NOTES AND QUERIES. 491 



were flying swiftly, not going more than a rod at any time before turning 

 off in a sharp angle. This irregular flight rendered them very difficult 

 targets to hit, and taking aim and shooting were almost instantaueous. 

 I have obtained 190 species of birds with the anti-bow, including, besides 

 Insessores, partridges, quail, and duck, and several snipe and woodcock. — 

 Anti-Bow (Brooklyn). — ' Forest and Stream.' 



BIRDS. 



Variation in Nests of Common Birds: singular Nests taken in 

 Kent. — In the spring of the present year I amused myself by collecting, 

 for comparison, some of the nests of our common birds ; and I was struck at 

 the great variation which they exhibited both in form, and in the materials 

 used in their construction. As I am not aware that special attention has 

 been directed to the frequency of this variability, it may be interesting to 

 mention a few instances. I took a large nest of the Robin, over five inches 

 in diameter, from ivy upon the front of a house ; this nest is strongly built 

 of fine roots, bass, coarse hair, a few withered grasses, and a little moss, 

 firmly interwoven ; the back wall of the nest is about two inches in thickness, 

 gradually diminishing towards the front, which is covered with dead oak- 

 leaves, giving it the appearance of a Nightingale's nest; it contains six 

 eggs, almost uniform in tint, the large end of a pale russet tint, growing 

 gradually paler towards the smaller end ; no distinct mottling is visible, but 

 two or three isolated dark brown points can be seen with a lens on some of 

 the eggs. This nest forms a marked contrast to one which I took two or 

 three years ago out of a hole in an apple-tree ; the latter is semicircular 

 in form, and is composed of moss and fine root-fibre, lined with hair, fibre, 

 and two or three small pieces of withered grass. The Nightingale was very 

 common during the present year, but I only twice stumbled across the 

 nests ; in both cases they were normal in structure and position, but last 

 year I found the nest built fully eighteen inches from the ground in a 

 matted bush of furze and bramble ; about eight years ago I saw a nest 

 without eggs in a stunted hawthorn, nearly two feet from the ground. 

 I obtained one nest of the Willow Wren in which the dome-like covering 

 was wholly absent ; the nest was in a most singular position, being placed 

 upon the earth under a gooseberry bush in an orchard, one of the rou»h 

 clods somewhat overhanging it, and thus rendering the completion of the 

 nest unnecessary. This nest is composed almost entirely of slender dry 

 grasses, thickly lined inside with dark soft feathers ; it contains four eggs, 

 which are unusually well marked with large red-brown spots. I have noticed 

 that where eggs are more than usually exposed to light they are always 

 better marked than those in less exposed situations, while those laid in 

 holes are frequently colourless. The Strigidce, Cinclidm, Hirundinidm, 

 Cypselida, Picida, and Alcedinida may be cited as examples of the latter 



