Part 6

THE BLACKBIRD.

The Blackbird builds her nest in stone walls, holly bushes, hedges, and amongst ivy. It is made with small twigs, roots, and cow-dung or clay intermixed, and lined inside with very fine slender grass. She has been known to try to build on the side of a cliff, where the sticks, &c., would not remain, but have fallen down until there was enough to make half-a-dozen nests, yet the bird continued to bring fresh material. She lays four, five, and rarely six eggs of a dull bluish-green, spotted all over with brown blotches.

THE GREAT TIT.

The eggs of this bird are from six to twelve in number; their colour is white, spotted with a reddish-brown. The nest is composed of moss, feathers, and hair, and is situated in holes in walls and trees. The bird has been known to make these holes herself in the trunk of a tree, working with great diligence and rapidity until she had finished.

THE TEAL.

The Teal builds its nest where rushes are abundant, chiefly on marshes in Scotland and the north of England. The nest is composed of large quantities of dried sedges, flags, and other water plants, and is lined with feathers. The bird lays eight or ten eggs, which are buffish or creamy-white, sometimes faintly tinged with green.

THE NUTHATCH.

This bird lays from five to seven eggs in number, of a pure white spotted with red-brown. They are very often mistaken for the eggs of the Great Titmouse. The nest is made of the dried leaves of the oak, apple, elm, &c., carelessly arranged. It is situated in a hole of a decaying tree, and if too large at the entrance the bird plasters it up until she can just get in and out comfortably.

THE COMMON SEA-GULL.

This bird lays two, and sometimes three eggs, of a pale green or a yellowish-white colour, irregularly blotched with gray and blackish-brown. Her nest is made of seaweed, dry grass, &c., and is found on sea-cliffs and bold rocky headlands, such as St. Abb's Head in Berwickshire.

THE GREEN WOODPECKER.

The eggs of this bird are three or four in number, of a very light bluish-tinged white colour. Her nest is made entirely of the pieces of wood chipped off by the bird in her boring operations. It is placed in the trunk of a tree, frequently in a hole which the bird herself has previously excavated, and perhaps used before. She seems to have a particular liking for the aspen and black poplar tree.

THE KINGFISHER.

This bird lays six or seven eggs, nearly round, white and shining. When fresh and unblown, the yolk shows through the shell, and gives it a beautiful pink colour, something similar to the Dipper's, but more clear and vivid. The nest is composed of the bones of fishes, and is generally in the Sandmartin's previous excavations, about three or four feet above the usual surface of the water.

THE MOORHEN.

The eggs of this familiar and semi-domestic bird are from eight to ten in number, of a pale brownish-grey, spotted with umber-brown. This bird, like the duck, when leaving the nest covers her eggs with flags and reeds, of which also the nest is made. She builds among the sedges on the banks of streams and ponds, and sometimes in trees. Nests have often been found in willow-branches which touch and float upon the water.

THE NIGHTINGALE.

The eggs of this bird are from four to six in number, and are usually of a yellowish olive-brown colour, unspotted, but are occasionally found blue. Her nest is made of dried leaves, lined inside with fine grass. It is situated on the ground in woods and shrubberies, especially on the little banks at the foot of trees, under the shelter of ferns or weeds.

THE LAPWING.

The Lapwing, or Green Plover, makes a very simple nest, only scratching a hole and lining it with bent or short grass. She generally makes it on a little knoll, so that it may be out of danger of being deluged, as her home is generally in swampy marshy land. She lays four eggs of a dirty-green ground, blotched all over with dark brown spots, and the colour harmonises so well with the ground, that it is sometimes very difficult for the collector to see them even when looking close to where they are.

THE BARN OWL.

The Barn Owl lays two eggs at a time, that is, lays two and hatches them, and lays again, even to a second and third time, before the first have flown. They are white and unspotted. She makes a very slight nest of sticks, hay, and sometimes of her own cast-off feathers. She selects barns, old ruins, hollow trees, and crevices of rocks, overshadowed by ivy or creeping plants.

THE CROSS-BILL.

This bird lays four or five eggs of a white colour, tinged with pale blue, resembling the colour of skim-milk, and speckled with red, but only very sparingly. Her nest is made of twigs, grass, and sometimes lined with a few long hairs. She builds mostly among the branches of the Scotch fir, the nest being generally close to the boll or stem.

THE WOODLARK.

Unlike its congener, the Skylark, this bird is limited to certain localities in our islands. Whilst it is fairly abundant in some districts, it is seldom or never seen in others. It is highly esteemed as a song-bird, and consequently suffers at the hands of professional bird-catchers, especially as its young begin to carol at an early period of their existence. Its nest is situated on the ground, usually well concealed beneath a tuft of grass or low plant, and is composed of grass, bents, moss, and hairs, the coarser material used on the outside and the finer to line the interior. The eggs are four or five in number, of a lighter ground colour than the Skylark's eggs, thickly speckled with reddish-brown, the spots sometimes, but rarely, forming a zone at the larger end.

1. Woodlark. 2. Nightjar. 3. Stormy Petrel. 4. Stone-chat. 5. Capercailzie. 6. Bittern. 7. Merlin. 8. Little Grebe. 9. Wheat-ear. ]

THE MERLIN.