NOTES AND QUERIES. 391 



too insignificant to attract it, and were allowed to swim about in the trough 

 unmolested, but for Chub, Perch, and Dace it evinces a decided predilection. 

 Its method of feeding is peculiar: tearing the fish open, it devours the 

 entrails, before proceeding to feast upon what one might reasonably suppose 

 to be more attractive diet. It measures five feet two iuches from tip to tip 

 of wing, and is in capital plumage. It is recovering from the injury to its 

 wing very rapidly, and I have but little doubt that, in the course of another 

 week, it will again be able to fly. It appears that the Osprey occurs in 

 Enolaud during Seprtember more frequently than in any other month. It 

 visits us on its southward migration, and in a few exceptional instances has 

 been known to remain during the winter. Since the above was written 

 another Osprey is reported to have been shot, about Sept. 20th, near 

 Wheathampstead by Mr. W. Thrale, and has been forwarded for preserva- 

 tion to Mr. Norman Thrale, of Port Vale, Hertford. The two birds were 

 probably travelling companions on their way south for the winter. — John 

 E. LiTTLEBOY (Huuton Bridge, near Watford). 



Snow Bunting breeding in Confinement. — During a recent visit to 

 the Elgin Museum, the Curator, Mr. John Gatherer, showed me a couple 

 of eggs of the Snow Bunting, Emberiza nivalis, which had been laid in his 

 own aviary. This aviary, an open-air one, contained several other small 

 birds besides a pair of Snow Buntings, and on building materials being 

 supplied during the past summer, the Snow Buntings very soon showed 

 signs of nesting. They chiefly collected dry grass, of which the nest was 

 almost entirely composed, and two eggs were laid. But the hen Snow 

 Bunting was disturbed by a hen Greenfinch, which took possession of the 

 nest, and at intervals occupied it ; the result being that the eggs were never 

 hatched, and were subsequently found to be addled. These eggs, although 

 tvpical of the species in size and markings, are more richly coloured than the 

 average specimens usually seen in collections. They have been presented 

 by Mr. Gatherer to the Elgin Museum. — J. E. Harting. 



Swifts appropriating Martin's Nests. — I can record a case similar 

 to that mentioned by Mr. Bond (p. 348). Two pairs of Swifts laid their 

 eggs this year in Martins' nests under the eaves of the roof of the church of 

 this parish. The eggs were brought to me by my keeper, who afterwards 

 pointed out the nests to me. I made an examination of them, and found 

 that a lining of hay had been introduced; otherwise the nests were unaltered. 

 A new roof had been l)uilt during the winter, and the entrance to their 

 usual nesting-place had probably been closed ; hence possibly their selection 

 of this curious site. — Hugh G. Barclay (Colney Hall, Norwich). 



Wryneck nesting in holes in the Ground. — Mr. A. G. Butler's note 

 (p. 299) on the Wryneck breeding in a hole in a brick-earth cutting confirms 

 my record of the supposed nesting of this species in a Sand Martin's burrow 



