Binls. 7700 



immaliiie or young binls ; all, except the latter, in very good coiulilion. There 

 is no doubt as to the fact of the birds being shot in the neighbourhood of Sheerness, 

 as the person who killed them was quite unaware what he had shut, and onlv skinned 

 them (in not a very scientific manner) because he thought them pretty, uncummon- 

 looking birds. I am not aware if any others were shot in Kent or elsewhere last 

 winter. — G. F, Mathews ; Woolwich, July 16, 1861. 



Occurrence of the Grayheaded Wagtail and Temminck's Stint near Brighton. — 

 On the 27th of last April I shot a very fine adult male grayheaded wagtail, and a few 

 days since a perfect specimen of Temminck's stint, the plumage of which is partially 

 summer.— ffenry Pratt, jun.; 35, Duke Street, Brighton. 



Occurrence of the Nest of the Snow Bunting in Shetland. — Some years ago Dr. 

 Edmondston expressed his belief that the snow bunting would be found breeding 

 regularly in some of the clifi's in the north part of this island (Unst): and at his 

 suggestion, therefore, 1 have carefully searched for their nests this season. My own 

 endeavours have been rewarded only by the sight of several pairs of the birds them- 

 selves, but a man who I employed to assist me in the search has been more ibrtunale, 

 having within the last week discovered a nest containing three fresh eggs. He found 

 it in the crevice of a rock near the top of one of the high sea-cliflPs at Burrafrith. It 

 is rather shallow, and is composed of coarse dry grass and fibrous roots, lined with 

 wool, and fine hair of horses and cows. The eggs are roundish, and measure nearly 

 an inch in length ; in colour white faintly tinged with bluish green, slightly spotted 

 with dark brown and bluish gray.— /7enry L. Saxby ; Baltasound, Shetland, July 10. 

 Nesting of the Sitla syrinca and Hirundo rufula. — How that we are on the 

 north side of the Gulf and once more at the foot of Aracynthus, it will be worth 

 while to ascend the mountain a short way, either up the Grand Gorge, or, better 

 still, up the Litile Klissoura, to observe a few more of the veiy singular nests of Silta 

 syriaca and Hirundo rufula. Scrambling up the d'ry water-course at the bottom of the 

 Little Klissoura, we may notice in several iilaces the nests of the former plastered to 

 the face of the cliff. Most of these are old, and probably all but one or two inacces- 

 sible without a rope. Where the nest does not include a natural cavity of the rock, 

 it is glued very tightly to the face of the latter, being fully exjiosed without any 

 attempt at concialmeni, though very diflScult to distinguish from the numerous ants' 

 nests, to which in outward appearance it bears a strong resemblance. It has gene- 

 rally a southern aspect. The outside appears to be stuck over with the wings of 

 insects worked up along with the mud composing it, which becomes very hard after 

 exposure. Hirundo rufula is still more singular in its nidification, always fixing its 

 nest under a cave or projecting slab of rock. In the Little Klissoura and throughout 

 the precipices of Aracynthus there are plenty of these caves, in former times a conve- 

 nient refuge for the Klephls, as they now are for the shepherds tending their flocks 

 during the winter months. This eccentric swallow, not satisfied with having a good 

 dry cave all to himself, must needs construct a long passage to his nest, thus giving it 

 the shape of a retort with the upper part cut away, and the remaining portion glued 

 underneath a flat surface. The entrance is narrow, but the passage gradually widens, 

 till it finally opens into a sort of chamber very warmly lined with feathers : here the 

 little fellow and his mate are sure to be most snugly tucked in just after sundown, 

 when they can't see to catch any more insects. Escape therefore is impossible when a 

 ruthless ornithologist wishes to capture the pair for the sake of identifying their eggs. 

 No more than one pair ever seem to occupy a cave, though the remains of previous 



