120 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The nest was lined and appeared ready for eggs. A week 

 later (May 17tli) the Hawfinches were not at the nest (the 

 weather had been wet and stormy). On that day I found 

 another Hawfinch's nest with five fresh eggs two hundred yards 

 away, built in a similar tree, very well hidden at the end of a 

 lateral branch (the usual situation here). I believe this nest 

 was made by the same birds. 



On May 21st I was passing the old nest when my attention 

 was drawn to a pair of Great Tits {Parus major) hovering 

 round the nest, which was close to a well-frequented path. 

 I climbed up and found that the Tits had added a good thick 

 lining of moss, fine grass and felted rabbits' fur and a little 

 horse-hair to the nest, and laid therein eight perfectly fresh 

 eggs. There are very few hollow trees or holes suitable for 

 tits in this particular locality, and the Great Tit is quite 

 abundant. 



I have found the Crested Tit building in old Kites' nests 

 in the pine-forests of south Spain. I have also found Great 

 Tits' eggs in Robins' nests, and once found an odd egg of a 

 tit of some kind in a Thrush's open nest, but this is the first 

 time I have found the Great Tit building in a perfectly open 

 nest high up from the ground, and had I not watched the birds 

 I should never have suspected such a thing. 



The Hawfinches round this district seem frequently to 

 build one or more nests and not use them ; perhaps others 

 have noticed this. F. W. Proctor. 



[In default of suitable nest-holes, it is not uncommon to 

 find both Great and Blue Tits nesting inside open nests of 

 other birds. I find notes of nests of the former species built 

 inside nests of Song-Thrush, Blackbird and Hedge- Sparrow, 

 while the Blue Tit has been found building inside nests of 

 Song-Thrush, Blackbird, Hedge-Sparrow and Greenfinch. 

 Botli species also breed not infrequently in the foundations 

 of large nests, such as those of the Rook, Magpie, Sparrow- 

 Hawk and squirrel. I am not aware that there is any previous 

 notice of a Great Tit breeding in a Hawfinch's nest. A good 

 photograph of a Great Tit's nest inside that of a Song-Thrush 

 will be found in Nelson's Birds of Yorkshire, I., p. 110. — 

 F.C.R.J.] 



SPOTTED FLYCATCHER BUILDING IN OLD NESTS. 



Instances have already been recorded of the Spotted Fly- 

 catcher (Muscicapa grisola) using old nests of the Greenfinch 

 and Swallow for nesting-purposes {Field, 1897, pp. 222 and 

 307) ; but in both these cases no building-material was added. 



