78 The Zoologist — February, 1866. 



Nuthatch (Sitta europaea). — Very commou in this neighbourhood, 

 where orchards abound. If templed with nuts or crusts of bread 

 placed on the window-sill, it is astonishing how tame they soon 

 become, appearing every morning with the greatest regularit}^, and 

 carrying off the looked-for morsel almost from the hand that dis- 

 penses it. 



Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). — Exceedingly numerous here this sum- 

 mer, though I was not sufficiently fortunate to discover any of their 

 eggs. 1 saw young birds after they had left the nest, and heard of 

 one, not far from the house, actually in the nest, but it was gone before 

 1 could see it. Five or six of these birds seemed to have attached 

 themselves to the flower-garden the whole summer, and I should say 

 neither sliunbered nor slept; from long before midnight till dawn one 

 incessant jargon seemed to be carried on by the whole company. 

 They appear in this part every spring with the greatest regularity, 

 Orleton Fair, which usually falls on or about the 24th of April, being 

 the day on which we look for them, and they are, generally speaking, 

 true to a day. 



Kiitffjisher (Alcedo ispida). — Oh ! that 1 could enlist the ladies on 

 my side, in order to put a stop to the wholesale destruction of this, 

 the most beautiful, as well as the most interesting, of our native birds. 

 Surely the tropics, if bright colours are indispensable, would supply 

 their wants, and we might still be gratified, when wandering along the 

 margin of the purling brook, with the occasional glimjjse of a bird, 

 the beauty of which few who have not seen it on the wing can 

 appreciate. 



SwaUow (Hirundo rustica), Martin (IT. urbica). Sand Martin 

 (H. riparia) and Sicijt (Cypselus apus). — These four summer visitants 

 are all very abundant. The little sand martin is the first to appear, 

 and is speedily followed by the swallow and martin. The swift 

 arrives considerably later. I should advise any one in search of the 

 eggs of the sand martin to beware of fleas ; I have seen them this 

 summer, before the birds had begun to sit regularly, congregated in 

 ])ositive heaps in front of the holes : what must be the sufferings of the 

 young birds I am at a loss to conceive. 



Ni<jh1j(ir (Caprimulgus europaius). — Very common in many jiarts of 

 the county, and I should say pretty evenly distributed over it. I often 

 see them on our moor-lands and in the young ])lantations which culti- 

 vation has added to them. They breed regularly, and in considerable 

 numbers, on the confines of Hawkstone Park. 



