Part 4

This bird generally lays three eggs, four being occasionally found, of a pale olive-green or pale umber-brown, blotched with black-brown or dark grey; however, they are very variable in ground colour, sometimes being of a bluish-white, unspotted. The nest is loosely built of the tops of sedges, reeds, or rushes, and is placed about a foot or more above the surface of the water or swamp. She is fond of low marshy districts, such as Norfolk, Kent, Essex, and some parts of Lincolnshire, and I have frequently found her round the edges of high mountain tarns in the Pennine range.

THE SNIPE.

The Snipe generally lays four eggs, rather large for her size, of a grey colour, tinged with yellow or olive-green, and blotched with umber or rusty brown, of two shades, more thickly towards the larger end. The eggs are sharply pointed, and invariably placed with the small ends together in the middle. Her nest is placed in a slight depression in the earth, which she lines with withered grass, rushes, or dried heather. It is situated in long grass, rushes, or amongst heather, near to tarns, swamps, bogs, and other places suitable to the habitat of the bird.

THE CHIFF-CHAFF.

This bird lays five, six, or seven eggs of white ground, dotted with brown or blackish-purple spots, predominating at the larger end; the shell is very delicate, and must be carefully handled. Her nest is built of dead grass, the skeletons of leaves, thin pieces of bark and moss, lined profusely inside with wool, feathers, and hair. It is situated amongst furzes, brambles, in hedge-banks near the ground, occasionally amongst long grass on the ground, and is spherical in shape, with an opening at the side.

THE MARTIN.

The Martin seems particularly fond of attaching her nest to the habitations of man. I have counted eighteen nests in as many feet under the eaves of one house. She builds under eaves, angles of windows, arches of bridges, troughs of cow-barns, rocks, sea-cliffs, &c. Her nest is composed of clay and mud, particularly that found on roads covered with limestone, as it possesses great adhesive qualities when dry. If the weather is dull it takes her some time to build her nest, but if it is dry and fine she runs it up quickly, working most dexterously at it early in the morning. She lines it internally with straw, hay, and feathers, and returns to the same nesting-place year after year, sometimes to find her cosy little nest occupied by sparrows. She lays four or five eggs, white, the yolk giving them a slight pinky tinge, unspotted.

THE HEDGE-SPARROW.

The Hedge-sparrow's favourite nesting-place is in hawthorn hedges, the nest is also found in furze-bushes, low shrubs, laurels, &c., and is composed of straw, dried grass, moss, and wool, lined with hair. The eggs are four or five in number, of a beautiful greenish-blue.

THE DIPPER.

The Dipper, or Water Ouzel as it is called in some districts, builds her nest in such splendid harmony with its surroundings that it is very difficult to find. It is generally placed near to some waterfall, and very often behind it, so that the bird has to fly through the water on entering and leaving her nest. It is also found in caves, underneath the arches of bridges, and I have even found one in a tree. The exterior is composed of aquatic mosses, and the interior beautifully lined with dry leaves. Dippers' nests are generally of large size, almost globular in form, with a central hole for the entrance and exit of the bird. She lays from four to six eggs, the average being five, of a delicate semi-transparent white, unspotted.

THE GARDEN WARBLER.

The Garden Warbler's nest is located a few feet from the ground, in the branches of a thorn or bramble-bush, and coarse grasses, which are densely matted. It is made of straws, dried grass, fibrous roots, wool, and horsehair, and is rather loose and slovenly. Her eggs number four or five, of a pale yellowish stone-grey, blotched and spotted with ash-grey and purplish-brown.

THE MISSEL THRUSH.

This bird, known in many parts of the country as the Misseltoe Thrush, builds her nest in trees, resting it on a branch close to the trunk, or where the trunk ends abruptly in two or three strong branches. It is composed of dried grass and moss, with a liberal mixture of wool, which helps it to adhere to the bark of the tree, and is lined internally with fine soft grass. Her eggs number from four to six, according to some authorities, of a pale green, speckled with brown, of two shades; however, the colours are subject to variation. She commences to breed very early in the season, like the Common Thrush, and has been known to lay twice in the same nest, which strengthens my opinion that the bird does often rear two broods in one season, from the time I have known her to occupy the same nest.

