HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



67 



adapt themselves to circumstances. Last year I 

 found two robins' nests on the top of a large haystack, 

 but they were destroyed by the stack being cut for 

 sale. A pair of robins have, for several years, built 

 their nest in the end of a pipe, formerly used to a 

 stove in our schoolroom, flying in at either an open 

 window, or a broken pane, and have generally 

 succeeded in rearing their young. The partiality of 

 the robin for curious nesting-places is well known, 

 but it is surpassed in eccentricity by some members 

 of the tit tribe, which seem to have a fancy for 

 "camping" in the most unlikely and outlandish 

 places ; one hears of their nests being found in such 

 places as the hat of an effigy, got up as a scarecrow ; in 

 a pump ; in a flower pot ; in a bottle ; or in a box 

 hung up against a wall, and I have myself found them 

 in all these strange situations. One day, when crossing 

 the orchard, I was rather startled at seeing a bird fly 

 from between my legs, apparently out of the ground, 

 and upon close search amongst the herbage, I found 

 what seemed to be a mouse-hole. Procuring a spade 

 I soon solved the mystery ; a nest of the great tit, 

 containing eight callow young, was built amidst the 

 ruins of what had the year before been a wasp's nest, 

 the inmates of which had, as I well remembered, 

 given our household no slight trouble during the 

 previous autumn. In the cavity formed by the wasps, 

 and amongst the remains of their combs, the tomtit 

 had found a snug nesting-place. I carefully covered 

 up the hole, and believe the little bird brought up its 

 family in peace. I have on two occasions found 

 nests of the blue tit built amongst the honeycombs 

 of a deserted beehive. Did space permit, I could 

 cite many other instances of singularity shown by 

 birds in their choice of nesting-places, but will 

 conclude with the hope that what I have already 

 narrated will not be totally devoid of interest to 

 many, who, like myself, are fond of studying the 

 manners and habits of our feathered friends. — 

 R. Standen, Goosnargk, Lancashire. 



Blackbirds' Nests and Thrushes' Eggs.— It 

 may interest some of my fellow-readers of Science- 

 Gossip to know that I have found a blackbird's nest 

 with four thrushes' eggs and five blackbirds' in it ; 

 also a wren's nest in the roof of a thatched shed, in- 

 side, containing several eggs of the common wren as 

 well as three eggs of the house sparrow ; I have also 

 several times found pheasants' and partridges' eggs in 

 the same nest, but in none of these cases have I dis- 

 covered which bird ultimately brought up the brood, 

 as I regret to say in those days I used to take all the 

 € ggs I found. — J. T. Green. 



The Cuckoo's Eggs. — In last month's number 

 of Science-Gossip, Mr. James Ingleby states that 

 the eggs of the cuckoo "vary very much in colour, and 

 very much resemble the eggs of the birds in whose 

 nests they are deposited." That this is only partially 

 correct, despite the very high authorities by which it 

 is backed, I am assured. I have in my collection no 

 less than eleven specimens of these birds' eggs. Four 

 of these were taken from the nests of hedge sparrows ; 

 all these four are of various shades of grey, mottled 

 with darker spots, whilst those of the hedge-sparrow 

 where of a bluish-green. One of the specimens I 

 found in a wren's nest, along with nine wren's eggs. 

 Here again the difference was very great, both as 

 regards size and colour ; the cuckoo's egg being 

 brownish-grey, whilst the wren's were white and dotted 

 with red spots near the larger end. Of the rest, two 

 were taken from the nests of common wagtails ; one 

 situated in a pear-tree trained against a garden wall, 

 and the other in a grape-vine in a similar situa- 

 tion. Two more were found in sedge-warblers' nests 



about three feet from the ground. One was taken 

 from a white-throat's nest, and the last in May, 1878, 

 from a tree pipit's nest built in a bank at the side of 

 the high road. In these last cases the difference was 

 of course, not so clearly defined, but all the cuckoos' 

 eggs in my collection are some shade of grey. In 

 fact I have never seen but one cuckoo's egg that was 

 not, and this was of a decidedly brown tinge. Of 

 course, when the cuckoo lays her egg in the nest 

 of a skylark, tree pipit, wagtail, or whitethroat, the 

 difference is not so very great from those of the other 

 bird. In reply to Mr. Kerr's queries, he will see that 

 I have taken a cuckoo's egg from the nest of the 

 common wren, which was only about eighteen inches 

 from the ground. With the exception of the tree 

 pipit, I found all my cuckoo's eggs in nests placed 

 several feet above the ground. In the edition of 

 " White's Natural History of Selbourne," edited by 

 Mr. Jesse, the editor states in a note, page 108, " It 

 is now known, by examination of the ovarium, that 

 the cuckoo lays several eggs." In conclusion, I 

 would refer both gentlemen to Volume XII. of 

 Science-Gossip, where the subject of the cuckoo 

 and its habits is discussed. — B. E. S. 



Woodpeckers and their Nests. — In the middle 

 of February, 1878, I was deeply interested in a small 

 woodpecker {Piacs minor) which daily kept up its 

 busy tapping on the dead boughs of some twenty 

 poplar-trees at the end of my garden. I watched it 

 whenever I could get close enough to see it clearly. 

 At one time I saw a larger species fly from the top of 

 the same tree that the smaller species was tapping on. 

 On March 3, I observed that it had a mate with it. 

 I watched the pair until the middle of April, when I 

 lost sight of them until, on June 20, I saw one 

 flying in a direct line towards the poplars, they being 

 just within sight. I saw it a second time three days 

 after in the same place just come from the direction 

 of the poplars ; it went over^a wall ; my appearance 

 above the wall frightened it from some ivy growing 

 on a house about ten yards distant, I believed at the 

 time that it was searching for food, and had young 

 up in the poplars ; and on July 6 I was surprised to 

 find that it had successfully reared its young in a 

 hole that it had made in the under side of a dead arm 

 of an apple-tree, only ten feet from the ground (when 

 I had supposed it was fifty feet high in the poplars). 

 The entrance was perfectly and smoothly made, very 

 small, and arched over into the centre of the touch- 

 wood ; the arm was only fifteen inches round ; the 

 hole was about fifteen inches deep, and recently made. 

 The touchwood being quite clean, I carefully let a 

 spoon down into the hole, but all was gone. On the 

 12th instant I paid a visit to the hole, and found it 

 neivly and very much enlarged in the same perfect 

 manner, this could not have been done more than 

 eight weeks, most probably had only been done a 

 few days. A minute after this I heard the tapping 

 up in the poplars, and searching, found my acquaint- 

 ance of last year at his usual occupation ; and watch- 

 ing it, saw it disturbed by passers-by and fly on to 

 the apple-tree. My reason for inserting this interest- 

 ing account is : can any of the readers of Science- 

 Gossip inform me whether the larger species {Picus 

 major) has enlarged the hole, and intends breeding 

 in the apple-tree this season, or is it the same pair as 

 last year? If so, why they should require a larger 

 hole than last year, and at what date I may expect to 

 find eggs (being a collector) ? I should like to know 

 more clearly what their tapping is for, I believe it is 

 for two purposes. — H. B., St. Ives. 



Colour of Birds' Eggs. — I am afraid Mr. J. 

 Ingleby will find it difficult to procure anything that 



