940 Birds. 



by a few pairs of swallows for many years, the nests being generally attached to the 

 rafters. A brother of mine once found a nest and eggs in a hole some eight or ten 

 inches deep, excavated in the thatch of this shed. There could be no doubt of this 

 fact, as he captured the female on the nest, and I now have the eggs by me. In this 

 instance there did not appear to have been any mud used in the construction of the 

 nest ; perhaps the swallows had found the excavation so suited to their purpose, that 

 they had been tempted to relinquish their usual method of building. — T. J. Bold ; 

 24, Cloth Market, Newcastle-on-Tyne, March 22, 1845. 



Anecdote of the Pied Flycatcher. For a long series of years, a pair of pied fly- 

 catchers had incubated their eggs, and nurtured their young in security, in a small 

 aperture close by the portico to the principal entrance of my father's residence, Hendre 

 House, Denbighshire, undisturbed, apparently, by the frequent passing and repassing 

 of its inmates. The lively effect of the well-defined and strongly-contrasted black 

 and white plumage of the male, his short but pleasant song, and the confiding habits 

 of both sexes, rendered them objects of great interest to all the members of the 

 family, who did not allow them to be molested on any pretext whatever. Unfortu- 

 nately, on the 18th June, 1843, a swarm of bees discovered the aperture, which then 

 contained a brood of nestlings nearly fledged, and by hurryiug in and out of it, and 

 flying about the entrance in large numbers, seemed determined to dispossess the right- 

 ful owners. Whenever the parent birds attempted to approach the spot for the purpose 

 of feeding their young, they were instantly attacked and repelled by the excited bees, 

 from which they took refuge among the branches of an oak growing near, and there 

 manifested their anxiety by notes and actions, expressive of extreme uneasiness. 

 After having been severely stung, the nestlings fluttered to the mouth of the aperture, 

 and descended to the ground, where they all perished, their bodies being much 

 swollen. Towards the close of April, 1844, the same pair of birds returned to their 

 favourite breeding haunt, and repeatedly visited the aperture so long occupied by their 

 nest ; but being again assailed by the bees, which had removed to a parallel aperture 

 on the other side of the portico, it is probable that the incident recalled the destruction 

 of their progeny in the preceding year, for they eventually deserted the place, and 

 selected a hole in a low stone wall, by the side of the avenue leading to the house, in 

 which they constructed a nest, and brought up their young. This instance — and 

 other cases might be adduced — evidently tends to show that the pied flycatcher 

 resorts annually to the same locality for the purpose of continuing its species, and 

 that, like its congener the spotted flycatcher, it is a very familiar bird during the 

 breeding season. — John Blackwall, in Taylor's ' Annals'' for March, 1845. 



Habits of the White Wagtail (Motaciila alba, Lin.) Having read with much 

 interest the notes published in ' The Zoologist' (Zool. 137, 232, and 358), relating to 

 the grey wagtail {Motaciila Boarula), and its curious propensity of flying against glass 

 window-panes, I send you the result of my own observations on this subject. In the 

 beginning of October, 1843, being one day in the garret, my attention was attracted 

 by what seemed repeated knockings against a window at the opposite extremity ; 

 wishing to ascertain from whence it proceeded, I advanced very cautiously towards the 

 spot, and to my no small surprise perceived it was caused by a white wagtail, which at 

 intervals of a lew minutes flew with considerable violence against the pane. In order 

 to watch the bird's proceeding without frightening it, I descended into the garden 

 below. It was then settled on the projecting edge of an outhouse, situated a few feet 

 Inm) the window ; after walking, wagging, and chirping for the space of a minute or 