THE SPOONBILL.

The Spoonbill lays from two to four eggs, which vary in colour, some being entirely white, whilst others are spotted with a light brownish-red. The nest is situated in trees, or amongst the reeds and rushes on the ground, the bird seeming, like the Heron, partial to society. If the nature of the position will permit, several nests are situated close together, and are composed of sticks, coarse grass, and dried roots, carelessly thrown together. The bird does not breed in this country.

THE PTARMIGAN.

This bird lays from six to fifteen eggs of a pale red, brown or white, blotched with two shades of darker brown. Her nest is situated on the ground, on the bleak stony mountain-tops of the mainland of Scotland and the surrounding islands. It is merely a cavity scratched in the ground, in which the hen lays her eggs.

THE PEREGRINE FALCON.

This noble bird builds her nest of sticks, and places it amongst rugged cliffs, chiefly round the coast. She lays three or four eggs of a red-brown colour, with darker blotches and clouds.

THE CURLEW.

Of slight construction, the nest of this bird is situated on moorland, heath, and marsh tracts of land; a few leaves or other dry materials, carelessly brought together among long grass, heather, or in a tuft of rushes, is all that appears. The eggs are four in number, pear-shaped, and generally placed with the smaller ends together, of an olive-green colour, blotched and spotted with darker green and dark brown.

THE HOODED CROW.

Hooded Crows lay four or five eggs of a grey-green, blotched and spotted with smoky brown. Their nests are built of sticks, heather, and wool, and are situated amongst rocks and sea-cliffs in Scotland, occasionally in trees, and are very similar to those of the Carrion Crow.

THE COOT.

The Coot lays from seven to ten eggs, of a dingy stone colour or dull buff, spotted and speckled with brown; the spots are less numerous but darker than the speckles. Her nest is situated in marshes and ponds, and is composed of decaying sedges, reeds, flags, and rushes; and, though of clumsy appearance, is very strong. It is built on willows that grow amongst the water, on tufts of rushes, and more commonly among reeds. It has been known to be dislodged from its position by a flood, and swept ashore whilst the bird was incubating without any apparent inconvenience to her.

THE WATER RAIL.

As might be expected, the nest of this bird is composed of sedges and flags, in somewhat considerable quantities, and is situated under thick cover in osier-beds and swamps in which alders grow, more especially in the southern counties of England. The hen lays from six to nine eggs of a creamy-white, with a few small reddish spots and dots.

THE COMMON BUNTING.

The Common Bunting lays from four to six eggs of a grey colour, tinged with red-brown, purple-brown, and ash-coloured spots or streaks. Her nest is built of straw and coarse hay outside, lined in the interior with fibrous roots, and sometimes with horsehair. It is situated amongst coarse grass near to or on the ground.

THE YELLOW-HAMMER.

This beautiful bird lays from three to six eggs of a dingy white tinged with purple, streaked and veined with purple-brown, the streak or vein generally terminating in a spot of the same colour. Her nest is situated on or near the ground, sheltered by overhanging grass, and is composed of dried or decayed leaves of grass round the exterior, followed by a layer of finer grass, and the interior lined with horsehair.

THE JACK SNIPE.

According to some of the very best authorities on British ornithology, the Jack Snipe does not breed in these islands although an occasional nest is said to have been found. The bird is only a winter migrant, and breeds in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. The eggs are four in number, of a yellowish olive colour, spotted with two shades of brown, especially on the larger end.

THE GYR FALCON.

The Gyr Falcon does not build in the British Isles, but in Iceland, Greenland, and the northern districts of Europe and America. The nest is composed of sticks, seaweed, and mosses, and is situated in lofty precipices. The eggs are two in number, mottled nearly all over with pale reddish-brown on a dull white ground. They are larger than those of the Peregrine Falcon, but very similar in shape and colour, as well as in the mode in which the colour is disposed over the surface.

