ciii [Vol. x. 



A discussion ensued, in which the President and other 

 members took part. 



The Hon. G. Lascelles gave an interesting account of 

 the efforts made by the Crown for the preservation of the 

 birds in the New Forest. He lamented that, in spite of 

 the strenuous efforts made, the keepers were only partially 

 successful, although men were specially told off to guard 

 the nesting-place of some rare species. He was pleased to 

 say, however, that on some occasions their efforts had been 

 rewarded with success. 



Mr. Fitzherbert-Brockholes exhibited a remarkable 

 nest, jointly constructed and inhabited by a Blackbird 

 (Merula merula) and a Hedge- Accentor (ThaiThaleus mo- 

 dularis). He gave the following account of the circum- 

 stance : — 



" The nest was found by my daughter on April 13th in an 

 unfinished condition. It was looked at by her every day, 

 and on the 19th was found finished and containing 1 egg — 

 a Hedge- Sparrow's. On the 20th it contained 2 Hedge- 

 Sparrow's and 1 Blackbird's ; on the 21st the score was 

 3 — 2, and on the 22nd 4 — 3. On the 23rd there was no 

 addition to the 4 Hedge-Sparrow's eggs, but the Blackbird 

 had laid a fourth and was found sitting. On the 24th the 

 Blackbird was again found sitting, one of the Hedge- 

 Sparrow's eggs being crushed in the nest and another 

 cracked. The nest was then taken. The latter bears most 

 self-evident proofs of the joint work of the two pairs of birds 

 during the entire process of building, and is therefore 

 totally different from an appropriation of the nest of one 

 pair of birds by another pair, or from two hen birds of one 

 species laying in the same nest, in the way that Partridges 

 occasionally do. The nest was in a thick mass of rhod r 

 dendrons in ray grounds. 



" It was unfortunate that my curiosity had not 

 sufficiently aroused when my daughter first told me t 

 discovery, but even if I had gone to look at it bef 



