336 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
much flatter after the young are hatched. Below the second 
Heron’s nest which we inspected was a Sparrowhawk’s nest, con- 
taining five eggs, the distance between the two being not more 
than four or five feet. There were no remains of fur or feathers 
about the Hawk’s nest (which was not a small one), and merely 
some of its own down in the lining. A little further on we found 
a Jay’s nest, and three nests of the Carrion Crow, a bird which 
is getting very scarce in most game-preserving districts. One 
was in an oak tree, and two of the young Crows, apparently 
oppressed by the heat (for it was a very warm day), were craning 
their long necks over the edge of the nest with wide-open mouths, 
which we could see from below were bright red; the second nest 
was unfinished, and the third held two young Crows, still quite 
blind, with disproportionately large red mouths. The cup of 
this nest was four inches deep and a foot across, lined with wool, 
a piece of black cloth, and two pieces of newspaper ; it was built 
on the flattened top of a leaderless spruce fir, thirty feet high. 
Mr. Baker informs me that.he has every reason to believe 
that the Curlew has nested more than once on the Sandringham 
estate, where there is a good tract of ling strictly preserved by 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. One of the keepers, named 
Salmon, found a nest with eggs there. Salmon knows the 
difference between the Norfolk Plover, or Stone Curlew, and 
Numenius arquatus, and is aware that the former only deposits 
two eggs, and does not lay them in the ling. This is the first 
intimation received of the Curlew nesting in Norfolk. 
On June 28th a keeper showed me the nest of a Reeve, 
Machetes pugnax, which he had found in the early part of May, 
and which then contained four eggs. Unfortunately at the time 
of my visit there were only the broken shells, indicating, as he 
supposed, the work of a Marsh Harrier, Circus @ruginosus, which 
had come after his decoy-ducks. As we were leaving the place 
we stumbled on another nest with four eggs, beautifully hidden 
in green rush-grass, nowhere more than a foot high. The eggs, 
which were very handsome, all pointed inwards, their four small 
ends meeting. The diameter of the nest was 3°83 inches, which 
is less than that of a Redshank; it was constructed of dead 
bents of Eleocharis multicaulis, mixed apparently with Triglochin 
palustre. For this identification I am indebted to Mr. A. H. 
Evans, who knows all the plants of the locality. A “run” made 
