VOL. VIII.] NOTES. 51 



I saw one soon after it had been shot, on Jime 10th, which 

 proved to be a female ; the other was shot on June 14th, 

 but I did not see it as the man ^vho obtained it thought he 

 would not trouble me. 



Althougli I had been waiting to get information about the 

 second bird, it was not until to-day (June 22nd), upon making 

 inquiries, that I found it had been obtained. I understand 

 it was a male. H. W. Ford-Lindsay. 



NESTING-HABITS OF WOODPECKERS. 



In British Birds, Vol. V., p. 137, I stated that a nest of 

 the Great Spotted Woodpecker {Dryohates m. anglicus) and 

 a nest of the Green Woodpecker (Picus v. pluvius), which 

 I opened after the yoimg had left in 1911, were very foul. 

 This was due, I think, in each case to one or more young 

 having died in the holes. The old birds had been unable 

 to eject the dead, and this had been the primary cause of 

 the foulness. I have since then opened holes when the 

 birds have been sitting, during the nestling jDcriod, and also 

 after the yoimg have flown, and have always found the nests 

 very clean (but with a rather disagreeable smell), except 

 when a young one has died and not been ejected. I have 

 been imable, in the course of several long watches, to see 

 any dung carried away by the old birds. As I have ah^ays 

 found the cup clean, and the dung is not ejected by the 

 young themselves when they are old enough to climb to 

 the entrance, as in the case of the Starling, this would 

 indicate that the parents swallow it, though I am by no 

 means certain of this. This year I opened a Great Spotted 

 Woodpecker's entrance a little when the yoimg were about 

 twelve days old. A day or two later t\\'0 died and ^vere 

 east out by the parents, I presume because the enlarging of 

 the entrance made it possible for them to do so. It is also 

 noticeable that one young one, at least, is usually consider- 

 ably behind the rest in development, which suggests that 

 incubation commences before the last egg has been laid. 



J. H. Owen. 



NESTLING CUCKOO EJECTING TWO 

 EGGS AT ONCE. 



On Jime 16th, 1914, I was watching a nestling Cuckoo 

 (Cuculus c. canorus) turning the eggs out of a Sedge- Warbler's 

 nest. At one attempt it got two eggs behind it and success- 

 fully hoisted them over the brim. This is the only occasion 

 on which I have seen two eggs ejected at once, although I 

 have been witness of many ejections. J. H. Owen. 



