312 BRITISH BIRDS. 



empty. April 26th. — Nest pulled out by my orders. May 

 3rd. — A Blue Tit's nest in the box, containing two eggs. 

 May 9th. — Blue Tit dead and squashed flat in the nest on top 

 of four eggs, and a Tree-Sparrow's nest built over it. May 

 15th. — Tree-Sparrow's nest contains one egg (ordinary dark 

 type). May 20tli. — Five eggs (one light one). 



Box 4. April 2l8t.— Pair of Great Tits building. May 

 3rd. — Great Tit's nest finished. May 9th. — Nest still empty, 

 and some loose pieces of dry grass added to it, not worked into 

 the nest but laid upon the top of it. May 15th. — A Tree- 

 Sparrow sitting upon the box, and inside a nearly finished 

 nest built on top of the Great Tit's nest. May 20th. — Nest 

 apparently finished, but no eggs. 



Box 5. March 16th. — Half-finished Tree-Sparrow's nest. 

 April 6th. — Nest apparently finished ; plenty of feathers. 

 April 2lst-May 3rd. — ^No change. 3Iay 9th. — I pulled out 

 the nest. May 15th.— House-Sparrow's nest, with four eggs. 



In this last case it may be thought that the original nest 

 was the work of the House-Sparrows, but I had frequently 

 seen a pair of Tree-Sparrows about this box, and think the 

 early nest belonged to them. In this particular district the 

 Tree-Sparrow is well named, all the nests I have found being 

 in holes in trees, whilst the tiles of the buildings are mono- 

 polized by House-Sparrows. The tenant of the orchard 

 wherein my nesting-boxes were hung, took from under the 

 tiles of his house eighty House-Sparrows' eggs on May 20th, 

 and one hundred on June 3rd. 



As regards the time of nesting of the Tree-Sparrow, Howard 

 Saunders in his Manual writes : — " Two and even three broods 

 are reared in the season, the first being hatched about the 

 middle of April." I have never found Tree-Sparrows' eggs in 

 Norfolk earlier than May 20th, though 1 have looked for them 

 in their usual nesting-haunts from the beginning of April on- 

 wards. Seeing the birds busily building at the latter end of 

 March, one might easily be led to the conclusion that they were 

 early layers, but that this conclusion would not necessarily be a 

 correct one the above notes, 1 think, go to show. 



B. B. Riviere. 



[Mr. Riviere's note is of considerable interest, as it aj^pears 

 to explain an apparent discrepancy in the accounts of the 

 breeding-habits of this species. I have always found it to be 

 rather a late breeder, like the House-Sparrow (except under 

 artificial conditions, such as in steam-heated engine-sheds). 

 The first eggs are generally laid about mid-May in t!ie south of 



