2648 Birds. 



Banff, in search of a flycatcher's nest (Muscicapa grisola), I acci- 

 dentally came upon the nest of a willow wren (Sylvia Trochilus), which 

 was built in a wild rose-bush, at the height of about five feet from 

 the ground. At this I was not a little surprised, as I had never found, 

 nor heard of, the willow wren breeding except upon the ground. The 

 nest contained seven or eight eggs, was built of dried grass, and was 

 of loose texture : its form was round, and it had a hole on one side 

 for the bird to go in and out at: the inside was lined with the fur of 

 the rabbit and hare, and also with some feathers. 



July 14th. I this day revisited the willow wren's nest in the rose- 

 bush, to see if it had escaped the unsparing search of the boys : to 

 my satisfaction I found it full of young ones. On my handling one 

 of them they all left the nest, being quite able to fly. 



Some boys this year, in their nesting excursions, found, in the wood 

 of Mountcoffee — near Banff, and belonging to Lord Fife — the nest of 

 a wild duck in a tree, and about twenty feet from the ground : it con- 

 tained eleven eggs. 



Thomas Edward. 



16, High Street, Banff. 



Preservation of Birds' Eggs. — A means of extracting even the fully-formed chick 

 from the egg is worth knowing, and is simply this : make a small hole in the side of 

 the egg and put it in an ant-heap ; in a few hours there will be only the dry skeleton 

 left, and the shell fit for the cabinet : by-the-bye all eggs are better if blown with one 

 hole in the side, which may easily be done with a straw or glass blowpipe, and fixed 

 on the cards with rosin and bees-wax mixed. — W. D. Crotch ; Taunton, October 20, 

 1849. 



Capture of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) near Marlborough. — A fine 

 specimen of the above bird was captured by the gardener of a clergyman in this town, 

 on the 18th of this month : it had struck a blackbird in the garden, close to the 

 house, and was so intent on its prey as to allow the man to approach and knock it 

 down with a stick. It is now in the possession of Mr. Parker, a taxidermist in this 

 town. — G. J. Webb; Marlborough, Wilts, November, 1849. 



Peregrine Falcon shot near Market Weighton. — A fine adult male specimen of the 

 peregrine falcon was sent the other day to Mr. Graham for preservation, from the 

 neighbourhood of Market Weighton, where it had been obtained. — Beverley R. 

 Morris, A.B., M.I). ; York, November 8, 1849. 



Kestrels breeding in Confine,nent. — A pair of kestrels (Falco Tinnunculus) have, I 

 am informed, recently bred in confinement, in the aviary of the Kev. J. W. Bower, of 

 Barmston, near Bridlington. It is the first instance of the kind I ever heard of. — F. 

 O Morris; Nafferton Vicarage, November 19, 1849. 



