96 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES, 



We must remember that an entirely, or partially, white Eook, is a rare bird, 

 much rarer than a white Sparrow; we may suppose that birds of the latter 

 species are accustomed to varieties in the plumage of their brethren, and that 

 they do not consider those Sparrows, which are strangely marked or coloured, 

 as intruders or strangers; and, on the other hand, we may conjecture, that 

 Rooks look upon whiie birds with suspicion, and either desert them, or exclude 

 them from the benefits arising from a residence in the Rookery. — R. P. 



White or light-coloured varieties of the Rook, though not common, are by 

 no means very rare; several cream-coloured birds have occurred in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Yorfc, within the last few months, and we never heard that they 

 were avoided by their confreres; and on several occasions we have seen white- 

 winged Rooks feeding quietly among their sable brethren. We fancy, that in 

 this case, the bird must have been in a weak or debilitated condition, and 

 from choice separated himself from the others of his species, perhaps, as 

 feeling himself unequal to the rough usage he might expect to receive in 

 fighting his way in his little world; for in Rookeries, as in other communities, 

 the weakest goes to the wall. This we think a more probable solution of 

 the cause of his solitary state, than that the other Rooks avoided him on 

 account of his difiering from them. Albinism too is always indicative of 

 debility.— 5. B. M. 



Nesting of the Domestic Pigeon. — I beg to state, in confirmation of a com- 

 munication from Mr, Hannaford, Jun., to "The Naturalist," respecting the nest 

 of the Domestic Pigeon, that a pair of Pigeons, of a variety called the Silver 

 Shaker, (I believe,) or Fantail, in my possession, built a nest this year of 

 "small and straight twigs" in preference to either hay or straw, of both of 

 which there was an abundance at their disposal. I enclose two of the pieces 

 which formed part of the nest; they are of lilac, and from three to eight 

 inches in length. I noticed that there was no straw in the nest, but that it 

 was composed entirely of a number of small twigs. My attention was called 

 to it by reading the passage referred to. These Pigeons began to sit as early 

 as the 21st. of January. — T. S., Lynn, Norfolk, Apnl \Q>th., 1851. 



The sticks forwarded to us by T. S. are, as he states, quite straight and 

 thin.— J5. R. M. 



Curious situation for a House Sparrow's nest. — A common Sparrow-Hawk's 

 nest was discovered near the top of a very tall silver-fir, in one of our meadows. 

 Our gardener having climbed up to examine it, did not notice anything par- 

 ticular about it, except that it was ready for an egg. When we wont 

 some time afterwards to take the young ones, we found, attached to the nest, 

 (built, as it were, into it,) a House Sparrow's nest, with two eggs, and two 

 young birds. Whether the Hawk was keeping them till they increased in 

 size, or whether he had come to terms of peace with them, I do not know. — 

 Claude A. Lillingston, April, 1851. 