THE FIELDFARE.

A Fieldfare's nest has never, within my personal knowledge, been found in the British Isles, the birds breeding in the more northern parts of Europe, such as Norway and Sweden, in large numbers. They build their nests near to the trunks of spruce trees, employing such materials as sticks and coarse grass, and weeds gathered wet, intermixed with clay, and lined internally with long grass. The eggs number from three to six, somewhat resembling those of the Blackbird or Ring Ouzel.

THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE.

The Red-backed Shrike lays five or six eggs of a pink-white or cream colour, with brown spots predominating at the larger end. Her nest is composed of wool, moss, bents of grass, and hair, and is situated in furze-bushes, whitethorn hedges, &c.

THE CHOUGH.

This bird builds her nest in sea-cliffs, in caves, old ruins, &c., near the sea. It is composed of sticks, lined with a liberal application of wool and hair. Her eggs number five or six of a dirty white colour, spotted and blotched chiefly at the larger end with raw sienna-brown and ash colour.

THE PUFFIN.

Lays one grey-coloured egg marked with indistinct spots of pale brown; the nest is generally minus materials, so the egg is placed on the bare earth at the extremity of a burrow or fissure in a sea cliff. She often adopts a rabbit-burrow if it is situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the sea, and should the original owner or excavator be bold enough to dispute the right of proprietorship, this remarkable bird is not at all indisposed to do battle for possession of the situation her fancy has selected as a desirable place in which to carry out the duties imposed by Nature's law for the perpetuation of the species.

In the absence of a suitable cranny or rift in the rock, or the accommodation usually afforded by the presence of rabbits, the bird will set to work and excavate a hole sometimes as much as three feet deep, sticking to her task with such assiduity as often to endanger her safety from capture.

It seems, however, that she takes great care that whatever place is adopted for her nest it shall not be reached by even the highest tide. The nest of the Puffin is found in great numbers in the Isle of Wight, Puffin Island, Scilly Islands, Isle of Anglesea, and many islands on the coast of Scotland. The parent bird cannot be induced to leave her nest except by force, sitting very closely, and determinedly defending it with her singularly constructed and formidable beak, with which she bites most severely.

THE RING OUZEL.

The mountainous districts of the North of England and Scotland are the favourite nesting-places of this bird, which seems most at home in lonely secluded districts. It has often struck me that it is to this bird alone the mountain ash owes its existence high up in nearly every little mountain valley where no other tree is to be seen, the Ring Ouzel eating the berries and dropping the seed in all sorts of out-of-the-way nooks and corners. The situation of the nest, its materials and structure, also the eggs of the Ring Ouzel and Blackbird, differ but little, and I have often had a difficulty in determining the rightful owner of a nest, until the parent bird has been watched on or off. The nest is composed of coarse grass, moss, and mud, with an inner lining of finer grass, and is generally situated in clefts of rock, steep banks, or old walls, sometimes quite on the ground. The eggs number four or five, of a dull bluish-green, freckled or blotched with reddish-brown, markings generally larger and fewer than those of the Blackbird.

THE KENTISH PLOVER.

No trouble is taken by this bird in nest-building, simply depositing its eggs in some depression or hollow of the sand or shingle on the southern coasts of England, principally Kent and Sussex. The eggs number four, and are of a cream, stone, or pale testaceous-brown colour, streaked and spotted with black.

THE BUZZARD.

The Buzzard sometimes builds a nest of sticks, hay, leaves, and wool; at others adopts a crow's nest in some moderately high tree. Her eggs number two, three, and even four, and are of a dingy white; sometimes this colour alone, and at others spotted and blotched at the larger end with red-brown.

THE CIRL BUNTING.

