3 °° 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
their wings, and with loud cries give notice to 
their females, who immediately refort to the lpot. 
It is faid that each cock has two or three hens, 
which feem particularly attached to him. The fe- 
male is about one-third lefs than the male, and dif- 
fers confiderably in colour ; her tail is likewife 
much lefs forked : She makes an artlefs neft on 
the ground, where fhe lays fix or eight eggs, of a 
yellowilh colour, with freckles and fpots of a rufty 
brown : The young males at firft referable the 
mother ; they do not acquire their full plumage 
till toward the end of autumn, when it gradually 
changes to a deeper colour, and affumes that of a 
blueiih black, which it afterwards retains. 
