292 BRITISH HIHDS. [\oi. x. 



before they were blown, but the colour subsequently faded 

 to a very light reddish-buff {vidf anlea. Vol. VTI., p. 2.")()). 



Common Tern {Sterna hirmido). In June, 1914, the late 

 Capt. C. 8. Meares took two beautiful clutches of highly 

 erythristic eggs from the same locality as that alluded to in 

 Vol. VTI., p. 256. Each clutch contained three eggs, and the 

 second laying is distinctly brighter than the first set. The 

 clutches are in his collection. D. H. Meares. 



RARE VARIETY OF GARDEN- WARBLER'S EGGS. 



In May, 1914, the late Capt. C. S. Meares took a remarkable 

 clutch of five eggs of the Garden-Warbler {Sylvia borin) in 

 Hertfordshire. They are distinctly larger and moie bulky 

 than the average and are beautifully and sparingly marked 

 at the larger end only with green a^id light brown an 1 purplish 

 blotches and spots on a pure white ground-colour, closely 

 resembling in colour a well-known variety of the eggs of the 

 Lesser Whitethroat. D. H. Meares. 



NECTAR-EATIN.G BY BLUE TITS AND WAPvBT>ERS. 



I HAVE just come across the following note, written for 

 British Birds a long time back but overlooked. A fuller note 

 (giving African birds) was published in the Bulletin B.O.C. 

 (1914, pp. 132-133). 



This April (1914) at Larne I found Blue Tits {Parus c. 

 obscurus) freely visiting the flowers of gooseberries and of 

 red-flowering currants {Ribes sangiiineum). They entered 

 almost entirely by perforations made by them in the side of 

 the calj^x-tubes. The complete absence of small insects ui 

 the flowers showed clearly that the nectar was the attraction. 



I have in Rhodesia seen Garden-Warblers {Sylvia borin) 

 and Willow-Wrens {Phylloscojms trochilus) entering flowers, 

 visibly for the nectar, the former in one case through 

 artificial openings inflicted by Whydahs. Dr. John Lowe, 

 in the Canaries and Algeria, watched Blackcaps and Garden- 

 Warblers themselves inflicting the perforations. 



When I left Larne the tit-damaged flowers (which were 

 numerous) were setting fruit quite as well as the undamaged 

 individuals— so that there is no need to regard the birds as 

 mischievous in this connection. It is true that some of the 

 bees that visited the flowers utihzed the openings made by the 

 Tits, but others again used the natural opening even when 

 an artificial opening was present, and to this Avas obviously 

 due the fact that the damage failed to affect the flowers' 

 pollination. C. F. M. Swynnerton. 



