224 ^^'^ Irish Naturalist. October, 



I think the limit of five is exceeded by the smaller birds that build in 

 trees aud bushes more often thau Mr. Moffat supposes, though, in the case 

 of the Twite, which so commonly lays six, the nest is often ou the 

 ground, never far above it. 



]Mr. IMofTat further has well pointed out that the large broods of ducks 

 game-birds, and rails, which usually breed on the ground, leave the 

 nest as soon as they are hatched, so that safety cradles are not needed 

 for them. In those exceptional cases where ducks and water-hens build 

 in trees, the '• bubbling over " takes place at once in a wholesale manner 

 and the young fall to the ground or water like elastic balls and take no 

 hurt. 



R J. USSHER. 

 Cappagh, Co. Waterford. 



I read, with great pleasure, Mr. Moffat's paper on Domed Nests in the 

 Irish Naturalist for August. As he points out, a survey of British Birds 

 seems to indicate that one of the functions of a domed nest is that it 

 enables the possessors to rear up a larger brood than the}- could other- 

 wise do. It may interest }our readers to know that those Indian species 

 which construct covered-in nests do not lay an unusually large clutch of 

 eggs, as the following table shows : — 



Usual No. 

 of eggs in clutch, 



Ploceinae (Weaver Birds), 2 



Viduinse (Munias) 4-8 



6 

 Nectariniidse (Sunbirds and Flower-peckers), . 2 (Sun-birds) 



3 (Flower-peckers) 



PittidcE (Pittas), , . 3-6 



Eurykemidae (Broadbills), 5 



In my opinion domed nests have not any particular significance, since 

 it sometimes happens that the same species builds, apparently, indis- 

 criminately, an open or a domed nest. Again, of the various species of 

 a genus, some may build open nests, while others construct domed ones, 

 and this may happen when the various species live in the same kind of 

 country and have similar feeding habits, as in the case of the Indian 

 Babblers. 



Douglas Devvak. 

 Datchet. 



Records of Irish Birds. 



In British Birds for September, Mr. T. C R. Jourdain records the occur- 

 rence of an Osprey on Lough Arrow on May 29. In the same number 

 the Kditors, summarizing recent records of Crossbills, mention one re- 

 corded in the Fie.ii of July 17 as seen at Coleraine. 



