306 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



charged rae Is. each, and for the instrument with a half-inch diameter, 

 which they had especially to make for me, 4s. 6d. — Herbert Langton. 



A singular Bird's Nest.— The ' Continental Times ' of July 13th states 

 that a bird's nest, made wholly of long spiral steel shavings, without the 

 least particle of vegetable or animal fibre, has been found at Solothurn, 

 in Switzerland, the centre of a large watch manufacturing district. It has 

 been preserved in the local museum. 



Unusual Site for a Flycatcher's Nest. — The Spotted Flycatcher 

 almost invariably makes a nest for itself, but this summer a pair of these 

 little birds have hatched out their young in an old Missel Thrush's nest 

 here. The site seems to be sufficiently curious to be worth notice. — 

 Darell Stephens (Trewornan, Wadebridge). 



Nightingale singing in July.— On the 2nd of July, and again on 

 the 8lh, I heard the Nightingale singing on the wooded banks of the 

 Medway above Maidstone.— Henry Lamb (Maidstone). 



[This is a late date at which to hear a Nightingale. The song 

 generally ceases by the end of the first week in June. The young birds 

 being then hatched, the old ones busy themselves in getting food for 

 them. — Ed.] 



REPTILES. 

 Coloration of the Viper.— The remarks of my friend Mr. Lodge 

 (p, 271) have revived my interest in Vipers, and I should like to express 

 my accordance with his view, that the colour of Vipers bears little or no 

 relation to the colour of the soil on which they live. In the Forest of 

 Fontainbleau, and in Auvergne, a good many Vipers occurred to me some 

 years ago. The usual ground-colour was a bronze or olive-brown, and 

 I never met with the red variety. But in Auvergne a beautiful French-grey 

 variety was found upon the same ground as the bronze examples, and 

 seemed almost as abundant. The fact was impressed upon my mind by 

 three rather severe bites incurred in the capture of a lively grey specimen. 

 This grey variety has never come under my notice in Great Britain. — 

 H. A. Macpherson (3, Kensington Gardens Square). 



Mode in which Vipers are killed by the Hedgehog.— M. Ferdinand 

 Coste, of Lacanche, in a letter to the French journal ' I'Eleveur,' writes as 

 follows : — " Everyone knows that the Hedgehog is a sworn enemy of 

 reptiles in general and of the Viper in particular ; but few perhaps are 

 aware in what way he contrives to overcome so recalcitrant and dangerous 

 an enemy and make a meal of it. My keeper was going his round this 

 summer in a wood which is unfortunately infested with Vipers, when he 

 espied an enormous one asleep in the sun. He was on the point of killing 

 it with a charge of shot, when he perceived a Hedgehog coming cautiously 



