560 The Zoologist — January, 1867. 



removed the mud, and took out the newly-laid egg, and so for four successive days 

 I came and took my egg. I have the mud with which ihe hole was obstructed in my 

 possession at the present time. — E. Charles Moor; Great Bealing, Woodbridge, 

 Suffolk, November 20, 1866. 



Shore Larks in Suffolk. — On Friday last I saw two shore larks (Alauda alpestris) 

 at Mr. Swaysland's: these had been shot in Suffolk, and sent to him to stuff. They 

 were killed, I believe, on the 29th of November. — George Dawson Rowley ; 5, Peel 

 Terrace, Brighton, December 10, 1866. 



Nesting of the Cole Tit.— J was led to a Dest of this bird the other day (April 30th) 

 in a curious manner. I was passing along a foot-path, when my ear caught a tapping 

 sound, like that made by the woodpecker. I looked round awhile, but could see no 

 bird nor any other animal ; the noise, however, drew me to a rather thick, partially 

 decayed thorn in a hedge-row, and in the side of it, about a yard from the ground, I 

 perceived a small newly-made hole. Presently I saw bits of rotten wood falling down 

 the side of the tree. Just now a cole tit made its appearance in the hedge, uttering a 

 certain note; the little excavator, which had been working in the interior of the hole, 

 then emerged, and the pair flew away. About an hour afterwards, when returning, 

 the tapping was going on again. I stopped, and the sentinel outside (the male) came 

 into the bush, made the same alarm, the worker emerged, and they both flew away as 

 before. I could not see how the bits of rotten wood were ejected from the hole, which 

 was nearly a foot in depth, but I could see them dropping to the ground. The 

 materials of the foundation of the nest were thin strips of dry bark, fine dry grass and 

 plant-down ; lining, plant-down, rabbit-down, a few feathers and bits of dry wood. 

 It contained eight eggs, size and colour of blue tit's.— George Roberts; Lofthouse, 

 Wakefield. 



Visit of the Bohemian Waxwing. — On Wednesday, November 28tb, Mr. Knight, 

 of Ongar, Essex, shot one of these birds : it is in the hands of Mr. W. Scruby, Ongar, 

 for preservation. On Friday, November 30th, Mr. Salt, gamekeeper to Mr. Meynell 

 Ingram, at Laughton, shot one: on examining the bird, which was a male, the food 

 in the crop was found to consist almost entirely of broken fragments of the haws of the 

 dog-rose: there were three more in company with the one shot. One specimen was 

 shot at Ealing, Middlesex, the week before last : it was feeding, among other birds, on 

 hawthorn-berries. Last week twenty-one of these birds were seen by a brewer's man 

 in Cleveland, sitting in a tree by the road-side: he borrowed a gun, and shot seven of 

 them ; the remainder, with one exception, have been shot: seventeen of the number are 

 now at Guisbro', being stuffed by Messrs. Page and Reynolds. During the last week 

 three of these birds have been shot in the woods about Faversham, and they are now in 

 the hands of a taxidermist residing in Faversham for the purpose of being preserved. . 

 During the last few days large numbers of these beautiful little birds have made their 

 appearance on the coast of Norfolk, and upwards of a score have been shot or captured : 

 sixteen were counted on one tree alone, and appeared exiremely tame or very 

 exhausted. The gamekeeper of Colonel Mackintosh, of Farr's, saw, on December 8th, 

 a large flock, and shot two, male and female, both very fine birds, in perfect plumage, 

 and wax on each of the wings: they were sent to Mr. Snowie, gunmaker, Inverness, 

 for preservation. About a week since one of these birds was shot at Hermitage, near 

 Newbury, Berkshire : it was alive when taken to Mr. Ralph Allder, whose wife kept it 

 for three days, when it died from its wound : during its confinement it fed from the 



