THE LONG-EARED OWL.
Like the Hawk tribe generally, this bird manifests an unmistakable dislike for maternal labour, as she contents herself with the old nest of a Crow, Magpie, or the abandoned home of a Squirrel. Some collectors give the number of eggs as from three to seven; but four or five is the general rule, and numbers above the last figure quoted the exception. The eggs are white, and almost as blunt at one end as the other.
THE SHIELDRAKE.
The labours of the Rabbit are utilised by the Shieldrake, and almost indispensable to her for incubation purposes, as she deposits dried flags, bents, reeds, and a liberal quantity of down, plucked from her own body, at the bottom of a deep burrow, after having enlarged and improved it to suit her purpose. She lays from eight even to twice that number of eggs, of a very smooth, roundish, oblong shape. They are cream colour, or nearly white in colour.
THE REDWING.
This bird very rarely builds in the British Isles, but abundantly in Norway, Sweden, and other high latitudes visited by it during the summer. Its nest is very similar to that of the ordinary Ring Ouzel or Blackbird, and is located in the middle of a dense bush. The eggs number from four to six, and are somewhat like those of the Fieldfare, only not so large. It would take a very clever connoisseur to pick out the egg of the Blackbird, Ring Ouzel, Fieldfare, and Redwing from some specimens without making a mistake, so much alike are they in colour, size, and shape.