Birds' Nests, Eggs and Egg-CollectingKearton, Richard
Science
Birds' Nests, Eggs and Egg-Collecting
Kearton, Richard
Birds -- Eggs; Birds -- Great Britain; Birds -- Nests
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.
[Illustration: EGGS.
1. Spotted Fly-catcher. 2. Tree Sparrow. 3. Brambling. 4. Whinchat.
5. Scoter. 6. Grey Wagtail. 7. Smew. 8. Black-headed Bunting.
9. Great Spotted Woodpecker.
]
THE SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER.
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