy tint. Her nest is made of moss 

 and lichens, and is lined with willow-down and feathers. 

 The outside of the nest generally harmonises with its 

 situation, which is amongst the branches of a tree, 

 generally of the fir, from a branch of which the nest is 

 usually suspended. 



THE WHITETHEOAT. 

 The Whitethroat lays four or five eggs of a greenish- 

 white colour, spotted with brown and gray, the spots 

 sometimes form a zone or belt round the larger end. 

 Her nest is made of dead grass and a little hair, 

 loosely attached, the nest being carelessly made. It is 

 situated in low thick herbage, or amongst nettles, or other 

 ground weeds. 



THE SISKIN. 

 This bird lays four or five eggs of a bluish ground colour, 

 some being spotted all over with cloudy rusty spots, others 

 with these spots well defined about the larger end. Her 



