3146 THE ZooLocist—JuLy, 1872. 
lake the same evening; there are several teal’s nests here this year.—J. 
Whitaker, jun.; Rainworth Cottage, Notts. 
Collections of Eggs—We are starting a small Natural-History collection 
here, and intend to include birds’ eggs. I should feel very much obliged if 
you would kindly tell me what you consider the best substance upon which 
to lay the specimens. The drawers in our cabinet are divided into compart- 
ments, and as I do not wish to put the eggs upon cardboard or the like, 
some soft substance becomes necessary, to form a bed upon which they may 
rest. Would bran, sawdust, or sand, answer the purpose?—George H. 
Pope; Haileybury College, Hertford, May 16, 1872. 
[When I collected eggs I used pink cotton wool, but I am aware various 
other materials are employed. Professor Newton recommends that tow, 
flax, or wool be used in packing eggs. I shall feel obliged if either of our 
leading ornithologists will answer Mr. Pope’s question.—Hdward Newman. | 
Honey Buzzard in the New Forest.—I have been informed on good 
authority that in the early part of the present month a nest of the honey 
buzzard containing two eggs was found in the New Forest, in the parish of 
Brockenhurst, Unfortunately, not only were the eggs taken, but both the 
parent birds were trapped.—J. H. Gurney ; June 24, 1872. 
Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Cuckoo,—On the 7th of June a kestrel was 
brought alive to Mr. Shopland, naturalist, of Torquay, which had been 
caught in a singular manner. Some strong threads with bits of paper tied 
on them at intervals had been stretched over some ground in which seeds 
had been newly sown, to protect the seeds from small birds; these threads, 
being subsequently removed, were thrown at random on some adjacent 
bushes, and by some means a kestrel became so entangled in them that it 
could not escape, and was thus captured. ‘The kestrel was a male bird, and 
from its plumage I suppose it to have been about twelve months old. On 
the 10th of June a female sparrowhawk, killed near Torquay, was brought to 
Mr. Shopland, and dissected by him in my presence. The stomach 
contained the newly swallowed remains of a finch, and also (strange to say) 
some unmistakable fragments of the shell and living membrane of a 
sparrowhawk’s egg. Probably the hawk had devoured one of her own eggs, 
and as she was in full moult it is quite possible that her being so, may have 
been the cause of a morbid appetite. The hawk appeared by its plumage 
to have just completed its second year; its eggs were numerous but small, 
none being larger than a grain of millet. Mr. Shopland informs me that a 
few years ago he found in the stomach of a female cuckoo some fragments 
of blue eggs, apparently those of a hedgesparrow.—J. H. Gurney ; Marldon, 
Totnes, June 18, 1872. 
A Sparrowhawk on board Ship.—The steamer ‘ North-Eastern,’ Captain 
White, now lying at South Shields, was off Odessa in March last, and while 
passing that port she was boarded by a sparrowhawk, which stuck to the 
