310 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
from it while in the flesh. On dissection it proved to be a female.—J. H. 
Gurney, jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 
Greater Shearwater on the Skye Coast.—While engaged in searching 
for Puffinus anglorum, on the west coast of Skye, on July 13th, I had the 
good fortune to discover a dead specimen of the Greater Shearwater, 
P. major, lying on a heap of torn sea-weed among the rocks. Probably it 
had been cast up by a N.W. gale on July 11th. The light was then too 
grey to admit of a thorough examination of the bird, and I have been 
walling ever since I found it until now; but even in the shade of the glen 
it was easy to decide its identity by a glance at the fairly powerful bill, the 
long toes, aud the expanse of wing. The soft parts resemble those of 
P. anglorum (the irides have sunk); but the webs of the toes are paler 
than in our common Shearwater. It will make a nice skeleton.—H. A. 
MacpHerson (Carlisle). 
Swallows building in Caverns.—Since I was a boy, over thirty years 
ago, I have known a few Swallows, Hirundo rustica, to build against the 
roof of a large limestone cavern near this, where good light reaches them. 
I have recently seen instances of Swallows breeding both there and in 
another smaller cave. House Martins are rather local here, breeding 
chiefly in colonies under over-arching sea-cliffs.—R. J. Ussuer (Cappagh, 
Co. Waterford). 
Birds Breeding in Ants’ Nests.—The Southern Chestnut Woodpecker, 
Micropternus gularis, always, as far as I have observed, uses an ants’ nest 
to nest in; and Mr. Gammie, the Superintendent of the Government 
Cinchona Estates at Mongphoo, near Darjeeling, has noticed the same 
thing with regard to the allied northern species, Micropternus phaoceps ; 
and the peculiarity probably extends also to the allied species found in 
Burmah, Siam, &c. Mr. Gammie thinks that when an ants’ nest has been 
taken possession of by the bird that the ants desert the nest. This is a 
point on which I cannot speak with certainty. Mr. Gammie has taken 
nests of the northern species in which, although the bird has laid, the ants 
remained, and he has taken other nests where not a single ant remained ; 
but there is nothing to show that these nests were not deserted before the 
bird took possession. I myself have taken nests of the southern form, in 
which, though the eggs were partially incubated, the ants remained, 
showing that some considerable time must have elapsed since the bird took 
possession. This is a point that I hope to be able to elucidate within the 
next few months, when the birds will be breeding. When Micropternus is 
breeding, the feathers of the head, tail, and primaries of the wings get 
covered with a viscid matter, having a strong resinous smell, and this 
substance is usually rather thickly studded with dead ants (vide ‘ Stray 
