40 
YELLOW-HAMMER. 
which, in the month of June, the female laid her eggs upon 
the bare ground, sat upon and hatched them; and Mr. Salmon, 
of Tlietford, mentions in the second volume of ‘The Naturalist,’ 
old series, page 274, his having on one occasion, on the 29th. 
of May, 1834, found the nest at the height of seven feet 
from the ground, in a broom tree. Mr. Hewitson too, found 
one at a height of six feet from the ground in a spruce fir. 
The eggs, from three to four or five, and occasionally six 
in number, are of a pale purple white colour, streaked and 
speckled with dark reddish brown; the streaks frequently 
ending in spots of the same colour. Some have been known 
of a red colour, with reddish brown streaks and lines, others 
quite white, others entirely of a stone-colour, and others again 
of a stone-colour, marbled in the usual way. In a nest in 
which was one egg of the ordinary size, there were two others 
of the Lilliputian dimensions of those of the Gfolden-crested 
Wren. The young are seldom able to fly before the second 
week in June, being about a fortnight after they have been 
hatched; they keep together at night for a short time before 
they finally separate. Two broods are occasionally reared in 
the year. 
The male is very variable in the tints of his plumage, the 
yellow being in some much more extended than in others; 
this is the case with older birds, in whom also it is of a 
paler hue: in some the red on the breast and lower part of 
the back is more or less deep than in others. Weight, 
about seven drachms; length, seven inches, or a trifle over; 
bill, bluish horn-colour, the upper one with a tinge of brown; 
iris, dark brown; about the base of the bill the feathers are 
terminated with short bristles. Head on the crown and 
sides, bright yellow, with a few streaks of dusky black and 
olive . brown, frequently forming a line on each side from the 
forehead over the eye to the back of the head; neck on 
the back and nape, the same; chin, throat, and breast, bright 
yellow, the latter clouded and more or less streaked on the 
sides with reddish brown and olive-colour; back, on the upper 
part, bright reddish brown with a tinge of yellow, yellowish 
orange, or yellowish green, each feather being dark brown in 
the centre; on the lower part it is orange brown, the feathers 
margined with greyish white or yellowish, according to the 
season. 
The wings extend to the width of eleven inches; underneath 
they are grey; greater and lesser wing coverts, dusky black, 
