454 Short Communications : — 



The Spoonbill (Platalea leucorbdia X.) — In Weaver's 

 museum, Birmingham, there is a specimen of the spoonbill, 

 which was killed a few years ago, near Malvern, in this 

 county ; and I have been assured by a gentleman of this city, 

 whose attachment to ornithological pursuits is very great, 

 that, between twenty and thirty years ago, there was a spot 

 on the Severn, between Powick and Upton, in this county, 

 which was at that time known as the resort of spoonbills, 

 though they have not been now seen there for some years. 

 The specimen in Weaver's museum was probably the last 

 straggler. 



Coccothraustes vulgaris Fleming. — A male and female were 

 shot in a field near this city in December last. — Edwin 

 Lees. Worcester, January 31. 1833. &1. 



The black-backed gull (Zarus marinus L.) is one of the 

 species which Mr. Hill enumerates, in p. 452., as occurring 

 on the coast of Essex. — J. D. 

 f^ The Swallow, a capricious Architect. — My brethren "ec- 

 centric" have, no doubt, together with myself, been led to 

 admire the wonderful instinct with which the various species 

 of the feathered race are gifted by nature for the formation of 

 their respective domiciles. The nest declares at once the 

 name of its architect, from the peculiarity of material, con- 

 struction, and situation ; the former of which is always well- 

 suited to the latter, and all admirably contrived with a view 

 to security or secrecy. 



Although the winged architects, for the most part select 

 positions whose natural advantages materially facilitate and 

 assist the work of art, yet we occasionally observe instances 

 where the usual and obvious rules for choosing are strikingly 

 disregarded, and where mere capriciousness seems to in- 

 stigate the builders. My object, at the present moment, is, to 

 introduce to my readers one of the whimsical exceptions just 

 alluded to, a swallow, which during the past summer con- 

 structed its dwelling in a summer-house at East Woodhay. 

 The situation chosen was the following. One of the sticks 

 used for pegging down the straw thatch protruded into the 

 interior a length of 6 or 8 in., and around this stick my friend 

 the swallow contrived to plaster the muddy roof from which 

 the whole fabric was suspended. The upper part of one side 

 of the nest touched a rafter in one point ,* but* with the ex- 

 ception of this slight abutment, the whole tenement depended 

 from the stick. On visiting the summer-house subsequently, 

 I found that the interesting nest had disappeared, and con- 

 cluded that the weight of the young swallows had been too 

 great for the fragile support, and that the whole had fallen 



