9836 Birds. 



given by Bell, as the span from lip to tip of the wings was 14^ inches. The fur was 

 of a slaty-gray, darker above than beneath, and altogether destitute of the reddish 

 colour described in books. I could discover no trace of the inguinal mammae said to 

 exist in this species. The individual being a male, they would of course be very 

 diminutive ; but I could find no indication of their presence. On a subsequent 

 evening I saw several bats of about the same size flying round the house: they were 

 probably the same species; they flew comparatively slowly, feebly and in short courses, 

 and about fifteen feet from the ground. Tomson House is an old Tudor structure, 

 which, with its many out-buildings, is admirably adapted for bat haunts; indeed, 

 I know few places where bats are so numerous. — James Sailer ; \,Plowdon Bidldinys, 

 Temple. 



Notes on the Nesting of Birds in the Flat-lands oj Essex. 

 By Vincent Legge, Lieut. R.A. 



Redstart. — This bird is very plentiful about here, frequenting 

 particularly those parts where the pollard-willows most abound. Fond 

 as they are of nesting in old stumps and trees, they have a special 

 predilection for the pollards, which, full of holes and cavities, afford a 

 capital situation for breeding. I never saw them so plentiful in any 

 part of England, and most probably it is on account of the numbers of 

 these trees, which line the ditches in the marshy districts, that they are 

 so common here. They prefer a cavity with a good sized entrance, 

 and place their nest in the back of it: these vary very much in 

 construction, according to the nature of the hole, some having a great 

 deal of foundation and body, others being very slightly made, with not 

 much more material than one finds in the nest of an oxeye : it is of 

 shallow form, and in most instances rather loosely put together. The 

 body and foundation are uiade of dried grass, small fibres and roots, 

 and the interior of wool, lined with horse-hair; a i^tw feathers were 

 intermixed wi'li the hair in one or two nests. The prevailing number 

 of eggs in a great number 1 foinid was (we; in some there were six, 

 and in others four : they are 8^ lines long by six broad ; and, though 

 generally of a delicate green, some are nearly of as dark a colour as 

 those of the hedgesparrow ; they were laid this year, for the most 

 part, by the last week in April. 



Pied and Yellow Wagtails. — Great numbers of both these wagtails 

 frequent the low cultivated and marsh-lands of this coast. They may 

 be seen darting about, and following the course of, the ditches in 

 search of insects, or hovering over them in the vicinity of their nests. 

 They both, especially the yellow wagtail, nest in the sod-banks of the 

 water-courses, and on the approach of an intruder, circle round his 



