THE RUFF.
This bird, like the Snipe and Red-shank, makes her nest in wet, swampy places, using only the coarse grass found on the spot. Like its congeners, it only lays four eggs, very similar in ground colour and marking to the two birds quoted above, varying from stone colour to olive-green, blotched and speckled with rich brown and liver-coloured spots.
THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE.
The high, inaccessible cliffs of Scotland and Ireland are the places where this noble bird propagates its race. Sticks, heather, grass, and wool are the nesting materials used. The eggs are two in number, usually of an unspotted white as representative, but sometimes slightly marked with pale red—this, however, being the exception.
THE GREY PHALAROPE.
The breeding haunts of this bird seem to be as far north as it can possibly carry out incubation successfully; Greenland, Northern Siberia, and Melville Island being chosen. A natural depression in the peat earth serves as a nest, in which four eggs are usually laid, of a stony colour, tinged with olive-green, speckled and spotted (especially at the larger end) with dark brown.
THE SHOVELLER.