9210 Birds. 
the hearts of Scandinavians during their bright and nightless summer. That it does 
occasionally so honour us the assurance of so excellent an ornithologist as Mr. 
Matthews convinces me, though the occurrence may possibly be infrequent, and so 
may escape the notice even of careful observers. But I apprehend that there are 
many facts yet to learn with regard to the song and habits of even our commonest 
birds, and that on the part of those who have watched them for years; at least so my 
own experience assures ine, for I am continually finding out new traits, and discover- 
ing peculiarities hitherto unnoticed even in those species which frequent my own 
garden, and with which I thought myself most familiar ; and so I shrewdly suspect it 
will be to the very end of the chapter, for of Natural History it may be said, perhaps 
more truly than of anything else, “ There are more things in heaven and earth, 
Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”— Alfred Charles Smith ; Yatesbury 
Rectory, Calne, June 11, 1864. 
Song Thrush’s Nest on the Ground. —The site which Mr. A. 8S. Bradby (Zool. 
9108) mentions as having been chosen by a song thrush for its nest is, as far as my 
observation has gone, not at all an unusual one. The bottom of a hedge, or a ledge 
on the bank of a ditch or stream, is frequently preferred to a bush or tree, perhaps as 
being less easily found by nest-hunting boys, who in many places (especially near 
London) ave far more destructive than rats or mice. Macgillivray (* History of British 
Birds,’ vol. ii. p. 135) says that the nest “is placed iv a thick bush of any kind, or in 
a hedge, at a small height, or on a rough bank among shrubs or moss. In the un- 
wooded parts of the country it is found under shelter of a projecting stone or crag, or 
in the crevice of a rock, or at the root of a tuft of heath, or among the stunted willows 
on the rocky bank of a stream.” So also in ¢ Birdsnesting,’ p. 10, it is said to build 
on the ground; but Yarrell and some other authors take no notice of the occurrence, 
common as it is.— Charles Bygrave Wharton ; Aspen Lodge, Sudbury, Middlesex, 
July 11, 1864. 
Lesser Redpole’s Nest near Chester.— On the 12th of June, 1864, I found, in a lane 
near Chester, a lesser redpole’s nest. It was built in a hazel-bush, and made of twigs 
and moss, lined with willow-down. At first I had some doubts as to what species it 
belonged, but at last I saw one of the old birds, with whose song I am well acquainted, 
There was only one egg in at the time, and on visiting the nest again I found that it 
had been pulled. The egg was greenish blue spotted with orange, principally at the 
large end. Is it not rather far south for this species to breed ?—J, Hamilton ; 
Manchester. 
Nesting of the Mountain Finch or Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) in York- 
shire. —I have before me a nest and egg, with the description of the mother bird, 
which leave no room for doubt that the brambling has nested this year in a wild state 
with us, The nest was first noticed in an early stage of its construction, on the 13th 
of April. It was built at a height of about six feet from the ground, on the side shoots 
of an oak tree and close to the trunk, the materials employed being principally moss 
and wool, with an intermixture of brown hair, a few stems of dry grass, and some 
silky-looking substance which is probably the inner bark of some plant, perhaps 
a thistle. The lining is of white hair and feathers, beneath which wool shows 
more abundantly than the moss. There were in all six eggs in it, and the bird was 
very shy, and soon forsook the nest on finding itself observed. | Hewitson’s illustra- 
tion of the egg of the brambling might very well have been taken from the egg now 
before me, but the peculiar plumage of the bird, which was well and closely observed, 
