NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 151 



No. 40. NIGHTINGALE. (Aedon luscinia.) 



From the beginning of April till September this noted songster is 

 generally distributed over the greater part of England, but is rarer 

 in the northern and western counties and in Wales. Its favourite 

 resorts are small woods and coppices in the neighbourhood of water 

 and damp meadows, and, till the young are hatched in June, its well- 

 known song may be heard at almost any hour of the day or night. 

 The nest, composed of dead leaves, is generally placed on or near the 

 ground in low undergrowth. From four to six eggs, usually of an 

 olive-brown colour, are laid about the middle of May. 



Leicestershire, June. 



Presented by Theodore Walker, Esq. 



No. 41. WHINCHAT. (Pratincola rubetra.) 



A summer visitor, generally distributed over Great Britain from the 

 middle of April till the beginning of October, but only met with in some 

 of the southern counties of Ireland. In the beginning of May, the 

 somewhat loosely constructed nest of dry grass and moss, lined with 

 roots and hair, is placed in a hollow in the ground, well concealed by 

 the surrounding heather, grass, or coarse herbage. The eggs, usually 

 six in number, are greenish-blue, faintly dotted or zoned with rust- 

 colour. Two broods are sometimes reared in the season. 



Norfolk, May. 



Presented by Lord Walsingham. 



No. 42. STONECHAT. (Pratincola rubicola.) 



Unlike the Whinchat, this species is a resident in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, its numbers being largely augmented in winter by visitors from 

 the colder parts of the Continent. Both in its nesting-habits and in the 

 number of its eggs, it closely resembles its ally, but breeding com- 

 mences in the beginning of April, and the eggs are somewhat greener 

 in colour. 



Norfolk, April. 



Presented by Lord Walsingham. 



