HARD WICKE ' S S CIENCE - G O SSI P. 



213 



Sparrow-hawk's Nest and Eggs. — On the 8th 

 of May last I found a sparrow-hawk's nest in a small 

 fir-tree, containing one egg only. As I very much 

 wanted a good specimen, and yet did not wish the 

 birds to forsake their nest, as they would in all pro- 

 bability have done had I left it empty, I took the one 

 egg and left in its place a blown one of the same sort, 

 which was rather an indifferent specimen. On the 

 loth I again visited the nest ; the old bird flew from 

 it, but it contained only the blown egg I had left. 

 On the 13th I went again to see it, and found two fresh 

 eggs laid, and the blown one thrown from the nest on 

 the ground below. Thus for two days following the 

 day on which the first egg was laid no other was pro- 

 duced, and during the next three days two only were 

 laid. This seems directly opposite to the opinion held 

 by the best authorities, that the eggs follow each other 

 day after day, and that when they are matured it is 

 beyond the power of the bird to abstain from laying 

 them. Could any one explain these apparent diffi- 

 culties?—/: L. S. 



Plates of Bird's Eggs. — Since replying to a 

 question in Science-Gossip a few days ago relative 

 to diagrams of birds' eggs, I have ascertained that 

 Messrs. Hachette and Co., the French publishers, of 

 King William Street, Strand, will undertake to procure 

 these or any other diagrams of the series to order. If 

 you think it worth while to append this information 

 to my former note, please do so at your discretion. I 

 have many of the series ; can furnish lists of the whole 

 if required. — Richard Leiuis. 



Cuckoo's Eggs. — Your correspondent F. Ander- 

 son, in the June number, remarks on the rareness of 

 the cuckoo's egg being found in nests, on, or near the 

 ground. A friend of mine found the egg of the 

 cuckoo in a skylark's nest, and in the grey wagtail's. 

 — E. V. Seebohm, Barnes, S. W. 



Extraordinary situation for a Thrush's 

 Nest. — On the outside wall of a beer-shop called 

 the "Gladstone Arms," in the town of Wrotham, 

 directly under the sign-board, over the front door, a 

 thrush has built her nest, and is now sitting quite 

 closed ; the nest is only about two or three feet from 

 persons' heads as they enter the door, and slightly 

 screened by a few branches of a monthly rose and 

 tea-trees. The landlord is very proud of his neigh- 

 bour, and affords her every protection as a reward for 

 the confidence she has placed in him. — J. G. B., 

 Wrotham, Kent. 



Removing Shells from Brood. — Can any of 

 your readers inform me how most birds so effectually 

 remove the shells of their eggs when their brood is 

 hatched, and what they do with them ? — J. M. IV. 



Query as to Nest.— In the early part of June, 

 1878, I was botanising in Berkshire, when I acci- 

 dentally discovered a bird's nest, and being unable 

 to find what it might be, I thought some of Science- 

 Gossip readers might be able to tell me. The nest 

 was built in a tall bramble-bush, about four feet from 

 the ground, composed of twigs, with a lining of hair. 

 The size was about that of a greenfinch's, but there 

 was scarcely any cavity for the eggs, which were five 

 in number, and exactly the size of the house-swallow's ; 

 they were a pure white, but thickly spotted at the 

 large end only with red. The bird was sitting on 

 the eggs, and as far as I could see closely resembled 

 a whitethroat. The locality was a piece of waste 

 ground close to a large pond, and on the borders of 

 a wood. — Junior. 



Curious Sites for Birds' Nests. — Remarks by 

 " G. T. " at page 141 recall doubts formerly often felt, 

 and since revived at intervals, as to who might have 

 been the original architect of some particular nest. 

 Being again reminded of the subject, and without 

 reliable book, readily accessible, to tell what really 

 distinguishes the home of hawk, magpie, jay, crow, 

 or wood-pigeon, I am under the impression the nest 

 of the latter is flat and smaller in proportion to size 

 of owner ; one found, seven or nine feet up in 

 underwood, was a mere plate of wicker-work. The 

 plump featherless spinous squabs, with disproportionate 

 beak and head and distended crop, were passed down, 

 panting and palpitating, to close their eyes and die, 

 as my young fellow-marauder asserted, from the heat 

 of our hands and of fright. Other nests referred to 

 are often protected by the fork of a stout limb, or are 

 placed in an outer fringe of twigs incapable of support- 

 ing the lightest climber, yet so matted and interlaced 

 as, together with the height and structure, to afford 

 considerable immunity from missiles. Those who have 

 clambered and closely observed, may be aware of 

 differences in arrangement and construction that I 

 should be glad to be made acquainted with. From 

 the ground the nests seem to be much alike : those 

 of crows and hawks being perhaps more roughly put 

 together and made of thicker materials, whilst the 

 nests of magpies andjays are somewhat better finished, 

 deeper and of slighter and more pliant sticks. The 

 strong straight beaks and the feet of the two last-named 

 genera are, no doubt, handier tools for nest-making 

 than the corresponding members of hawks. When 

 the former birds were more abundant, they were 

 bold, establishing themselves near the haunts of man, 

 whilst wild pigeons and wary hawks sought the 

 deeper and more secluded recesses of woods. A crow 

 occupied an oak at the verge of a spinney close to a 

 poultry wife's back door. It overshadowed the re- 

 creation-ground of her feathered charges. A small 

 cluster of oaks, enclosed between thick double hedges, 

 with tall fir-trees, formed the termination of a pleasure- 

 garden and orchard, and separated the crow's oak and 

 spinney from a kitchen-garden flanked by another 

 and larger copse on the far side. A pair of jays 

 located themselves in a huge tree overhanging the 

 kitchen-garden with its prospective currants and rows 

 of green peas. A hundred yards farther within the 

 copse and the same distance from young poultry and 

 laying hens, a magpie selected an oak placed almost 

 singly where the underwood was cut. Beyond 

 where this remained untouched, a hawk built on a 

 similar tree, tall, of moderate size, and without 

 branches below a spreading head. The birds men- 

 tioned oppose appropriate cunning to the evil inten- 

 tions of numerous enemies. A concealed, or open 

 watcher may wait in vain for hours expecting 

 ingress or egress ; sticks and stones are hurled, and 

 shouting tried without result to dislodge the occupant 

 of an almost bullet-proof citadel, yet, when, for an 

 instant, vigilance relaxes or patience wanes, the artful 

 bird drops, like a stone, perpendicularly to the earth ; 

 almost brushing the face and breast of the stalker it 

 dives through the long grass and fern to be imme- 

 diately lost to sight ; or, possibly, turning away for 

 a moment, on looking back we see her slipping off 

 noiselessly on the other side, passing behind a faggot 

 pile or through the shelter of intervening trees, and 

 thus getting quickly out of range. Few birds are 

 more sly than the perky jay, hopping from bough to 

 bough, jerking its long tail ; crest and buff coat and 

 blue and black barrings of wing glistening in early sun- 

 light. ' Twere as easy to " lure the wild vulture from 

 the heavens " as get him in hand, but if the parents be 

 killed, fliers continue to hover about or soon fall 



