This useful member of the Duck family breeds on the Scottish coast and at the Farne Islands, and on the shores of Norway and Sweden, in great numbers. The nest is made of dried grasses, weeds, &c.; and as the process of incubation advances, like the Shoveller, the mother lines the nest profusely with the beautiful down from its body. The eggs usually number five, and are of a light green colour, oblong in shape.
THE TAWNY OWL.
A hollow in a tree, or the deserted nest of a Crow, serves this nocturnal bird for a nest. The eggs are of an elliptical shape, numbering from three to five, and are quite white.
THE HERRING GULL.
Sea cliffs and rocky islands round the coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, are the nesting-places of this bird, the materials used being dried grass and ferns, loosely put together. The eggs are three in number, of a stone colour, sometimes light olive-brown—but this rarely—spotted with dark brown.
