52 INS EC TI VO ROUS B TEDS 



Komanes has noted this inclination in the Common Wren 

 of Europe, and individual cases are elsewhere quoted. 



The *' Yellow-tailed Tit " of the boys builds its nest not 

 only in hedges, but on the larger branches of various trees, 

 and, as has been previously noted, to the sticks of the 

 lower portion of a crow's or raven's nest, without any in 

 terest in the hazel or white irides of their black neighbours 

 The parasitical Mistletoe (Loranthus) is also resorted to, 

 as well as the wattle. 



A case of two clutches of eggs placed in the same nest, 

 and being sat upon by two birds, is quite unusual. The 

 eggs numbered six, and one male bird appeared to feed the 

 sitting ones with insects. That two birds sat upon the 

 eggs was proved by the flight of both from the nest upon 

 approaching it. How this state of matters would have 

 developed I cannot say. as observations were interrupted 

 by the wilful destruction of the nest. The disposition of 

 this species is certainly a friendly one. A young neigh- 

 bour of mine one evening caught a family of this tit, com- 

 prising the parents and three young ones, and transferred 

 them, along with the nest, to a wire-faced box. They were 

 carefully kept and fed for fourteen days, at the conclusion 

 of which they were allowed their freedom. Each evening 

 for three weeks they returned to the box to roost, and 

 doubtless would have continued the custom had not the 

 innocent-looking cat of the house preyed upon the five in 

 the late hours of the night. In further evidence of the 

 good-nature of this bird I may say that, having extracted 

 the eggs from one nest, I kept them away for nearly twenty 

 minutes, and then returned two of the three with indented 

 sides, less a cuckoo's eg^ that was with them. The bird 

 gracefully, though with agitation, returned to its eggs, and, 

 I believe, brought the young out, according to evidence seen 



