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THE ZOOLOGIST. 
THIRD SERIES. 
Vou. X.] DECEMBER, 1886. [No. 120. 
NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 
AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
By tae Riecut Hon. Lorp Litrorp. 
I RESUME my notes from my last date on this subject, June 
8rd, 1885 (Zool. 1885, p. 259). 
June 80th.—Heard from my head gamekeeper that one of 
his men had discovered some young Pied Woodpeckers, Picus 
major, in a dead branch of a fir-tree in a large wood near this 
house. I note this, as, although this Woodpecker is not very 
rare in our neighbourhood, we seldom meet with its nest. 
August 4th. —We this day found two nests of Reed Warblers, 
Acrocephalus arundinaceus, on the banks of our river, containing 
respectively three and four eggs. The first nest was not, as 
usual, placed amongst stems of growing reed, or, as we occa- 
sionally meet with it, in upright growing branches of willow, 
but was suspended between three of the thick pith-rushes, 
locally known as ‘‘bolders,”” and much used for basket-making. 
This is the first instance of the birds choosing these plants as a 
nesting-place that has ever come to our knowledge, and strikes 
us as all the more remarkable from the fact of the abundance of 
reeds within a few yards of this singularly situated nest. 
Aug. 12th.—First Snipe, Scolopax gallinago, of the season 
seen in this neighbourhood. 
Aug. 13th.—We noticed an adult Hobby, Falco subbuteo, 
close to this house. 
ZOOLOGIST.—DECEMBER, 1886, 2N 
