NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 



I have often noticed the Pipistrelle, flitting up and down High Street, 

 Notting Hill, and in the neighbouring Squares at dusk. — Percy Rendall 

 (16, Little Grosvenor Street, W.). 



[In addition to these two other species may be named as occurring, not 

 merely in Middlesex, but in the Metropolis — namely, the Noctule, which 

 may be seen any summer evening flying up and down at a good height 

 over the Serpentine, and Natterer's Bat, a specimen of which was shown to 

 us after being captured in Thayer Street, Manchester Square. Outside 

 the Metropolis the rarer Daubenton's Bat has been taken at Kingsbury 

 Reservoir, and the Barbastelle at Hornsey.— Ed.] 



BIRDS. 



Cuckoo in India. — I have been here for just one month, and during 

 that time have constantly heard the cry of the Cuckoo. Last Sunday 

 (June 12th) I heard it at Lackwar, fifteen miles from here. This would 

 apparently point to Jerdon's not being correct in saying the Cuckoo is rare 

 in India. Mr. Mutzler, the owner of this hotel (the ' Charleville '), tells me 

 the Cuckoo is constantly heard from spring to October. — F. C. Constable 

 (Mussoorie, June 15). — ' Nature.' 



[We are informed by Mr. Seebohra (' British Birds,' vol. ii. p. 378) that 

 in India, Ceylon, Burma, and the Philippines, our Cuckoo is only known 

 as a winter visitor, but that a few remain to breed in the Himalayas. He 

 adds that the very nearly allied species, Cuculus himalayanus, differs from 

 it in no respect except in size (being constantly smaller), and in its note, 

 " which is not a double one, but a single guttural and hollow-sounding 

 note resembling that of the Hoopoe." If this is the case, the species beard 

 by Mr. Constable at Mussoorie and at Lackwar may very likely have been 

 Cuculus canorus. — Ed.] 



Position of Swallows' Nests. — Referring to Mr. Larken's note (Zool. 

 1887, p. 467), I can answer for a similar position of at least two nests of 

 the Swallow. One nest was observed in a church-porch in Oxfordshire, the 

 owners of which were constantly comiug in during the service, and sometimes 

 found considerable difficulty in getting out again. The second nest was in 

 Sussex : in the porch over the door of a village public-house, the hen was 

 sitting, though beer was "consumed on the premises," and the door slammed 

 within a few feet of the nest all day long. Nests of these birds, in my 

 experience, are always " cup-shaped," though they are usually placed at the 

 junction of two beams. — Percy Rendall (16, Little Grosvenor St., W.j. 



Curious Site for a Swallow's Nest. — A short time since I heard of 

 a very curious site for a Swallow's nest. It was placed under the flooring of 

 a passage of a house, and the bird had to go through a hole in the boards, 

 and then fly or creep along for some time before reaching it. Two broods 

 were reared there. The house is ouly partially occupied, but the tenant 



