MGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 86 



THE GOLDEN OEIOLE. 



This bird is, to a very great extent^ an accidental visitor to 

 our shores, but it is thought by eminent authorities that it 

 would become a common breeder with us were it not so dear 

 to the heart of the collector. It has bred in several of the 

 southern counties of England, and suspends its nest, which 

 is composed of strips of bark, wool, sedge, grass, and leaves, 

 with an inner lining of flower-heads of grass, beneath the 

 forks of a large horizontal branch at some considerable 

 height from the ground. The eggs number four to five 

 or six, are white or light creamy-white, spotted with 

 purplish-brown and underlying markings of grey. 



THE OSPREY. 

 The Osprey, now only met with in one or two remote 

 parts of Scotland, employs sticks, turf, moss, and wool 

 in the construction of its bulky nest, which it builds on 

 the top of a tall tree or ruin. The eggs number three, some- 

 times four, varying from white to creamy-white in ground 

 colour, beautifully marked, and especially so at the larger 

 end, as a rule with rich reddish-brown. The markings 

 vary considerably. 



THE WHITE WAGTAIL. 



Although this bird is the Continental representative of 

 our Pied Wagtail, there are on record many well-authen- 

 ticated instances of its breeding in this country. It differs 

 from the Pied Wagtail in being bluish or slate grey, where 



