186 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



of Willow-Tit and seems to have the same distinctive nesting- 

 habits as compared to those of the Marsh-Tit. 



Mr. Siebers finds that the Dutch Willow-Tit inhabits planta- 

 tions of willows near rivers and marshes or fir plantations. 

 In the former it bores a hole for nesting purposes in a pollarded 

 willow, but in the latter, finding the wood of the fir too hard 

 for boring, it resorts to softer wood in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood, and frequently makes use of a somewhat rotten fence 

 post. 



Mr. Siebers found the nests to be built mostly of scraps of 

 bark, rabbit fur and a few feathers. In one case there was 

 an luiderlaj^er entirely of moss, but in a second case there 

 was very little moss, and in a third some moss was inter- 

 woven with the material on the outside of the nest. Mr. 

 Siebers found that an underlayer of moss was not an essential 

 condition for the nest of this Willow-Tit. 



The breeding i^eriod seems to be from April to June, but 

 principally in May. The eggs are said to be more boldly 

 blotched, especially at the thicker end, than those of the 

 Marsh-Tit, but this wovdd seem to be a variable character. 



Mr. Siebers's observations should be compared with notes 

 on the nesting-habits of the British Willow-Tit which have 

 been published from time to time in this journal (c/., Vol. 

 VII., pp. 116, 141, 171, 198 ; Vol. VIIL, pp. 69-74). 



LATE NESTING OF WREN. 

 On October 10th, 1916, I was passing through a stackyard 

 on a farm at Maryport, Cumberland, when some boys brought 

 me a nest which they had just pulled down from one of the 

 stacks. The nest was that of a Common Wren {Troglodytes 

 t. troglodytes) and contained four fresh eggs. The stack in 

 which the nest had been placed had only been built a fortnight, 

 so that apart from the freshness of the eggs there was ample 

 proof that the nest was a new one. W. J. Andrews. 



LATE BROOD OF MARTINS. 



It may be of interest to record that on October 19th, 1916, 

 I watched a pair of House-Martins {Hirundo u. urbica) feed- 

 ing young in the nest at Borough Green Kent. 



C. W. COLTHRUP. 



LATE STAY OF CUCKOO. 

 On December 1st, 1916, I saw a young Cuckoo {Cuculus c. 

 canorus) at dusk near Swindon. I flushed it several times 

 out of the top of a pipe which carries rain water from the 

 roof of Lydiard Millicent Rectory. It persisted in returning 