Some low bush or furze is generally adopted by this bird for its nesting-place. The nest is composed of dry grass, roots, and moss, with generally an inner lining of hair, but sometimes without either moss or hair. The eggs number four or five, of a dull bluish or cinereous white with irregular streaks of dark brown, often terminating in a spot at one end.

THE HAWFINCH.

The Hawfinch builds in various kinds of trees and at various heights; sometimes its nest is found quite exposed in a whitethorn bush, or on the horizontal branch of an oak. It is built of twigs, &c., intermixed with lichens, and interlined with fine fibrous roots and hair. Her eggs number from four to six, of a pale olive-green colour, irregularly streaked with dusky grey and spotted with black. The ground colour is variable, being sometimes of a buffish hue.

THE STOCK DOVE.

Clefts in rocks, rabbit-holes, cavities in the trunks of trees, and often on the ground beneath thick furze-bushes which are next door to waterproof on account of their thickness, are the situations chosen by the Stock Dove. Very little trouble is taken with the nest, which merely consists of a few twigs and roots. The eggs only number two, of a pure shining white.

THE DARTFORD WARBLER.

Thick furze-bushes are the places chosen by this bird for its nesting-place on the commons of Kent and Surrey. The materials used are dead branches of furze, moss, and dry grass mixed with wool, and lined inside with finer dead grasses, the whole structure being loosely put together. The eggs number four or five, and are of a greenish, sometimes buffish, white ground speckled all over with dark or olive-brown and cinereous, which become more dense at the larger end and form a zone. The eggs are at times more numerously spotted than at others; then the markings are not so large.

THE POCHARD.

This bird breeds in the east and south of England, also in Scotland and Ireland, although it is much less numerous during the summer than the winter months. The position of its nest is similar to that of the Wild Duck, also the materials of which it is composed (dead grass and sedge, as well as down when the bird has begun to sit). Its eggs number from seven even to thirteen, but ten is the usual number laid, of a greenish-buff colour.

THE BLACK REDSTART.

This well-known visitor breeds in many parts of Europe and North Africa, building a nest very similar to that of the Robin, composed chiefly of twigs, straw, dried grass, &c., and situated in holes of walls and other positions similar to the above-mentioned bird. Five is the usual number of eggs; however, four only, or as many as six, are found, generally pure white in colour, occasionally tinged faintly with brown. Cases are recorded where they have been found spotted at the larger end with minute brown spots.

THE SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER.

Many curious positions for rearing a family have been chosen by the Spotted Fly-catcher, but its nest is generally found in trees which are trained against walls, barns, tool and summer houses. It is composed of a diversity of material, and no fixed rule seems to be adhered to--bents, straws, moss new and old, hairs, feathers, &c. The eggs number four, five, or even six, of a grey-white spotted with faint red; sometimes, but rarely, pale blue, unspotted. The ground colour varies from grey or bluish-white to pea-green, the markings also being in various shades, clouded, spotted, and blotched with faint red or reddish-brown.

THE TREE SPARROW.

Holes in pollard and other trees are chosen as desirable situations by this bird for perpetuating its race, and sometimes in the thatches of old barns along with the Common House Sparrow. Its nest is very similar to that of its more widely-distributed and better-known kinsman, viz., of hay, dry grass, and straw, with a liberal lining of nice warm feathers. The eggs generally number four or five, of a grey colour, thickly spotted with umber-brown or darker grey, sometimes white with grey spots or blotches, and may be described, like the Common Sparrow's, as variable.

THE BRAMBLING.

Scandinavia and other countries situated in high latitudes are the breeding haunts of this little bird, which builds a nest very similar to the Chaffinch. It is placed fourteen or twenty feet from the ground, in the fork of a branch shooting out from the trunk of a birch or spruce fir-tree, and composed of moss, lichens, bark, mixed with thistle-down, and lined with fine grass and feathers. Its eggs number from five to seven, similar to those of the Chaffinch, the ground colour being generally green, and the spots not so dark nor large.

THE WHINCHAT.

