MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE. 



any think them dull, all I can say is that I am in good company, for 

 the Editor of ^^The Field'' said at the time they were very interest- 

 ing, as this bird had not been previously recorded to build its nest 

 in Wales. 



" A pair of Pied Flycatchers have taken up their quarters in a 

 secluded part of the park here, and on climbing up to their nest, 

 which is built in the hole of a small elm tree, about twenty feet 

 from the ground, I found that it contained four blue eggs. I first 

 noticed these birds a week ago, and never having seen the species 

 alive before, I sat down under a neighbouring tree and watched 

 them. I had not sat there long before a squirrel, which has made 

 its dray or nest in a holly bush close by, crossed over to the Fly- 

 catchers' tree, and was proceeding leisurely in the direction of the 

 nest, when the birds, which 

 were anxiously watching its 

 movements, attacked it in the 

 most furious and determined 

 manner, screaming violently, 

 and apparently striking it 

 with their beaks. The squirrel 

 seemed to view the attack 

 rather in the light of a joke 

 than otherwise, and kept dodg- 

 ing round and round the tree 

 in order to avoid the blows 

 showered on it, but showing 

 no inclination to retreat until 

 I got up and drove it away. 

 I do not know whether the 



squirrel would eat the eggs if he could get at them, but I have found 

 lately several blackbirds and thrushes' nests containing shells of 

 eggs which have evidently been sucked, and I put this destruction 

 down either to the squirrels or carrion crows which abound in the 

 park. 



THE PIED FLYCATCHER. 



