Birds' Nests, Eggs and Egg-CollectingKearton, Richard
Science
Birds' Nests, Eggs and Egg-Collecting
Kearton, Richard
Birds -- Eggs; Birds -- Great Britain; Birds -- Nests
1. Hen Harrier. 2. Roseate Tern. 3. Great Black-backed Gull.
4. Lesser Black-backed Gull. 5. Great Crested Grebe. 6. Kittiwake.
7. Stone Curlew. 8. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 9. White Wagtail.
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THE HEN HARRIER.
Game-preserving has proved a disastrous business to this bird, and it
now only breeds in a few of its old strongholds, such as Cornwall,
Wales, the Highlands, Orkneys, and Hebrides, where I have met with it.
Its nest is composed of sticks, sprigs of heather, dry grass, and wool,
and is placed upon the ground in deep heather. The eggs number from
four to six, of a pale bluish-white colour, rarely marked with a few
reddish-brown spots.
THE MARSH HARRIER.
Sticks, reeds, and sedge are the materials used by this bird for
building its nest, which is situated on the ground, although instances
have been reported of it occurring in a tree. It is said to still breed
in Norfolk and the West of England. The eggs number three or four,
sometimes as many as six, it is said. They are greyish-white, slightly
tinged with light bluish-green, and occasionally marked with rusty
brown.
THE HOBBY.
This bird still breeds in very small numbers in the Midlands and in the
Eastern Counties. It selects the old nest of a Crow, Wood Pigeon, or
Magpie, and deposits its three or four eggs in it without any attempt
at nest-building. The eggs are yellowish-white in ground colour, but
this is almost entirely hidden by the thick marking of reddish-brown.
RICHARDSON'S SKUA.
The islands lying to the West and North of Scotland, also parts of the
far north of the mainland, are chosen by this Skua for its breeding
quarters. The nest is simply a slight hollow, sparingly lined with
a few bits of withered grass, and is situated on wild, unfrequented
moors and bog-land. The eggs number two, but upon occasion one only
is found, and sometimes as many as three. They vary from olive-green
to reddish-brown in ground colour, spotted and blotched with
blackish-brown and light grey. I have seen them harmonise so closely
with their surroundings that I had a great difficulty in finding them,
though I had marked the whereabouts of the nest within a few feet
through my binoculars.
THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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