Wfen's Nest within a Chimney Swallow's. 617 



as well acquainted with the distinction of the two species as 

 he appears to be. I may just add, here, that on the 3d of 

 October, 1834, I shot a fine adult male of 



The Grey-headed Wagtail (Motacillafdva Tern., M. neglecta 

 Gould), I believe the only individual ever killed in this coun- 

 try. It was on the top of the cliff at Walton on the Naze. — 

 Henry Doubleday. Epping, Oct. 8. 1835. 



The Guillemot's Habits, (p. 162 — 165.) — I lately happened 

 to have an opportunity of observing a guillemot diving in very 

 clear water, and was much struck with the very great simi- 

 larity of its wings, both in their shape and in its manner of 

 using them under water, to the fins of a fish, " remigium 

 alarum ; " and in the water, instead of the air, the analogy 

 loses none of its force. — F. O. Morris. [Received on Sep- 

 tember 22. 1835.] 



A Nest of the Wren {Anorthura) built within that of the 

 Chimney Swallow. — On the 22d of April, I was informed, by 

 an observant person in the neighbourhood (though one but 

 little acquainted with books, unless it be the Penny Magazine), 

 that " a tit had reared her brood in the nest of a swallow." 

 Every one knows that house sparrows frequently build in the 

 nests of swallows, especially of the window swallow (Hirundo 

 urbica Pliny) ; but I had never heard of a tit (Parus) behaving 

 in so shabby a manner. In V. 602. is an account of the large 

 black-headed tit breeding in the nest of a magpie ; but then, 

 in this instance, the little " saw-sharpener " had full right to 

 the prickly castle ; he had not, like the saucy sparrows, suited 

 himself at another's expense. However, I set off in quest of 

 this tit's nest within a swallow's, and, after some search, saw 

 the nest of a chimney swallow (/i/irundo rustica) with a rim 

 of moss peeping out. I climbed up, and found it empty : the 

 young had flown ; so, without compunction, I took it down, 

 and found, from its materials, the architect of the inner apart- 

 ment to be, not a tit, but a wren (Anorthura Mennie). My 

 informant was a Yorkshireman, which accounts for the name 

 he gave to the swallow's tenant : for I have found what Mr. 

 Herbert says in Rennie's beautiful octavo edition (1833) of 

 White's Natural History of Selbome to be correct ; namely, 

 that, in Yorkshire, the wren is called a " tit ; " the yellow 

 bunting, " goldfinch ; " the hedge dunnoc, " cuddy ; " the 

 goldwing, " redcap; " and that the fauvettes (Ficedula) are 

 confounded under the name " whitethroat," except the black- 

 capped fauvette (F. atricapilla Blyth), which is not known 

 at all. Neither was the individual to whom I have alluded 

 acquainted with the reedlings (Salicaria Selby). One of them 

 at least, however, the sedge reedling (S. phragmitis Selby), 



Vol. VIII. — No. 55. xx 



