The Zoologist— September, 1870. 2307 



having broken half an inch oflf its upper mandible, the beak after a time commenced 

 growing again, until it became as perfect as ever. I am sorry to say this bird died 

 last December. Its mandibles are two inches and a half in length, attenuated at the 

 ends, with the tips slightly crossed, closely resembling one which was at the Zoological 

 Gardens a short time ago. — /. H. Gurney,jiin. ; July 29, 1870. 



Swallow taking a Fly from a Horse. — The other day I saw a swallow hover for a 

 second before a horse feeding in a meadow, and take a fly from his shoulder. This 

 may be no unusual occurrence, but I never noticed it before. — Murray A. Malhew. 



On the Nesting of the Common Sivifl. — Wishing to add the eggs of the common 



swift (Cypselus apus) to my collection, I went over to Wandsford, a village near 



Driffield, in this neighbourhood, where large numbers of these birds breed under the 



tiles of the high warehouses, &c., and having, with the assistance of two able 



persons, reared a h)ng ladder against the eaves, I ascended, and was rather surprised 



to find the old swifts sitting under the tiles in a very stupid manner, but no nest could 



I find. The birds seemed in no way alarmed by being disturbed, and persistently 



refused to lake flight, even when the tiles were lifted off and the birds moved with the 



hand. Although the places whereon the birds were sitting were quite warm, there was 



not the slightest sign of any nest : then what made the birds so stupid? not because it 



was late in the evening, for there were hundreds flying and screeching in all directions. 



Now I have often heard, and many people believe, that the swift is unable to rise off 



the ground : here then was an opportunity of testing the point, so choosing a level 



piece of ground, I put five or six of them on it one by one, and holding my flat hand 



over them for a short time I suddenly withdrew it, and the birds in every instance rose 



with little difficulty and joined their companions circling aloft. On a subsequent visit 



to the same place I took two nests, one containing two eggs and the other only one ; 



the old birds were on them in each instance, one escaping by creeping out of reach 



and the other by flight. These nests were very compactly glued together by a strong 



viscid substance (perhaps saliva) of a whitish transparent colour, and much resembling 



the gummy material used by the puss moth in forming its cocoon ; they were composed 



of straws, (&c., at the bottom, and lined with the black feathers of the rook. During 



the whole time I was searching about the buildings for nests the swifts were screaming 



in all directions, when suddenly one would bend its course straight at me, and with a 



loud scream appear as if it were going to dash itself against my head, but when about a 



yard off would change its course with the quickness of thought, and speed past me and 



over the roof with immense velocity : others made feints to enter the holes beneath the 



liles, and in some few instances did so for a short time, yet these were the only nests I 



could find, though no doubt there would be many others. It seems also that they vary 



a great deal in the time of their commencing to breed, as some nests were only partly 



completed, whilst the eggs I got were very much incubated : this was on the 28ih of 



June. — F. Boyes ; Beverley, August 20, 1870. 



Nesting of the Quail in East Yorkshire. — On the 24ih of July last I had the 

 pleasure of finding a quail sitting on eleven eggs near this town : it suffered itself to 

 be approached to within about a foot, and then rose with a sharpish scream, and a 

 quick flight rather resembling that of a snipe. On again visiting the place I found 

 the eggs cold and evidently forsaken. The nest was situated on the side of the 

 railway embankment, amongst grass, &c., and consisted of a very few dead grasses in 

 a hollow (no doubt scraped out by the bird), and seemed too small for the number of 



