OTES 



OPEN NESTS OF JACKDAWS IN TREES. 



Ox April 15th, 1 92 1, I found a large nest about forty feet 

 from the ground in a clump of fir trees on Buxbur}^ Hill, Wilts. 

 The nest was composed of twigs and uncompleted. Returning 

 on April 25th, I found it lined with fur and feathers and 

 containing five typical Jackdaw's eggs. The old birds circled 

 overhead in alarm and returned to the nest when we left 

 the tree. This nest was apparently a new structure and 

 not a renovated Crow's nest. Later we found another 

 Jackdaw's nest in the same clump of trees. Both were 

 open nests, not domed. There was a rookery on the side 

 of the Downs about 600 yards away, but no hollow tree cr 

 church tower within a mile. R. C. C. Clay. 



[For previous records of open nests of this species in trees 

 see Zool., 1843, p. 185 ; 1845, p. 823 ; 1901, pp. 70 and 154 ; 

 Rep. North Staffs Field Clitb, 190C-01, p. 52, etc.; Zool., 1902, 

 p. 232 ; cf. also Birds of Yorks., p. 233.— F. C. R. Jourdain.] 



NOTES ON SOME BREEDING-HABITS OF THE 

 WHEATEAR. 



During the nesting seasons of 1920 and 192 1 I spent much 

 time watching Wheatears {OEnanthe oe. cenanthe) on the South 

 Downs near Seaford, Sussex, to find nests in order to ring the 

 nestlings. The nests in these parts are in rabbit-holes and 

 short scrapes. Each y^air of birds appears to have at least 

 one warren in its territory ; the nest, however, is never 

 actually in the warren, but is generally twenty to thirty yards 

 away, though I have found one or two distant only five 

 yards. On the average the nest is about a foot down, though 

 in one case it was over two feet. 



I believe that, as a rule, the male gives the alarm as soon 

 as anybody comes in sight, and the female then flies off the 

 eggs ; so my usual practice was to walk about the ground 

 until I saw the female, then retire to a convenient distance 

 and watch her through glasses. After five to twenty minutes 

 she would go back, invariably flying the last twenty or 

 thirty yards and alighting inside the hole In time one 

 got to know this particular flight. The next thing was to 

 wait a few minutes and then walk quietly to the nest ; on 

 three occasions the bird was still there when I put my hand 

 in. It is interesting to note that two of these birds, though 



