756 The Zoologist— May, 1867. 



over, the entrance being placed over the stream more at the base of the nest than the 

 side. It is wonderful how so large and heavy a structure as this clings to the wall, for 

 where the nest is placed there is only a slight convexity in the face of the stone, hardly 

 appreciable to the eye when the nest is away. Two more pairs of water ouzels are 

 nesting half a mile up this stream, where it passes through a tunnel under the Leeds 

 and Liverpool Canal : from the inside of this tunnel on both sides large blocks of stone 

 protrude from the walls; on these the ouzels build, and the same spots are selected 

 year after year. The shape of the nests in these instances are suited to the position: 

 being placed on a firm flat surface, the birds departed from the shape described in the 

 first instance; instead of building their first round of moss in the shape of the letter 

 O, they built in the form of the letter [\ inverted, the nests when completed being some- 

 what in the shape of bee-hives. It is interesting to note these little modifications in 

 the construction of" homes without hands" by birds of the same species. Mr. Hewil- 

 son says these birds commence nesting early in April, but here is an instance of their 

 beginning a full month earlier. — H. W. Fcilden. 



Wood Lark in West Sussrx. — Lord Clifton asks (S.S. 705) for informatiou respecting 

 the wood lark in the southern counties. My own observations teud to show that it is 

 a scarce bird in this part of Sussex ; indeed it is only within the last few years that 

 I have noticed it here in t!;e summer. It is not found in the open part of the country, 

 but affects the sheltered and wooded valleys in some of the higher grounds near Good- 

 wood, for instance: it is also found in some parts of the Weald, but is nowhere 

 numerous. I am inclined to refer the notes I heard in January, 1865 (Zool. 9498) to 

 this species. I was at that time unacquainted with the note of the wood lark. Sub- 

 joined is an extract from the ' Field ' of January 12th ; it is from the pen of Mr. G. 

 Dawson Rowley, of Brighton, and may interest Lord Clifton and perhaps other of your 

 readers, showing that wood larks met with no better reception at Brighton than the 

 phalaropes at Eastbourne, &c. : — "The late frost has made sad havoc among the birds, 

 particularly tbe Alaudidaj. These appear to have been driven south by the snow till 

 they reached the sea, along the const of which they wandered westward in search of 

 unattainable safely. On Thursday last, round Brighton, wood larks (Alauda arborea) 

 suddenly appeared in every direction, and suffered accordingly by net and gun. One 

 person is said to have shot a hundred of these poor little songsters, not knowing what 

 they were; another has forty alive. These are only two instances out of many. 

 Between Brighton and Rottingdean, I am told, at least one hundred and fifty clap- 

 nets were at work on that day, and the guns on the Downs sounded like a review. 

 Bunches of sky larks were offered fur sale in every street, usque ad nauseam. From all 

 this I fear our copses next spring will be sadly silent, for the plaintive note of the wood 

 lark has been hushed by death." — W. Jeffery,jun. ; Ralliam, Chichester, April 4, 1867. 



The Bunting a Bird of Shakespeare. — I have read with great pleasure Mr. 

 Harling's very interesting remarks on the " Birds of Shakespeare," and in conse- 

 quence of a passage I lately came across I would suggest that another species, the 

 bunting, may be added to the list of British birds mentioned by the poet (Zool. S. S. 

 354). The passage I allude to is from ' All's Well that Ends Well,' Act ii. Scene 5, 

 where Lafen, on being assured that Parolles really is a good soldier, exclaims, "Then 

 iny dial goes not true; I took this lark for a bunting." — James Shorto, jun. ; Dor. 

 Chester, April 8, 1867. 



