Abstract
WHILST writing on the subject of nests, I would like to remark that I examined three nests of the red-backed shrike this last summer, and that the colour of the linings appear to bear out the remarks of a correspondent which appeared in NATURE some months ago. Two of the nests contained eggs of a pale pink ground-colour, whilst the eggs in the third were of a creamy-white ground-colour. In the third nest the lining was of roots, a few black horsehairs, red and white cowhair and a little wool. In the first two nests there was no white hair or wool, the lining consisting chiefly of roots and red cowhair. Although this seems to corroborate the experience of your correspondent, yet the difference in ground-colour of the three sets of eggs was so comparatively slight that I would not like to infer from these three nests alone that the colour of the nest-lining had any significance from a protective point of view.
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READ, R. Nests of the Red-backed Shrike. Nature 43, 176 (1890). https://doi.org/10.1038/043176c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/043176c0
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