THE HOUSE SPARROW.
This familiar little bird builds her nest in the walls of old stone houses, at the back of spouting, and amongst ivy. It is particularly fond of ejecting the Martin from her carefully-built home, and has been even known to turn out the eggs of this little harmless bird. She lays five or six eggs, of a dirty white, covered with black or dark brown spots.
THE JACKDAW.
The Jackdaw builds her nest in towers of churches, the ruins of old castles and abbeys, rocks, hollow trees, and chalk pits. It is made of sticks, straw, and hay, with an inner lining of large feathers, hair, and wool. The eggs, numbering from three to six, are a pale green-blue, spotted with dingy brown; the spots are confluent at the larger or thicker end.
THE COMMON GROUSE.
The Grouse lays on an average about nine eggs; as many as fifteen have been found, but this number has been by some attributed to two birds, as they will sometimes build (if we may term it such) within a yard of each other. Their nests merely consist of a little hollow scratched out, and lined with heather or bent. The eggs are of a dirty white colour, covered with umber-brown spots. Both the old birds are very cunning in trying to decoy the intruder away from the whereabouts of the nest, feigning lameness or injury.
THE KESTREL.