The Zoologist— September, 1871. 2771 



it was again examined, and it was found that the waterhens had disappeared 

 and the nest was occupied by two young woodpigeons. The uesthng 

 pigeons were removed to an aviary and the materials of the nest were 

 examined by my informant, who has sent me the following account of 

 them : " The nest is composed, first of sticks at the bottom, then straws and 

 a sort of bog rush (the latter quite old), mixed with tree-leaves, and on the 

 top very fine sticks, the latter perhaps added by the pigeon ; the nest is 

 about one foot across and about four inches deep." — J. H. Gurney ; 

 June 26, 1871. 



Early Nest of the Koorhen. — On the 11th of April I was shown a 

 moorhen's nest containing seven eggs ; the nest was placed in a bush over- 

 hanging a pond in my neighbourhood. Is not this early breeding? 

 I also saw a house martin for the first time this season. — W. Jesse; Spill- 

 feathers, Ingatestone, April 14, 1871. 



Swan laying nine Eggs. — It may be worth recording that a pair of 

 swans on our little lake at Bonchurch had, on the 12th of May last, 

 a brood of nine, but one cygnet died soon after leaving the shell. Last 

 season none were reared, the whole hi'ood having been killed by rats. In 

 no work that I have by me are so many as nine eggs given to the swan. 

 Temminck says, " Pond six ou huit ceufs d'un verdatre clair." Cuvier also 

 tells us that it " fait six ou huit oeufs gris-verdatres." Bewick that the 

 swan " lays seven or eight large white eggs." Pennant says " it lays seven 

 or eight eggs." Montagu, though giving a long and interesting history of 

 the tame swan, strangely omits saying one word about its eggs, merely 

 remarking that the " wild swan is said to lay four eggs." Macgillivray is 

 very guarded, only observing, " the eggs are not very numerous." According 

 to Jenyns the egg of the wild swan is four inches and one line in length. 

 The egg of the swan is well nigh as disproportionately small as that of the 

 guillemot is large, the egg of the latter being three inches and a quarter in 

 length. That domesticated birds are more prolific is well known, though, 

 the number of eggs laid at a time may not always be greater — the pigeon, 

 for instance. The cygnets were first observed on the I4th, when but two 

 days old ; they then kept close to the old bird, creeping under her feathers 

 and wings : when next visited there were but seven left, a rat having been 

 seen by a villager in the act of walking off with one of them ; and subse- 

 quently three more disappeared, though every precaution had been taken ; 

 a raft or floating stage being constructed and moored at a distance from the 

 bank, where a rat could hardly venture without being seen or heard. The 

 male was standing on the raft preening its feathers, — what a contrast to its 

 mate floating so gracefully on the water ; no goose could have looked more 

 awkward, its shapeless unsightly legs and splay feet bending beneath its 

 weighty and ungainly body ; truly there is but one step from the sublime 

 to the ridiculous. The swan is never seen to greater advantage than when 



