THE SMEW.
The nesting-place of this bird is in high latitudes, such as north-east Russia, and the situation chosen is in the hollow trunk of a tree. The material of which the nest is composed is taken from the bird's body, and consists entirely of down. Her eggs number from seven to eight, very similar to those of the Wigeon, creamy-white in colour, fine-grained, and rather glossy.
THE BLACK-HEADED BUNTING.
Moist swampy localities are chosen by this bird as the situation for its nest, which is composed of dried grass, moss, and an inner lining of finer grass, reed-down, or horsehair, and generally, though not always, placed on the ground, among rushes or coarse long grass. It lays four or five eggs of a pale reddish-brown or grey with a rosy tinge, streaked, veined, and spotted with brown of a rich dark purple shade.
THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.
The position of the Woodpecker's nest is in the hollow trunk of some tree. A hole generally about two feet deep is chosen, but the parent bird does not seem to consider any attempt at nest-building in any way necessary. The eggs are laid on pieces of wood chipped off inside, and number four or five, white, occasionally stained or dyed by the material on which they are laid.