VOL. vn.] NOTES. 171 



it did not hatch off. I am very well acquainted with the 

 bird in Lancashire. A. W. Maeriage, 



[About nine instances of breeding are given in Messrs. 

 Kelsall and Munn's Birds of Hampshire. — ^Eds.]. 



WILLOW-TIT BREEDING IN ESSEX. 



Two nests of the Willow-Tit {Parus a. kleinschmidti) were 

 found in the neighbourhood of Felsted in 1912 and 1913. 

 The first was in a pollarded willow near the school, about 

 four feet from the ground. The hole resembled an old 

 Woodpecker's boring, but the entrance was only wide enough 

 to admit two fingers, though the nest cavity was about the 

 size of a man's fist. There were no chips beneath the hole, 

 which had probably been made the preceding year, as it 

 contained two nests, the lower one having in it three addled 

 eggs. The nests consisted of fine hair, chips, and slightly 

 coarser hair, but there was not much material in all. Unfor- 

 tunately the boy who found it broke all but five of the eggs 

 in getting them out. On May 12th, 1913, another similar 

 nest with seven fresh eggs was found in an elm just below 

 where the top had been blown off, about nine feet from the 

 ground. The materials used in this case were similar to those 

 in the first nest, and in neither case was any moss used. 

 A wet ditch was immediately below the hole, and I noticed 

 no chips. I was present at the finding of both nests. 



J. H. Owen. 



ON THE NESTLINGS OF THE GOLDCREST. 



During the last three years I have had the opportunity of 

 keeping under observation several nests of the Goldcrest 

 (Regulus r. anglorum), especially a nest in my garden only 

 four feet from the ground. It appears that the nestlings, 

 as soon as they are partly fledged, take up a constant and 

 unusual position in the nest. They all lie in a circle, looking 

 outwards, the tip of the beak being on a level with the top 

 of the nest. They cling tightly to the side, which bulges 

 somewhat in the centre, so that their position is more vertical 

 than horizontal. For this reason it is difficult to see the 

 nestlings, as they are hidden by the edge of the nest, the 

 difficulty being increased by the fact that the feathers of 

 the lining soon work up and bend over the entrance. Later, 

 if there are more than five young, one often fails to find 

 room at the side, and sits on the backs and tails of the others, 

 in the centre of the nest. They leave the nest on about 

 the twenty -first day. Norman H. Joy. 



