48 REPORTS OF SECTIONS 
egg was pure white. I left the eggs alone, not being per- 
fectly certain that they were really bullfinch’s, and waited 
near by till the birds returned. After seeing them I was 
reassured, and thought I had found something quite unique. 
I wrote to the /ve/d, and they informed me that they were not 
at all common but sometimes found. 
May 25. Nuthatch’s nest in an ash-tree with a hollow knot 
sticking out of the trunk. There was no formed nest, but just 
dry pieces of leaf filling half the hollow. The eggs were seven 
in number, white in ground colour, covered with rich brown 
spots. I had been hammering at the hole for nearly a minute 
when the bird flew out, making a loud, scraping screech. 
May 25. Shrike’s nest in a thorn-bush. The nest was 
rather like a well-made blackbird’s nest. A friend passed it 
by. I thought I might as well feel in it, and found five shrike’s 
eggs. They were pink with light brown spots. The eggs were 
of an oval shape, not like some which are nearly circular. 
June 3. Green woodpecker’s nest found on May 23. Tapped 
tree a foot below entrance-hole, and water gushed out. I then 
tapped it a foot farther down, and more water came out. I then 
felt in the hole, and found several smashed eggs and one very 
stained, unbroken one, all the usual shine had gone, and it was 
a dull brown. 
June 4. Tree-sparrow’s nest in a barn. The eggs were un- 
mistakeably tree-sparrow’s, of a dark brown colour and four in 
number. ; 
June 4, Yellow-hammer’s nest with five eggs, with hardly 
any dark lines on as usual, but only pink spots and blotches, 
June 7. Flycatcher’s nest in the side of an ash-tree on 
a clump of small branches. There were four flycatcher’s eggs 
and acuckoo’s. I watched the birds fly round and round the 
tree about a dozen times, and did not find the nest until one of 
them swooped down right on to it, and up again, The cuckoo’s 
egg was very dark at one end, but comparatively light at the 
other, There was almost a circle of large spots round the 
larger end of the egg, 
June 18, Cuckoo’s egg in sedge-warbler’s nest. There were 
also four sedge-warbler’s eggs. The nest was in a small bush 
