NOTES. 203 



laid by one hen are similar in appearance, and about seven- 

 teen to twenty-two are laid in a season on alternate days. 

 In comparing these results with those arrived at by English 

 observers it must be remembered that in the neighbourhood 

 of Leipzig over eighty per cent, of Cuckoos' eggs are laid 

 in nests of the Red-backed Shrike. Moreover, the nature of 

 the country, which is arable, devoid of hedges, and only 

 sparsely wooded with small plantations, renders it possible 

 for an energetic bird's-nester to make practically certain of 

 inspecting every Shrike's nest in a given district. In a 

 country like England, with its innumerable hedgerows, 

 gardens, and woods, such systematic working of the ground 

 is not possible except to a very limited extent. But the 

 most convincing proof of the truth of Dr. Rey's conclusions 

 is the sight of his wonderful collection of nearly one thousand 

 Cuckoos' eggs, with long series of eggs obviously laid by the 

 same hen, in a single season, and in some cases in consecutive 

 years, all carefully marked by De Rey in the same painstaking 

 way in which all his scientific work was done. I cannot conclude 

 without paying a tribute to his kindliness of heart and 

 hospitable spirit ; and shall always retain pleasant recollec- 

 tions of my visit to the man who has done more than any 

 other to elucidate the breeding habits of this mysterious bird. 



F. C. R. JOURDAIN. 



The Use of Domed Nests. — Mr. R. J. Ussher {Irish 

 Naturalist, 1909, p. 223), commenting on Mr. C. B. Moffat's 

 paper, suggests that one of the objects of the domed nest is 

 to provide warmth for the young, and that in every case 

 mentioned, with the exception of the Magpie, the eggs being 

 white or nearly white, are less conspicuous when covered by 

 a dome which closely resembles its surroundings. My own 

 experience of the Dipper's nest is, that it is not uncommonly 

 found within range of the spray of a waterfall, and some nests 

 are literally soaked with dripping water, but Mr. Ussher 

 considers such sites unusual. Mr. D. Dewar points out that 

 the Indian species, which make covered nests, do not lay 

 unusually large clutches of eggs, and thinks that domed nests 

 have no particular significance. — F. C. R. J. 



Additions to the Shropshire Avifauna. — Correction. — 

 " Roche " {supra, page 165, lines 11 and 14) shou d be 

 " Rocke." The reference is to John Rocke's paper on Shrop- 

 shire birds in the " Zoologist," 1864-65. — H. E. Forrest. 



