LEACH'S FORK-TAILED PETREL.
The St. Kilda group of islands forms the principal British-breeding haunt of this bird, although colonies nest in the Hebrides and on the Blaskets off the Irish coast. The nest is situated at the end of a burrow made by the bird itself, or under rocks, and is composed of withered grass, moss, and lichens. Only one egg is laid, white in ground colour, with a belt of small brownish-red spots round the larger end.
THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE.
A little withered grass or other herbage is used to line the depression selected by this bird for its nesting-place, which is situated on the ground in grassy swamps and marshes, near water as a rule, in the North of Scotland and some of the islands lying to the west and north thereof. Four eggs are laid, varying in ground colour from olive to pale buff, spotted, speckled, and blotched with varying shades of dark brown and underlying specks of light grey.
THE HOOPOE.
Although this bird has bred in different parts of England, its chances of doing so now are somewhat remote, on account of the merciless persecution it suffers at the hands of gunners. Its nest is situated in holes in trees, walls, or rocks, and is composed of bits of straws and dry grass. The eggs number from five to seven, and vary from light greenish-blue to pale buff, with minute pit marks over their surface.