PERCHING BIRDS. 



having nothing better to do during the incubation of the 

 female, keeps his hand I beg pardon, his bill in 

 practice by constructing " cock nests ! " This idea, 

 however, seems to me to be not very probable. A 

 likelier cause, perhaps, is that the wren may be more 

 fastidious than other birds, and suffers itself to be 

 affected by very slight causes of disturbance, and so after 

 a nest has been partially constructed it deserts it and 

 commences another, and this several times in succession. 

 This, I think, is far more probable than the erection of 

 "cock nests" by the male. Mr. Neville Wood says that 

 the wren " often builds itself a dwelling in autumn, and 

 lodges in it on cold nights." Mr. Weir states the same, 

 and both are thus quoted by Macgillivray, who is of the 

 like opinion. The nests I found, as mentioned above, 

 were in spring, and were recent erections ; and though 

 it may have a habit of erecting nests for winter roosting 

 places, yet I scarcely think these would be commenced 

 so early in the year. 



I am pleased to be able to record a single instance of 

 the Hoopoe (Upupa, epops) visiting our district. A 

 male in fine plumage was shot on the forest a few miles 

 north of Ollerton, but I know of no other occurrence of 

 this rare and handsome bird. 



The pretty and chastely- coloured Nuthatch (Sitta, 

 Europcea), though it is rather locally distributed in 

 England, is by no means rare with us ; indeed, in some 

 places it is plentiful. The large kitchen gardens at 

 Thoresby, which stand in the midst of the park, are a 

 very favourite haunt, the attraction being a long row of 

 large and aged nut trees which skirts the southern side. 

 There I have often watched their busy operations in 

 nutting time. The nuts are of various kinds ; the 



