JACKDAW 
149 
local Jackdaw settlement. The Jackdaw nests 
later than the Rook, and has seldom eggs till the 
latter half of April. He builds a large nest of 
sticks in any convenient hole or crevice, whether in 
a tree, a quarry, or cliff-face, or a church-tower or 
ancient ruin. In the course of years the accumu- 
lation of sticks in some of these situations is some- 
times enormous. On the other hand, he will 
sometimes add little but a lining to a snug dry 
hole I in the crumbling wood of a tree, where a 
stick foundation is not needed. The nest is mainly 
lined, like the Carrion Crow's, with locks of 
sheep's wool, but dry grass tussocks, bits of soft 
bark and other similar odds and ends may also 
find a place. The eggs are usually five in number, 
and in agreement with the great general rule that 
eggs laid in holes are paler in colour than eggs 
which are laid in open situations, and need there- 
fore greater concealment ; they are a good deal 
lighter in colour than the Rook's or Crow's. They 
are a very pale and delicate greenish-blue in ground- 
colour, blotched, spotted, and speckled with several 
shades of deep green and greenish-brown, and clear 
ash-grey. When feeding in flocks with Rooks, 
as they so often do. Jackdaws can be distinguished 
by their quicker, more fluttering flight, even more 
easily than by their smaller size ; but it is rarely 
long before they utter their garrulous, conver- 
