VOL. VII.] NOTES. 83 



the same time. Indeed, I find it almost equally difficult 

 to believe either that they were or that they were not the 

 same birds. H. G. Alexander. 



WOOD-WAEBLER IN NORTHERN SUTHERLAND. 



The Hand-List of British, Birds gives the Wood-Warblei 

 {Phylloscopus s. sihilatrix) as very rare north of south-east 

 Sutherland and west of Lairg, so that it may be of interest 

 to record that one was frequently heard singing in June 

 this year, 1913, in a birch- wood by the side of Loch Hope, 

 which is in the extreme north of Sutherland and decidedly 

 west of Lairg. G. Brooksbank. 



CURIOUS SITE FOR NEST OF NIGHTINGALE. 



I WAS shown a fcAV days ago, in the garden of a neighbour, 

 the nest from which a brood of young Nightingales {Luscinia 

 m. megarhyncha) had Just flown. It was placed under the 

 eaves of a shed, about five feet nine inches from the ground, 

 partly in a hole in the wall and partly in the jasmine which 

 grew up it. I had previously repeatedly seen and heard the 

 Nightingales in the garden, and had talked to the gardener 

 about them, asking him to let me know if he found the nest. 

 Unfortunately my friend, the owner, was away for a fortnight 

 or so when the nest was found, and the birds often seen 

 feeding the young in the nest. During his absence I did 

 not visit the garden, nor did the gardener think to come 

 and tell me that he had found the nest. My friend returned 

 home the day after the young left the nest, and told me about 

 it. The gardener and a maid, who had seen the old birds 

 feeding the young, and watched them leading the young 

 away from the nest, pointed out the birds they had seen, 

 wliich were Nightingales. The gardener is a sensible man, 

 who knows the common birds of the neighbourhood well. 

 The nest was a large structure of moss, hair, etc., and large 

 numbers of oak leaves. Walter B. Nichols. 



CUCKOOS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR 



BREEDING-TERRITORY. 



The struggle for existence in bird-life as expressed in the 

 acquisition of breeding-territory, has been a subject that has 

 interested me for many years, and the significance of this 

 first step towards reproduction is well established. Recently 

 I have had opportunities of observing the behaviour of the 

 Cuckoo [Cuculus c. canorus) from this point of view, and find 

 that the law of breeding-territory plays an important part 



