nOTES 



OLD ENGLISH NESTING BOTTLES. 



Earthenware bottles of the form shown in the accompanying 

 photograph were in common use on the barns and other farm 

 buildings in Kent and Sussex a century ago. They were put 

 up in rows under the eaves, and their object was to facilitate 

 the collection of the eggs and young of the House-Sparrows, 



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which were then universally destroyed, rewards being given 

 for them in every parish. Probably this custom was equally 

 common in other counties. Nesting bottles of this form may 

 be seen depicted on the ends of cottages in some of Morland's 

 pictures. Some forty years ago they were comparatively 

 common in the part of Kent in which I live, but lately I had 

 some difficulty in finding any that were entire. 



Only half of the back of the bottle was earthenware, half 



