356 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



lighted : nevertheless the building of the nest proceeded, it was lined, 

 and evidently finished. But it happened that on the 25th of July there 

 ■were many visitors, and I suppose the noise and smolie were too much for 

 the birds ; anyhow they deserted the nest, and were not seen in the room 

 afterwards. On July 28th I took down the nest, which contained one egg. 

 In an unused bed-room, also, a pair of Swallows have nested and brought 

 off their young. Another pair attempted to nest on a broom placed in the 

 corner of an upstairs room, but were disturbed. But more curious still, a 

 pair of Swallows have reared a brood in our steam wash-house, where the 

 noise of the washing and wringing machines is simply deafening, and the 

 room is filled with the vapour from the boiling water. Is it possible that 

 the very wet summer has driven the birds to seek more sheltered situations 

 for their nests than the chimney? Still this would not explain their 

 choosing the rooms of a dwelling-house rather than some barn, of which 

 there are plenty near, and which have been regularly used by some of them. 

 A pair of Swallows, accompanied by a third, have for some years nested 

 under a porch at the back door of " The Cottage," returning each year and 

 repairing the nest: they came as usual this year, the first bird appearing 

 on April lGth, and roosting each night on the nest ; on the 23rd a second 

 appeared, and afterwards a third; on the 28th a smashed egg was found on 

 the ground ; on May 11th the nest was on the ground, — from what cause 

 it feli I know not. The birds appear to have sheltered for the night in a 

 barn close by, for the following morning the heads and tails of two 

 Swallows were found there, a pet cat having evidently appropriated the 

 rest. Two days after a pair of Swallows were noticed surveying the spot 

 where the nest had been ; in another week they were laying the foundations 

 of a new nest exactly in the old spot, and they have since completed this 

 and brought off their brood. It would look as though the third Swallow 

 (whose presence each year I cannot understand) had found a helpmate at 

 once and built again on the old spot.— John H. Wilmore (Queenwood 

 College, near Stockbridge, Hauts). 



FISHES. 



Sting Ray in Bosham Harbour, Sussex. — Two examples, which I have 

 no doubt may be referred to this species, were taken while hooking eels and 

 flounders in Bosham Harbour, in the early part of this summer. This fish 

 is known to our local fishermen as the " Stinge," and is much dreaded by 

 them,— so much so that in the second case the fish, a large one, was cut 

 adrift rather than haul it into the boat to obtain the hook. — William 

 Jjsffebx (Ratham, near Chichester). 



Abundance of the Picked Dogfish in Killala Bay.— About the middle 

 of July Killala Bay was visited by immense numbers of the Picked Dog- 



