462 Short Communications : — 



trary, I am one of their firmest friends, being fully convinced 

 (indeed, it has been proved by actual experiment) that they 

 are, on the whole, beneficial to the farmer. Unquestionably, 

 they commit some injury; but then, by way of compensation, 

 they do a vast deal of good. Only let the balance be fairly 

 struck, and the good they do will be found greatly to pre- 

 ponderate. — W, T, Bree. Allesley Rectory, May 12. ISSl-. 



[^The Rook is very rare, and never builds, in the Islands of 

 Guernsey and Jersey. The Red-legged Chough occurs in Jersey, 

 hut is rare there,'] — Dr. Latham has remarked (as quoted by 

 Mr. Selby), as a curious circumstance, that the Islands of 

 Guernsey and Jersey should be without rooks, particularly 

 as it is ascertained that they frequently fly across the Channel, 

 from England to France. I learned on the spot [see 473.] 

 that they do sometimes make their appearance there in winter ; 

 but never breed in the islands. The red-legged chough 

 occurs in Jersey, but is rare. — E. Blyth, Tooting, Surrey, 

 May 22. 1834. 



The Swift (H. K^pus L.) builds its own Nest : this Nest de- 

 scribed. — It is generally understood, I believe, that the swift 

 occupies, for the purpose of incubation, the deserted nest of 

 the sparrow (i^ringilla domestica X.). Most authors agree 

 on this point; I suspect for want of opportunities of examin- 

 ing, personally, the nests of swifts, in consequence of these 

 birds invariably selecting the roofs of churches, houses, &c., 

 as the places for their nests. By comparing the statements 

 of different authors, it will be, I think, found that they have, 

 in fact, copied from each other. I must, however, except one 

 author, of a very recent date, from this charge. Mr. Mudie 

 says, in his British Naturalist, " the nest is constructed much 

 in the same manner as that of the common swallow." A. R.Y. 

 has, in V. 59., well commented on the fallacy of this notion 

 [and his remarks should be read in connection with this sub- 

 ject]. In the Architecture of Birds, the swift is classed with 

 the " parasite birds;" and there is a quotation from Montbeil- 

 lard, Oiseaux, viii. 218., who, after describing the nest as 

 " consisting of a great variety of substances, stalks of corn, 

 dry grass, moss, &c. &c.," says, " of seven nests found under 

 the head of a church porch, 15 ft. from the ground, there were 

 only three which had a regular cup shape, and of which the 

 materials were more or less uifawoven, and with greater order 

 than usual in sparrows^ nests ; they had also more moss and 

 fewer feathers, and were in general less bulky." This author 

 had evidently laboured under a mistake, in supposing these 

 were the nests of the sparrow. I have, during 1831, had an 

 opportunity of inspecting two nests belonging to a small co- 



