VOL. VIII.] NOTES. 291 



pieces of string and knitting wool and sheep's wool, and was 

 lined with fine grass and one feather. On climbing up to 

 the nest in the garden I found it contained four eggs, and 

 the bird had begun to sit. While I was examining the nest 

 the birds became very excited, and came qviite close to me : 

 at one time the hen settled within a foot of me. The cock 

 birds seemed to take no part in the nest-building, as far as 

 we could see, but in one case the cock accompanied the hen 

 each time she came to the ground for nesting material and 

 followed her back to the nest. At the time of writing, 

 another nest is being built at the top of a larch tree in the 

 garden, but is not finished yet. 



The Crossbills are still in the Castle Rising district, but 

 so far I have not found a nest there. On March 6th, in 

 a Uttle Scotch fir plantation there, I heard a cock bird 

 singing, which seemed to indicate the presence of a nest, 

 and this morning (March 21st) I saw a cock and hen Crossbill 

 feeding on Scotch fir cones in the same plantation. 



N. Tracy. 



TREE-CREEPER IN LONDON. 



On March 25th, 1914, I saw a Tree-Creeper (Certhia f. 

 brittanica) in Kensington Gardens. D. Eardley-Beecham. 



[With reference to this observation Mr. A. H. Macpherson 

 writes us as follows : — - 



" I have seen the Tree-Creeper in Kensington Gardens 

 about ten times during the last twenty-five years. I had 

 never met with the bird in the heart of London except in 

 Kensington Gardens until February 7th of this year, when 

 one paid a short visit to the trunk of an old acacia tree in 

 my little garden in Campden Hill Square."] 



BREEDING-HABITS OF THE MISTLE-THRUSH. 



The interesting notes on the breeding-habits of the Mistle- 

 Thrush (Turdus v. mscivorus) supplied by Mr. G. Bathurst 

 Hon}' in the March issue {antea, p. 240) induce me to record 

 my own observations. In 1913, a pair built in a willow and 

 reared three young in a garden adjoining mine at Upton 

 Heath, Chester. The young left the nest on April 22nd ; 

 on April 21st the same pair started a second nest (using 

 my best rockery plants for a foundation !) this time in my 

 garden, also in a willow and in close proximity to the house. 

 It was practically finished on April 23rd and the first egg 

 laid on April 27th ; five eggs were laid and three young 



