7640 Birds. 



Wild Duck. I had the eggs last year from a nest placed in a furze bush, in a 

 moorland district iu Hampshire, on the top of some very high rising ground, about a 

 mile distant from any water. 



Teal. Often breeds in Hampshire. I had the eggs from there last year ; a nest of 

 eight, found in an open heath, some distance from water. 



Merganser and Goosander. All my mergansers have a greenish or a brownish hue, 

 and have all a much more delicate glossy polished appearance in the shell than the 

 goosander, which are of a coarser texture and strictly cream-coloured. " Equally 

 blunt at both ends," however, does not apply as a marked characteristic. 



Shag. I have seen eggs of this species, obtained by a friend of mine from the 

 South of England, from a locality where the cormorant is comparatively rare. 



Sparrowhawk. Out of a large series I have I find the markings are very nearly as often 

 at the small end as at the large. I have lately received a nest of five, the most beautiful 

 I ever saw, about one-half of the surface marked as dark as a kestrel's egg, in two of 

 the eggs at the large end, and iu three at the small end. 



Redbacked Shrike. I have a long series of these, and find the greenish white 

 colour more common than the pinkish while, the spots often forming a very decided 

 zone. 



Sedge Warbler. I have taken many nests, to a great extent lined with wool or 

 feathers. The nests this season are composed almost entirely of sheep's wool (a flock 

 occupying a field in the immediate vicinity). 



Nightingale. I believe much more often suspended in a bramble, &c., near the 

 ground than actually on the ground. 



Blackcap. I have some nests quite correctly made, by no means " slovenly in 

 structure," though of course to some extent retaining that character. Most, I believe 

 all, I have seen are well lined with horsehair ; I have one, the outer structure of which 

 is almost entirely sheep's wool. 



Marsh Tit. I have a beautiful nest taken this season out of an old hollow gate- 

 post, a very solid closely compacted nest of moss, hair and wool, well mixed and 

 connected together. There is, moreover, just enough rabljit's fur to confirm Mr. 

 Newman's remark as to its usual presence where procurable. 



Kestrel. I have a nest of five this season, four as usual, the fifth somewhat larger 

 and pure white. — Alfred Crowley ; Croydon, May 20, 1861. 



Preservation of our Little Birds. — In the ' Times ' of the 17th of May, the editor, 

 in referring to the measures taken by Sully, in the reign of Henri Quatre, to preserve 

 fish in the rivers of France, remarks, " Little fish were almost as scarce in France as 

 little birds are now." Having passed many years of my life on that part of the Conti- 

 nent I can corroborate the statement with respect to the paucity of little birds, parti- 

 cularly songsters. Thinking that the " little fish " are now in good keeping, and may 

 be safely left to the fostering care of Her Majesty's Commissioners, I would appeal 

 through the pages of the ' Zoologist' (the only channel open to me) to country gentlemen, 

 and ladies too, to use their best endeavours, before it be too late, to check, if they 

 cannot prevent, the indiscriminate slaughter of our " little birds," or, possibly, after 

 the lapse of two centuries more, an editor of a New Zealand ' Times ' may have it to 

 record that " little fish were almost as scarce in Britain as little birds are now." I 

 have long deplored the destruction of our little birds (the large ones take care of them- 

 selves) even by the ornithologist, thinking, with others, that the telescope might 

 frequently be substituted for the gun. The immediate cause of my taking up my pen is 



