MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 279 



fine and beautiful species, not common with us. 



A. nudus: this is a very beautiful and delicately- coloured species. I have 

 only met with it in one place, but there in tolerable plenty, amongst dead 

 beech and Pinus leaves, in a small wood near Exeter, October and November, 

 1851-52. 



A. alutaceus: only two or three of this fine and beautifully-coloured Agaric 

 have fallen under my notice; these occurred in Stoke wood, September 25th,, 

 1852. The pileus of a beautiful deep pink, and yellow gills; stipes, pale 

 flesh-coloured, which gives it a very showy appearance. 



A. emeticus: rather common in Stoke wood, October, 1852. 



A. adustus /? elephantinus : some monstrous specimens of this occurred at 

 Coaver, some of them weighing a pound and a half each, Pileus, nine inches 

 in diameter; growing amongst dead beech and other leaves, December 22nd., 

 1831: not common. 



A. zonarius: in Stoke wood, September, 1852. 



A. Uennius: rather abundant under a large beech at Coaver every year, 

 for these last three years. 



A. deliciosus: in Stoke wood, September 23rd., 1853; not common. 



A.vellereus: Coaver; not very common. 



A. exsuccus: a few of this species occurred by the side of a large wood-rick 

 near Exeter, October 26th., 1852. 



A. giganteus: a few of this fine and beautiful Agaric I met with in the 

 belt of wood which surrounds the lawn at Coaver House, October 11th., 

 1851. 



A. nebularis: under a Pinus Libanus on the lawn, Coaver, October 28th., 

 1853; rare with us. 



3BiBtulliiEi?ntts Mntitra. 



Nesting of the Chaffinch, (Friiigilla coolebs.)— Dr. Rennie terms this bird a felt-making one, 

 and very highly eulogizes its skill; and I am sure no one who has any regard for beauty, 

 can look at so ingenious a structure, and not bestow on the bird commendation for its neat 

 edifice. But it appears to me, that many naturalists, in praising this bird, forget that its 

 adaptability and use of materials for outside covering is very wisely exemplified, as well as 

 its skill, in so very artfully weaving the substances into one compact mass. The bird that 

 selects an apple tree, will stud the exterior of its nest to resemble the bark of that tree ; and 

 so on with a fir, or any other; hence a great diversity is apparent in the outer appearance or 

 design. In the summer of 1853, Dr. Holmes, of Linton, (while looking over a small volume 

 of nests I had drawn from real specimens,) remarked that his servant, in November, 18o2, 

 found an elder tree blown down in their garden, towards the close of that very stormy 

 autumn, and that appended to its side, very closely, and of the very resemblance to the 

 trunk of the tree, was a Chaffinch's nest, which, in the summer, had eluded all notice, though 

 daily they were in the habit of passing by it, and must immediately have seen it, had it 

 been of the common order of nests. The secret of escaping observance arose from the simi- 

 larity of the materials to the bark and general colour of the tree, so as to produce an exact 

 resemblance, and proves the possession of a wondrous knowledge by the bird, thus to manifest 

 such tact and skill.— Geouge E. Twinn, The Elms, Moseley Koad, Birmingham, August 11th., 

 1854. 



VOL. IV. 2 O 



