390 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



as late as the middle of September when partridge-shooting. A pair of 

 Waterhens, by the Serpentine Dell, have reared two broods this summer; 

 these birds generally leave the Dell as the autumn advances, aud they, no 

 doubt, are migrants. I notice that this bird is largely a night-feeder, 

 during which time a very curious weird cry is kept up ; one dark evening 

 in August the place for many yards rouud seemed alive with them. I saw 

 a Goldfinch the other morning, in the Dell, feeding on the seeds of Rudbeckia 

 Newmanni, but it is possible that — being so tame and quite alone — it may 

 have recently escaped from a cage. — W. H. Tuck (47, Cathcart Road, 

 South Kensington). 



Black Redstart nesting in Essex. — The Natural History Museum 

 has recently received an interesting acquisition in the shape of an undoubted 

 nest, with two eggs, of the Black Redstart, Ruticilla tithys, taken in Essex. 

 This is the first authentic instance, I believe, which has been recorded of 

 this bird breeding in England. The nest referred to was presented by the 

 Hon. Mrs. Ronald Campbell, who found it at Danbury Palace, Chelmsford, 

 the seat of her father, the Bishop of St. Albans. She describes the 

 circumstances of this interesting discovery as follows : — " The nest was in 

 a hole in an ivy-covered oak-tree, which is more like a wall than a tree, and 

 stands a few yards from a dairy in a dark sheltered corner. It was about 

 four or five feet from the ground, aud there were four eggs in it. The nest 

 was found by some village boys who come to the dairy for milk, and their 

 constant passing close to the nest must have caused the bird to forsake it. 

 They showed it to my boys, and we watched it carefully, and saw the bird 

 fly off twice — a dark-coloured bird with a red tail. This first made me 

 think it was a Redstart, as they abound about here, but I could not under- 

 stand the white eggs. They were a delicate pinkish white before being 



blown, like pink pearls. The nest was built early in May I am sorry 



one of the eggs was accidentally cracked. The other two were the same 

 size as the cracked one. One of them was broken in the nest when we 

 first saw it, aud the other was given by my boys to a friend who had a 

 good collection." The egg which is not cracked is considerably smaller 

 than the injured one, which, as stated above, was the same size as the 

 twoothers. 1 hope to have the pleasure of exhibiting this most interesting 

 nest and eggs at the next meeting of the Zoological Society. — W. R. 

 Ogilvie Grant (Natural History Museum, South Kensington). 



The Raven in Dorsetshire. — A friend of mine, Commander J. B. 

 Young, R.N., writes me the following interesting account of a pair of 

 Ravens which nested this year on the west cliffs of Portland. The first 

 nest was in a cave about five feet square entrance, and about thirty-five 

 feet down a perpendicular cliff, and contained six incubated eggs on the 

 13th March last, which were taken. The second nest was about 500 yards 



