26 
Whilst studying their habits in June, 1888, with our friend Mr. 
Edward Tandy, we were rejoiced by the discovery of a charming 
little nestling Redstart (Rutecilla phenicurus ), snugly esconced in 
the nesting hole of a pair of Pied Flycatchers, which had evidently 
hatched the stranger among their own pretty, spotted brood of 
five. The nesting hole, originally owned by a pair of Jackdaws 
(Corvus monedula), must have been selected for nidificatory 
purposes by a female Redstart, which again was ousted by the 
Flycatchers after she had laid a single egg. The next pair of 
Pied Flycatchers located on the same ground were nesting in the 
dead limb of a tall Scotch fir; on the other side, a third pair 
reared their young in the base of an old oak ; a fourth had chosen 
a recess in an ash; a fifth nested in the very heart of an old elm, 
entering by a narrow fissure from above; a sixth couple preferred 
masonry, and their nest was stowed away in the centre of a low 
stone wall. Too much protection cannot be afforded to this 
melodious Flycatcher, and its sweet song deserves to be better 
known. 
In a great wood, not far from the above-mentioned colony of 
Pied Flycatchers, many of the trees are riddled by the tunnels of 
boring caterpillars, and here the Greater Spotted Woodpecker 
( Dendrocopus major) rears its young. The stations of this species 
in Cumberland are however so few that they can be counted on 
the fingers of one hand. Gamekeepers should be subsidised to 
protect these useful and persecuted birds. ‘Tidings reached us of 
at least one pair of breeding birds shot on the Scottish border 
during the present year; a short-sighted proceeding which it would 
be difficult to excuse. 
The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus minor) has 
reappeared in our midst, and last year (1887) a pair of Green 
Woodpeckers ( Gecinus viridis) reared their brood in safety upon 
the northern limit of their breeding range in Great Britain. 
We regret to say that the senseless war waged against the 
Buzzard ( Buteo vulgaris) has in no wise abated. Considering 
that this fine hawk subsists largely on carrion, the injury to property 
which results from its presence among our lake mountains must be 
granted to be small, 
