VOL. vn.] NOTES. 141 



the nest I examined the Cuckoo again and found that the 

 gape then contained the remains of more than one fly. On 

 another occasion I saw a cock Reed-Bunting put a caterpillar 

 on the edge of the nest and remove something from a 

 Cuckoo's gape. 



Unfortunately my time is too limited to enable me to 

 investigate this matter thoroughly, and I only wish to suggest 

 that here is an interesting little problem for ornithologists 

 to solve. J. H. OwBF. 



BREEDING-HABITS 'OF THE MARSH- AND 

 WILLOW-TITS. 

 When writing the paragraph to which Mr. Coward refers 

 {antea, p. 116) in the British Bird Booh, Vol. II,, p. 180, 

 practically the only avai^ble published account of the 

 nesting of the Willow-Tit in Great Britain was that of 

 Mr. A. Dixon, which first appeared in the Field (May 21st, 

 1904), and which is referred to by Dr. Hartert, in the Bulletin 

 B.O.C., XIV., p. 79, and by Dr. Ticehurst in the Birds of 

 Kent, p. 81. Like most fi^eld-ornithologists, I was aware 

 that wide differences existed ^n the nesting -habits of "Marsh- 

 Tits," and over twenty yeaijs ago I had found what I now 

 know to have been the Wihow-Tit nesting in west Suffolk, 

 but at that time the distinctions in the appearance and notes 

 of the two species had not be?n pointed out. It was therefore 

 only possible to write cautiously on the subject, and the 

 untidy way in which the chips were left lying about by the 

 pair of Willow-Tits Avatched by Mr. Dixon was specially 

 commented on by him. , 



During the past season I , have been accumulating notes 

 on the breeding-habits of these two species, in order to 

 ascertain whether the distinctions which are supposed to 

 exist in their nests are constant, and provide reliable 

 material for identification. On the whole the results are 

 satisfactory and confirm our surmises, as may be seen from 

 the details given below. 



British Willow-Tit [Parus atricapillus Meinschmidti). 



The birds observed by Mr. Dixon in 1904 were first noticed 

 while excavating a nest-hole in a small decayed willow stump, 

 about two feet high. On several occasions he noticed that 

 the chips were left directly under the nest-hole. On May 9th 

 the bird was caught on the eight eggs, which were heavily 

 marked with red spots. The nest is described as "untidy 

 and scanty, but of similar construction to that of most 

 Tits." Dr. Hartert identified the bird in this case as the 

 British Wfllow-Tit. 



