7818 Birds. 



than any otber birds' eggs that I know of. Great numbers of tbe tree sparrows are 

 caught here in traps every winter, when they seek the shelter of the fold and slack- 

 yard, and are sold to the constable for a halfpenny each. — /. Ranson ; York. 



CucLoos' Eggs in Reed Warblers' Nests. — With reference to JMr. Ramsden's de- 

 scription (Zool. 7757) of a young cuckoo having been found by him in a reed warbler's 

 nest, I can certainly state, on my own experience, that such an event is by no means 

 uncommon. I am aware that Yarrell does not include the reed bird's nests amongst 

 those in which cuckoos' eggs are generally laid, nor was it inserted either in a recent 

 list published in the ' Field ;' yet I believe that any one accustomed to watch the 

 habits of our marsh birds in those most favourable of all districts, the " Norfolk broads," 

 would be able to recall more than one instance of the cuckoo's egg being found in the 

 deeper hollow of the reed bird's structure. During the last summer no less than four 

 cases have come under ray own notice, and those under somewhat peculiar circum- 

 stances. About a mile from this city, at a place called Harford Bridges, a large reed- 

 bed by the river-side adjoins a garden belonging to some neighbouring cottages. In 

 this one locality four or five nests of the reed warbler have been found, built into 

 various bushes, such as currant, alder, gooseberry, &c., yet still retaining their ordinary 

 character, the materials being carefully wound round two or more twigs in each bush, 

 in the place of the reed-stems, their more usual support. The green leaves hanging 

 over the nests in these cases have an exceedingly pretty effect, and in one instance 

 bunches of currants as well hung temptingly over the entrance to this compact little 

 edifice. Whether the unusual locality of these various nests took the fancy of the 

 cuckoos in that district, the access to them being easier than when built on the reeds, 

 I cannot determine ; but three out of the four contained cuckoos' eggs, and the fourth, 

 discovered later than the rest, had a cuckoo as its only tenant. Anything more absurd 

 than the appearance of this " big baby," firmly wedged into the nursery of its foster- 

 parents, it is impossible to conceive, the utter disproportion between the nest and its 

 occupant being only equalled by the contrast between the poor little reed birds and 

 this infant Hercules. Other instances in which both eggs and young have been 

 found, as in Mr. Ramsden's case, in ordinary nests suspended on the reeds, have from 

 time to time come under my notice. There can therefore be no reason for any longer 

 excluding the reed warbler from the list of feathered unfortunates to whom the cuckoo 

 intrusts the rearing of its progeny. — H. Stevenson ; Norwich, October 26, 1861. 



Curious Anecdote of the Common Partridge. — Last year a partridge, having made 

 a nest and laid fourteen eggs, began to sit, but was driven off by a domestic hen, who 

 took her place and continued to sit upon them until they were hatched, when the 

 mother took away the young ones from the hen. I was told, before the young ones 

 were hatched, that such would be the case, but I was incredulous. — J. Ranson ; York. 



Wild Swans at Swansea. — A flock of wild swans passed over our bay on Monday 

 last. One of them was shot on the sands near Riston ferry ; it proved to be a young 

 bird. — D. Williams ; 56, Wind Street, Stvansea, October 30, 1861. 



Occurrence of Richardson's Skua at Horning Fen. — On Saturday last a fine 

 example of Richardson's skua was brought to my house by a labourer, who shot it at 

 Horning, in the midst of a snow storm in the fens. — W. Winter ; Aldehy, November 

 9, 1861. 



