224 Zoological Society :— • 



ber 27, 1861, which I received from my friend Pastor Theobald, of 

 Copenhagen. He says as follows : — 



"The nidification of Totanus ochropus is so remarkable that I do 

 not fear to trouble you with the history the Forester Ilintz [whom 

 I have mentioned above] has given me. He writes : — ' This year I 

 succeeded in finding the nest of Tetanus ochropus. On the 'Jth of 

 May I took four eggs of this bird ; they were found in an old nest of 

 Turdus musicus, and seemed to have been incubated about three days. 

 Tlie very same day there were brought to me four other eggs of this 

 bird, also found in a Thrush's nest. * * * Tlie 1 0th of May there 

 was shown to me a nest, thirty feet high, on an old birch, the bird 

 having chosen an old decayed nest of a Squirrel. This nest was the 

 liighest I have ever seen. Three young ones had just been hatched ; 

 in the fourth egg the bird was about to break the shell. One jumped 

 down and concealed itself on the edge of a water-pool. The 1 1th of 

 May a nest with four fresli eggs was found, but they did not come into 

 ray hands ; this was in an old Pigeon's nest on a Finns rubra, and 

 full of dry pine-leaves. The 20th of May two eggs, almost burst by 

 the young, were found in an old Thrush's nest, the two missing birds 

 having most likely already left the nest. The 22nd of May four young 

 ones, apparently but a few hours old, were found in the old nest of 

 a Lunius Collurio, in a juniper three feet high. The 24th of May 

 four young ones were found in the hole of a Fopulus tremula thrown 

 down by the wind. The year before, Mnscicapa luctuosa had its 

 nest in the trunk as it lay on the ground ; this year Totanus ochro- 

 pus had chosen the sam.e opening. When I approached the trunk, 

 the young ones, perhaps four-and-twenty hours old, jumped away 

 and hid themselves in the grass among the branches. All these 

 nests were near the water — two on the edge of a rivulet, the others 

 on wet morasses, the distance from the water being at most six feet.' " 



I have the pleasure of exhibiting to you a small series of a score 

 of the eggs of this bird, as well as three nests. The latter were 

 sent me by Mr. H. W. Wheelwright, and were obtained by him this 

 year in Sweden. They are so ragged and dilapidated that, as is often 

 the case with ancient ruins, it is not easy to say of what race the 

 builders were. From one of them, five-and-twenty feet up in a fir 

 tree, the mother was killed on the 28th of May, and I produce her 

 skin. Three of the sets of eggs belonged to these nests ; a fourth set 

 was the contents of Forester Hintz's nest of the 9th of May 18G1, 

 mentioned in his interesting letter. This I owe to Mr. Theobald and 

 some other friends in Copenhagen. The remaining four eggs are odd 

 ones obtained by Mr. Wollcy and myself from Dr. Kjserbolling. 



Jan. 26, 1864.— E.W. H. Holdsworth, Esq., F.Z.S., in the Chair. 



An extract was read of a letter from Dr. Harry Anthony to Mr. 

 Louis Fraser, dated Brass liiver. Bight of Biafra, 3rd Dec. 1863, 

 referring (as follows) to what was supposed to be a species of Cla- 

 rias : — 



** I intend to try and send you by my next ship some of the • Black 



