274 CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES. 



distance of a yard or two above my head. — Edwin Lankester, Campsall, near 

 Doncaster, July 19, 1837. 



The Nest op the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida, Linn.). — A friend of 

 mine while fishing on a small Trout-stream, near Louth, called the Crake, in the 

 early part of June," observed a Kingfisher, with a fish in its mouth, flying 

 several times near his hat with a whirring noise. He watched it until it entered 

 a hole in the bank, the entrance to which was strewed with fish bones. On 

 digging into the hole (which commenced low down in the bank, and ran upwards 

 in a slanting direction for about two feet), he found the nest, containing seven 

 young birds just hatched. The bottom of the nest was excessively thick, and 

 mixed up with small bones of the Stickleback. Its structure) excepting the 

 mixture of fish-bones, was not very unlike that of a Thrush. It crumbled tc 

 pieces on being touched, and I could procure no portion worth preserving. Near 

 the nest was another hole, which had all the appearance of having been the 

 Kingfisher's last year's residence, the bones at the entrance being dry and 

 crumbly ; but in this the parent bird again commenced laying, and on opening 

 the nest six eggs were found on the fragments of the structure. They were 

 white, and beautifully transparent, shewing the yolk through, which gave them 

 a pinkish hue at the larger end. I have now in my collection one of the eggs, 

 which, though so transparent, I was surprised to find thicker and stronger than 

 the generality of eggs, and rounder in its form, the circumference being two inches 

 and a half, the length eight-tenths of an inch. — R. P. Alington, Swinhope 

 House, Lincolnshire, July 15, 1837. 



The Name " Garden Thrush" as applied to Turdus musicus, Auct. — In 

 The Analyst, No. xviii., I -find the name " Garden Thrush" proposed to be 

 substituted for Song Thrush. I should have given the name Garden Thrush to 

 the Missel Thrush. At least its habits here would warrant such an appellation. 

 I knew of five nests in gardens last year, and have already found one in a similar 

 situation this year, snowy as it is. — Thomas Allis, York, 3 Mo. 24, 1837. 



The Nest of the Yellow Bunting Seven Feet prom the Ground. — On 

 the 29th of May, 1834, I found the nest of a Yellow Bunting at the extraordi- 

 nary elevation of seven feet from the ground. It was placed amongst the 

 branches of a Broom (Cytisus scoparius), which was quite naked at the bottom, 

 but which had a thick close head ; in this the nest was situated. — J. D. Salmon, 

 Thetford, Norfolk, June 14, 1837. 



The Nest op a Blue Tit found inclosed in the Trunk op an Oak. — In 

 the course of the present week, two men engaged in sawing into planks an Oak 

 tree at Mr. Hunt's timber yard, near the canal basin, found in a hole in the 

 centre the nest of a Blue Tit, containing several eggs. The nest must have been 

 in this situation, it is supposed, for the last century, and when taken out was 



