124 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



a second time, and he told me that even then 

 he would have missed finding it only his fingers 

 came into contact with the eggs. It was the best 

 concealed nest I have ever seen, for it was almost 

 touching the water, and right under the small 

 tussocky bank of the rivulet. 



April 2gth. — Noticed a Willow Wren building on 

 the embankment (riverside). This is a somewhat 

 early date. Noticed a Jackdaw come out of a 

 remarkably small hole in a magnificent cedar, 

 where it was nesting. The hole was so small that 

 the bird was obliged to come out sideways, and 

 even then seemed to experience some difficulty. 

 Heard several Wood Wrens ; they are hardly as 

 numerous here as they are in Kent. Climbing up 

 to a Crow's nest in a sycamore, I took the four eggs 

 it contained for O. Besides being none to well 

 marked, the\' were highly incubated, and I expect 

 he will have his work cut out to make specimens of 

 them. Besides this we saw what was certainly a 

 Sparrow-hawk's old nest in an enormous larch. 

 Got home for tea. Visited the trap which I had 

 set for the marten-cat. I have visited it every day, 

 but so far with no success. In the gully I found one 

 of the wretched Owlets buried under some stones. 

 This gully or ravine runs under the brow of the 

 hill, where the stump is which contained the Owl 

 family, so it is obvious that the wretch who killed 

 them buried them under the loose rubble. Had a 

 good view of a Kestrel, probably one of the pair 

 which are frequenting the rocks close to Jones's 

 cottage. I do not feel sure that the Sparrow- 



