188 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



ground. My experience in Holland led me to think that A. caudata always, 

 or nearly always, built its nest some way from the grouud, and generally in 

 the fork of an oak branch. In Corsica also, I should say, that A. libit 

 builds at about the same elevation as the last-mentioned species. But my 

 experience of A. rosea is that tbe nest (and I have found a great many) is 

 not placed more than from five to twelve feet high, and then generally in a 

 hedge-row or blackthorn bush. It may be said, with regard to the nest that 

 I am here referring to, that circumstances alter cases — such as lack of suit- 

 able or ordinary positions for the nest, abundance of vermin, &c. Now 

 suitable hedges are in the near neighbourhood of the oak tree in which the 

 nest is placed, and my cats (Persian) never go birds'-nestiug. Macgillivray 

 (ii. p. 457) says of Mecistura longicaudata, that the nest is "supported by 

 the twigs or branches of a tree or bush, sometimes at the height of many 

 yards, but not unfreqnently very near the ground." Prof. Newton (Yarrell, 

 i. p. 500), writing of A. caudata (apparently not recognizing A. rosea as a 

 species), says the nest is "sometimes even high up in the fork of a tree." 

 Wr. Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,' gives no special heights for the 

 nests of the different species of European Long-tailed Titmice. In ' The 

 Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar' A. Irbii is said to nest at "about 

 fifteen to sixteen feet from the ground." Temminck, obviously describing 

 A. caudata, says (Man. d'Ornithologie, 1st ed., p. 174), " Construit avec 

 assez d'art un nid a quelque distance de terre et pose sur l'eufourchement 

 des branches." Again, Deglaud et Gerbe (i. p. 571) say, "Elle niche sur 

 les buissons, dans les tailles, les vergers, centre le pied des grands chimes. 

 Son nid, quelle etablit a une elevation mediocre." Now I should like to 

 ask, Is there any difference in the nidification between our species of 

 Acredula and those species belonging to the Continent? I confess I 

 believed there was, but now my theory is overthrown. Needless to say 

 that if any ornithologist who reads this, happening to be in the neighbour- 

 hood, cares to look at the nest referred to, I shall be very pleased to show 

 it to him. — C. Bvgkavk Wiiakton (Hounsdown, Totton, Southampton). 



Buffon's Skua in the Channel Islands. — As this bird has not 

 hitherto, I believe, been recorded from the Channel Islands, I send you the 

 following note of its occurrence in the island of Herm. In November 

 1881, Mr. Jago, a birdstuffer in Guernsey, wrote to me as follows: — "A 

 female Skua was found dead in Herm on the 29th October ; it was very 

 thin, but in good plumage ; it is very like the Pomatorhine, but much 

 smaller, being about the size of a Kittiwake ; I think it is Richardson's." 

 I did not record this supposed occurrence of Richardson's Skua in ' The 

 Zoologist' at the time, as I was a little doubtful as to the identity. Mr. Jago, 

 however, forwarded the bird to me a few days ago, and it turns out to be 

 a Buffon's Skua, Stercorarius parasiticus, a young bird of the year. I have 



