Birds. 7639 



approached within a few yards of it: the parent of the young bird that I found was 

 different; it flew round nie at a great height, uttering at short intervals a plaintive 

 note, something like the call-note of the cominoti linnet {Fringilla cannahinum). — 

 James Cooper ; Museum, Warrington, May 17, 1861. 



Iron Birds' Nests. — At a recent meeting of the Sheflield Literary and Philosophical 

 Society Mr. Stirling Howard exhibited some horseshoe nails, as a sample of two gallons, 

 by measnre, of the materials which a number of pigeons had carried from a black- 

 smith's shop, and used to make their nests. The facts, as communicated by Mr. E. S. 

 Howard, of Woodside, to the ' Sheffield Daily Telegraph,' are briefly tbese : — " Over 

 one end of the blacksmith's shop is a rude loft, in which are a number of boxes, the 

 domiciles of the pigeons. The nails, which were taken from canvas bags and other 

 receptacles, are of the ordinary horseshoe kind, of various sizes, some new, others old 

 and crooked. They were, however, laid with some regard to comfort, iuasmuch as 

 the points were not allowed to project upwards, but without the admixture of softer 

 materials. This is the more singular, as there is abundance of straw, shavings, &c., 

 in the neighbourhood. On these ' iron beds ' the birds had laid their eggs, which were 

 just ready for hatching when the discovery was made of the use to which the nails were 

 applied. The nails when removed filled a watering-can holding about two gallons, 

 one of the nests containing more than a stone weight. The eggs were destroyed. 

 The pigeons are of the ordinary kind, but some of them have a cross between the 

 ' carriers.' " 



Collected Observations on Bird's Nests, ^-e. — I have been much interested in Mr. 

 Newman's " Collected Observations on the Nests and Eggs of British Birds,'' and as he 

 states he would be glad of infurujation on the subject, I make free to notice a few 

 points wherein my observations lead to rather different results, leaving the readers of 

 the ' Zoologist ' to put such value on my remarks as ihey may think proper. 



Dartford iVarbler. The eggs possess, I think, a distinct character, quite separating 

 them from those of the whitethroat, lesser whiiethroat and reed warbler, all of which 

 they are sometimes said to resemble. The white ground colour and the distinct markings 

 (or nearly so) sufficiently distinguish them ; they never, so far as I have observed, possess 

 the greenish ground met with in the other species. I had some twenty nests through 

 my hands last summer, and found this characteristic pervading all of them. These birds 

 were very plentiful for two years, but last winter has I fear destroyed the greater part 

 of them. I never found more than four eggs in a nest. 



Goldencrested Regulus. I have two nests this season, one with eight eggs, the 

 other ten. 



Meadow Pipit. I took a nest the week before last with only four eggs, hard set, 

 and have before had theui with only four eggs. 



Greenfinch. Six eggs are not uncommonly found. 



Rook. I have nests of eggs taken this season, varying in number from three to 

 six. 



Heron. Pale greenish brown ; should probably be pale greenish blue ; at any 

 rate the heron's and bittern's eggs can scarcely be called the same colour. 



Common Snipe. I have the nest and four eggs, taken this season in Hampshire, 

 and knew of a nest and four eggs being also taken there last year, so that the South as 

 well as the North of England may be inserted as a locality. 



Common Shieldrake. Breeds regularly and commonly on the coast of Caermarthen- 

 shire, South Wales. 1 have the eggs which I know to have been brought from there, 

 and am expecting more this season. 



