4988 Tue Zootocist—JuLy, 1876. 
appears in the shape of the figure 8 at the top: itis a solid mass,— 
I mean the structure has been carried up simultaneously,—and 
two beautifully cup-shaped nests are finished all but the lining. 
It is principally composed of green moss, some stems of dried 
grass, red cow-hair, a few horse-hairs, and a variety of feathers; a 
few small feathers lying loose in the bottom of one nest are 
without doubt taken from the breast of the spotted flychtcher. 
There is a considerable quantity of wool used throughout, and it 
appears on the outside almost like a network, and is studded with 
lichen. I would gladly have left this curious nest where it was for 
further observations, but I found a number of small boys were 
quarrelling as to which had most right to it, so I brought it away, 
as it was sure to be destroyed. Curiously enough I could see no 
birds about but the chaffinch, but then he is everywhere. On the 
27th (exactly a fortnight after making the above note) I was told 
that another nest had been built on the same spot, so I went again 
and found it to be so. This nest was an ordinary one, built with 
the same materials and quite finished, and rather flatter than the 
others; the foundation of this one is also rather oval, and very 
nearly as large as the other two, and the main structure is not in 
the middle, but at one end of it. I tried to bribe the boys to let 
this one alone, and went back next morning expecting to find an 
egg in it; but no, the little “ brats” had been before me, taken the 
egg and smashed it, but I saw the spotted flycatcher not far from 
the place, which settled the matter in my mind, so I brought home | 
the nest and placed it beside the other. 
Fieldfare-—May 17. The fieldfares, which reappeared on the 
28th of April, have never left the grounds until to-day, all are gone. 
Pied Flycatcher.—The Rey. R. Taylor, of Hesledon, near this 
place, told me that a pair had commenced a nest in his garden, 
but the sparrows having destroyed the nest they have since dis- 
appeared. I have only twice met with this species here: first in 
the spring of 1862, and I was struck with the resemblance of this 
bird to the round stumpy individual figured by’ Bewick, shot at 
Corbridge-on-Tyne ; it was sitting on a small ash tree in the park: 
the second I saw in the spring of 1867, sitting on some rails in the 
nursery gardens; it was a very fine male. 
Spring Migrants—Unlike last year almost all our spribg 
migrants have appeared in goodly numbers, but all have arrived 
late, except the two already mentioned. I observed none before 
