Birds. 6891 



pated by the black intruder, and thus was expelled from its hereditary tree, to seek a 

 refuge in some new and untried region ; but it was long before I was able to discover 

 to what new district it had taken itself. I have little difficulty in believing that this 

 was at the distance of about a mile ; but it seems remarkable that it should select a 

 spot where secrecy and solitude are out of the question. For the first time, in J 859 a 

 woodpecker's nest was discovered in the body of a pollard-ash tree, at a small distance 

 from a frequented farm-house, in the close neighbourhood of a wood, but still at such 

 a distance from other trees as to allow the watchful bird to discover any one from 

 whom danger could be feared to its personal liberty. — Jonathan Couch; Polperro, 

 Cornwall, February, 1860. 



Attachment of the Creeper (Certhia familiaris) to its Nest and Eggs. — During the 

 spring of 1859 I met with a most remarkable instance of the attachment of the creeper 

 to its nest and eggs. Early in May a pair of these birds built their nest in a wooden 

 shed which covered a saw-pit ; the nest was placed between the wall and a loose board 

 which was leaning against it, and was an extremely neat structure, formed of little 

 chips of wood, straw, roots, &c., and thickly lined with feathers. Not long after the 

 eggs were laid the saw-pit was occupied by workmen, who were soon busy at their 

 noisy employment within a few feet of the nest ; but the hen still sat on. Nor was 

 this her only trial : twice I found the board removed by mischievous boys, the nest 

 being thus laid bare ; but on my carefully replacing it the poor little mother returned 

 to her eggs. She hatched her young, but they were destroyed by a cat. — E. R. Alston ; 

 Stockbriggs,[Lesmahagotv, Lanarkshire. 



Mode of Feeding of the Marsh Titmouse (Parus palustris). — The following curious 

 habit of the marsh titmouse is not noticed by Mr. Yarrell. When this bird is 

 searching for insects in the rough bark of the Scotch fir, it may sometimes be observed 

 to insert its beak under a scale of bark, and prize it off with a jerk, which sends the 

 piece to some distance. While watching a pair of these birds so employed I was 

 struck on the nose by a fragment of bark, although I was standing at some little dis- 

 tance from the tree on which the birds were at work. After examining the place thus 

 laid bare the bird proceeds to another scale. — Id. 



Marlins near Christmas. — In the winter of the present year the cold weather came 

 on us rather early, and the snow had lain on the ground for three days, with frost ; 

 the thermometer 33° in my bedroom. About mid-day a small flight of martins made 

 their appearance, after having been lost to us for more than two months. They 

 appeared much more active in hawking for flies than were blackbirds and thrushes, 

 which indeed were much tamed by the cold. — Jonathan Couch ; Polperro, Cornwall. 



Occurrence of the Gray Phalarope (Phalaropus platyrhynchus) at Swansea. — A 

 specimen of the gray phalarope was shot in this neighbourhood last week. — 

 D. Williams ; 56, Wind Street, Swansea, November 23, 1859. 



The Arctic Tern (Sterna arctica) nesting on Fresh Water. — In Thompson's ' Birds 

 of Ireland,* vol. iii. p. 295, it is stated that, " as far as the observation of the writer 

 extended, the arctic tern selects only maritime localities for breeding-places.'' That 

 the observation of so diligent and accurate a naturalist was in the main correct is 

 highly probable ; but it may be worth recording, if only as an exceptional case, that, 

 upon the islets in Lough Carra, Co. Mayo, the arctic tern breeds in company with 

 the common tern ; for out of some six or seven birds which I shot there in June, 1851, 

 at least two belonged to the arctic species; and I have their feet and skulls still by 



