The Warblers : The Grey Warbler 
49 
Eggs. _Four to six; sometimes pure white, sometimes white 
or pink spotted or speckled with red at the larger end; length, 
| in., breadth, 1 in. 
N es t .—The bird builds a pensile nest, measuring from 6 to 9 
inches long, and about H inches across at the widest part. It 
may be pear-shaped, or torpedo-shaped, and is suspended bi 
the' tapering point, the sides sometimes stayed m one or two 
places to adjoining branches or twigs. It is composed of dry 
moss, grass, vegetable fibres, the exterior being thickly coated 
with spider-web. The entrance is at the side, and is barely 
an inch across; and it is. somewhat protected from the weather 
by an arched portico, almost three-quarters of an inch wide, 
woven into the structure; the portico sometimes has a ledge 
at the base, almost an inch in width, forming a threshold at 
the entrance. The portico and threshold may be quite absent, 
or the portico may extend downwards so that the side entrance 
is quite covered, and the bird enters from below. There is 
very great variation in this and in the general shape of the 
nest. The interior cavity is comparatively roomy, being about 
2 in. deep, and is thickly lined with feathers. The pear-shape 
nest is fuller in the middle, and the porch may be sometimes 
very slight, a merest overhanging arch, and no threshold. 
Not until the season of 1924 was I so fortunate as to see 
the starting of a nest. Its construction had always been a 
puzzle, seeing that it must be built downwards.. ie ir 
first suspend a few fibres across the selected twig, weaving 
them into a strong hanging support, and weaving m <■ 
material as they cling to the lengthening structure. s 
begins to swell out to the body the birds work underneath 
as well as at the sides, and seem to work as easily upside clown 
as any other way. They do not appear to resent observa 101 , 
the pair coming without hesitation to the nest as I stooc y 
On one occasion, when it was so far completed that only the 
lining remained to be done, both biids approached, te 
carrying a feather, the female following with ru e ea > 
and shivering wings. They approached leisure y, se n 
twittering, hopping a little distance, flying a ew me '? 