The nest of this bird is composed of grass and moss of different kinds, the stronger on the outside, and the finer forming a lining for the interior, and is situated on the ground in positions where it is by no means an easy task for the most veteran collector to find it. It lays five or six eggs of a delicate bluish-green, rarely speckled or marked with red-brown.

THE SCOTER.

The most northern counties of Scotland are the nesting-places of this bird, which gathers together such materials as twigs, grasses, dry stalks, and leaves, placing them under cover, or in hiding, afforded by the low-growing shrubs or plants, and lining the whole with down. The eggs number from six to ten, and are of a pale greyish-buff colour, sometimes slightly tinged with green.

THE GREY WAGTAIL.

Some naturalists describe the position of this bird's nest as on the ground; but, personally, I have generally found them in the niches of rocks, or under overhanging ledges or banks. The nest is composed of moss, bents, grass, horsehair, often lined with a coat of cow's-hair, which they rub off against walls and trees in the spring-time. This bird's eggs number five or six, and are of a grey colour, mottled and spotted with ochre-grey or brown, variable.

THE SMEW.

The nesting-place of this bird is in high latitudes, such as north-east Russia, and the situation chosen is in the hollow trunk of a tree. The material of which the nest is composed is taken from the bird's body, and consists entirely of down. Her eggs number from seven to eight, very similar to those of the Wigeon, creamy-white in colour, fine-grained, and rather glossy.

THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING.

Moist swampy localities are chosen by this bird as the situation for its nest, which is composed of dried grass, moss, and an inner lining of finer grass, reed-down, or horsehair, and generally, though not always, placed on the ground, among rushes or coarse long grass. It lays four or five eggs of a pale reddish-brown or grey with a rosy tinge, streaked, veined, and spotted with brown of a rich dark purple shade.

THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.

The position of the Woodpecker's nest is in the hollow trunk of some tree. A hole generally about two feet deep is chosen, but the parent bird does not seem to consider any attempt at nest-building in any way necessary. The eggs are laid on pieces of wood chipped off inside, and number four or five, white, occasionally stained or dyed by the material on which they are laid.

THE ROCK PIPIT.

Ledges or crevices of rocks near the sea-shore are the favourite building-places of this bird. It collects such materials as dry grasses of various kinds, and seaweed, with an inner lining of fine grass, and occasionally horsehair. Its eggs number four or five, of a grey ground colour, occasionally slightly tinged with green. The spots are variable in shade, being sometimes greyish-brown, at others reddish; the underlying ones are always light grey. The spots are small, and more crowded at the larger end.

THE CORMORANT.

Rocky coasts are chosen by the Cormorant, which builds an ample nest of sticks, seaweed, and coarse grass on some ledge or shelf of sea cliff. Her eggs number from four to six, of a chalky-white colour, varied with pale blue or greenish tinge, which is really the colour of the proper shell, the white being only a rough coat.

THE CREEPER.

This little bird generally builds its nest in a hollow tree, its materials being fine twigs, dead grass, moss, and feathers, and lays from six to nine eggs of a white ground colour, speckled with red-brown at the larger end, much resembling those of the Willow Wren and Blue Titmouse.

THE TURTLE DOVE.

The eastern and southern counties are the favourite nesting localities of this Dove, which builds a loose nest of sticks and twigs, carelessly thrown together, in a fir, holly, or other bush. The eggs number two, are quite white, and much smaller for the size of the bird than the Ring and Stock Doves.

THE SHORE LARK.

Cold northern climates, like Lapland and Siberia, are chosen by the Shore Lark for breeding places. Its nest is generally situated in some slight hollow on the ground, and is loosely made of grass, with an inner lining of willow-down or hair from the reindeer. Her eggs number three, four, or five, the second figure being the general rule, and are, like those of the Common Lark, liable to variation in colouring. The ground colour is of a brownish or pale green, tinted white, marked with neutral brown spots often so profuse that they cover the greyer spots underlying entirely out.

THE GANNET.