Tue Zoo.ocist—JuLy, 1876. 5001 
beneath our feet as we stood on the bank, when, just as the hawk was about 
to seize its victim, a missel thrush darted down, right on his back, as it 
seemed to us: for a moment there seemed to be a glancing of wings, and 
the chaffinch dropped quietly down into the grass beneath our feet. The 
hawk, disconcerted, vanished into the woods on the opposite side of the 
river, and the missel thrush, with his exulting ery, flew to the top of one 
of the highest trees: the sight was a most interesting one. I may mention 
that willow warblers seem to be extraordinarily plentiful this year, and 
that whitethroats and wheatears are to be met with on the confines of 
Rathmines—the busiest and most populous suburb of Dublin.—Charles 
W. Benson; Rathmines School, Dublin. 
Evrratum.—In the May number of the ‘ Zoologist’ (S. S. 4919), owing 
no doubt to my bad writing, my name was misprinted.—C. IV. B. 
Spotted I'lycatcher returning annually to the same Nest.—In the last 
number of the ‘ Zoologist’ (S. 8S. 4957) is a note concerning a martin 
returning annually to the same nest. For the last four years a spotted 
flycatcher has built its nest on an excrescence in an elm tree; and what 
makes it more remarkable is that the nest is always taken, being built close 
to a roadway, and is rather conspicuous. The nest isa slight structure, 
being made of moss, covered with lichen, and lined with hair. The number 
of eggs is generally five-—C. Matthew Prior; The Avenue, Bedford. 
Pied Flycatcher breeding in Wharfdale——In May, 1875, having heard 
that the pied flycatcher bred in Wharfdale, I went to Barden in order to 
procure a few eggs, but was unsuccessful, as they had not begun to build. 
This year I thought that if I went a little later I might perhaps meet with 
a few; so last Saturday my brother and I set off to Barden, and found two 
pairs within a hundred yards of each other. The first pair we met with 
had fixed upon a hole in an old oak; we saw the male and female go in 
several times: my brother went up the tree, but found that it had not 
begun to build. The other pair had selected a hole in a gnarled mountain 
ash, about eight feet from the ground: it contained a nest with one egg; 
both male and female belonging to this nest were very similar in plumage. 
I caught the male with a bird-lime twig whilst in the very act of singing, 
and found that it had not yet assumed its vernal drees; it was so much like 
the female that I hardly could persuade my brother that it was a male. 
I found another nest, which contained no eggs, built in a mountain ash, 
about four feet from the ground, just beside the River Wharf, a few miles 
lower down the valley. From the foregoing facts I infer that the pied 
flycatcher does not breed so early as some ornithologists suppose; also that 
its visit to our islands is not accidental,** but that it purposely visits us for 
the sake of breeding. Nothing can be more pleasing to a real ornithologist 
* Mr. Selby supposes that the individuals found here are driyen out of the track 
of their polar migration.—E, P. P. B. 
