214 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
early nesters; last year I saw a nest with seven eggs in on May Ist, and 
this year on the 25th April I found another with the like number. I have 
usually found the nest three or four feet above the water, in a hole some 
eighteen to twenty-four inches in depth, invariably sloping upwards. The 
eggs are, I believe, always seven in number, and are deposited in a hollow 
at the end of the burrow, upon a quantity of ejected fish-bones, somewhat 
like isinglass. A small number of fish-bones will probably be found outside 
the hole, and very often the droppings of the old birds will be seen on the 
ground underneath a friendly perch. I have noticed that the hen bird sits 
very closely, and I have nearly always found her on the eggs when my 
hand reached the end of the hole. The nest 1 found on the 25th April 
last was situated in a bare bank, about four feet above the water, in a swift 
brook running through a “spinney.” Some ivy hung over the bank and 
slightly concealed the nest. Just beside it, in a straight line with it, were 
three other Kingfishers’ holes, all of which have, to my certain knowledge, 
been inhabited in past years. On enlarging the aperture I was surprised 
to find that the base of the burrow all the way up was thick with 
“mutings,” and I at once concluded that the young had been hatched. 
However, on getting to the end, about eighteen inches, I felt the old bird. 
T pulled her out, smoothed her ruffled feathers, and let her fly. Upon 
nearly two handfuls of fish-bones were seven eggs, nearly round, and with 
a beautiful salmon-hue, the yelk showing through \the thin shell. I never 
before knew the hole to be dirty before the young were hatched. King- 
fishers could not, I imagine, construct a nest of entwined fish-bones ; for the 
bones of “ miller’s-thumbs” and minnows, interlaced Magpie-fashion, would 
scarcely form a habitation large enough for the parent bird to sit on 
her eggs, let alone the space needed to contain seven young ones.— 
C. Marruew Prior (Bedford). 
OccuRRENCE OF THE LirTLe Crake In Cornwaty.—On March 21st 
I had the pleasure of examining, in the shop of a birdstuffer at Stonehouse, 
a specimen of the Little Crake, Crea pusilla, which had been captured a 
few days previously by a cat at St. Dominick, Cornwall. The person to 
whom it belonged stated that it was brought into the house by his cat, and 
seeing the bird was a stranger,—being well acquainted with the Corn Crake 
and Water Rail,—he took it away from the animal and brought it to 
Stonehouse to have it preserved and learn its proper name. This, how- 
ever, the birdstuffer could not exactly tell him, never having seen a 
specimen of the kind before; but, happening to call in just at the time, 
I was able to decide the question. This example is fully as large, if not 
larger, than Crea Baillonii, and the few measurements I took of it are as 
follow :—Bill, from point to forehead, above three-quarters of an inch; 
wing, from carpal joint to end of longest quill, four inches, full—first quill 
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