48 REPORTS OF SECTIONS 



egg was pure white. I left the eggs alone, not being per- 

 fectly certain tiiat 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 Field, 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. 



A4ay 25. Shrike's nest in a thorn-bush. The nest was 

 ratlier 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. Th': 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 a cuckoo'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 



