CORRESPONDENCE. 73 
Ccrious Pxrace For A Brrp’s 
Nest.—One day in the spring of 
1865, while at the Groye, Booker, I 
was requested by Mr. Morris to go 
into the garden and take down care- 
fully a watering pot, which had been 
hanging to the branches of an apple 
tree all the winter; I removed it 
from the branch, and on looking into 
it, I saw the whole of the bottom 
covered with soft moss, in the middle 
of which was, sitting on its nest, a 
Tomtit (Parus major). Although 
the bird shewed some surprise at the 
sight of me, it did not fly away: I 
replaced the watering pot on the 
branch, when the bird suddenly 
started out and flew into a neigh- 
bouring tree. I looked again into 
the nest, which contained four little 
eggs. What astonished me most 
was the great quantity of moss which 
had been collected by the little bird 
for its nest, for the whole of the 
bottom of the watering-pot was 
covered two inches deep with the 
moss, which appeared loose, but was 
woven loosely with horsehair. The 
nest itself was more closely woven, 
and quite maintained its hollowed 
appearance thereby, being lined with 
hair and small feathers. The dia- 
meter of the watering-pot was about 
a foot, and it would haye held more 
than a gallon of water. The good 
lady of the house was yery kind to 
the little bird, and took a great in- 
terest in its welfare, and she told me 
that it afterwards hatched its young 
safely. The great quantity of moss 
was doubtless to absorb moisture, the 
bird being able to judge by some 
unknown power that no drainage 
could take place through such a 
dense substance as tin; otherwise it 
might have been saved much trouble 
and many journeys to and fro by 
simply building its nest in one 
corner. Does this exhibit season or 
instinct ? 
R. M. Bowsteap, M.D. 
Tue GREEN WooprPEckER (Picus 
viridis).—This, the largest of the 
British Woodpeckers, is also one of 
the most beautiful of our British 
Birds. Any one who wanders 
through the wooded parts of Buck- 
inghamshire may often detect it by 
its jerky flight, and by the peculiar 
scream which it utters when alarmed. 
The rich green and yellow of the 
back, and the deep crimson of the 
back of the head, are equal in colour- 
ing to the plumage of the Kingfisher. 
It is a shy bird, but not uncommon, 
and is widely distributed. It is 
known by various provincial names, 
most of them indicating its habit of 
boring trees : ‘* Woodspite,”’ “* High- 
hoe,’”’ “ Hew-hole,’”’ ‘‘ Pick-a-tree”’ 
—also in Northumberland, “ Rain- 
fowl,” from its habit of being noisy 
before rain. From the same cause, 
the old Romans called them Pluvie 
Aves. The local name in Bucks is 
Wetile (Witwall?). Old Christopher 
Merrett, in his valuable Pinaw Rerum 
Naturalium Britannicarum, pub- 
lished 200 years ago, calls them 
** Witwoll,”’ while Bewick gives this 
name to the Large Spotted Wood- 
pecker (P. major). Is  Wetile”’ 
(of the spelling of which I am doubt- 
ful) a corruption of this word, or 
does it really indicate the character 
of the bird as the herald of rain? I 
find, too, that its local name here is 
Hichail. This is no doubt a corrup- 
tion of Hickwall, but, according to 
Bewick, this is the name of the Lesser 
Spotted Woodpecker (P. minor). 
Perhaps some of your readers can 
tell me whether ‘ Wetile” is the 
correct mode of spelling the name, 
and whether it is a corruption of 
“* Witwall’”’? 
T. MarsHatu. 
Eprste Funer.—*I have this 
autumn myself witnessed whole 
hundredweights of rich, wholesome 
diet rotting under trees ; woods teeme 
ing with food and not one hand to 
gather it; and this perhaps in the 
midst of potato-blights, poverty, and 
all manner of privations, and public 
prayers against imminent famine. I 
haye, indeed, grieved when I have 
considered the straitened condition 
of the lower orders this year, to see! 
pounds innumerable of extempore 
beefsteaks growing on our oaks in 
the shape of Fistulina hepatica; 
Agaricus fusipes, to pickle, in clusters 
under them; Puff-balls, which some 
of our friends have not inaptly com- 
