3208 Birds. 



where a wren is mentioned as having taken possession of an old martin's nest, and the 

 martins, on returning to their old locality, were for some time kept off by the wren, but 

 at length they succeeded in barricading the poor wren out, and kept forcible posses- 

 sion : the species of wren is not given. — A. M. Norman ; Christ Church, Oxford. 



The Kingfisher makes no Nest. — I have the following note in M.S., written by the 

 late Richard Strangwayes, Esq., of Kirby Fleetham, near Catterick, Yorkshire. — "On 

 the 5th of April, 1827, I saw a kingfisher by the side of a small brook, where the bank 

 was about six feet high. I approached the place unseen by the bird ; it was busy in 

 making a hole in the bank, about an equal distance from the top and bottom ; the soil 

 was sandy, and the hole was about two inches in diameter, and, I am quite certain, of 

 its own forming, but did not then stay to examine it. I passed the place repeatedly 

 for the following four weeks, but never saw either of the birds except during the first 

 week, when I saw they had been busy every day, as fresh soil had been pulled out of 

 the hole, but for the remaining three weeks their labour had ceased, and I thought 

 they had forsaken the place. I went to the hole and made a noise, but all was still. 

 I then enlarged the hole so as to admit my hand. It was eight inches deep, and the 

 first object I felt was the old bird sitting on the eggs, she was in the hollow of my 

 hand ; I never grasped her, but allowed her to escape. There were five eggs ; nest 

 there ivas none — the eggs were on the bare mould. At the end of three weeks I pai( 

 her another visit, when I found the young half feathered, and surrounded by a crust 

 of filth composed of their evacuations and the bones and other indigestible parts of 

 fishes disgorged from the stomachs of the young. While the young are in the nest, 

 this substance cannot harden, from the daily fresh accession ; but when the young are 

 fledged it hardens, and thus is formed what is erroneously called the kingfisher's nest. 

 After the young had left the hole I examined it again minutely, and could discover 

 no trace of a nest, except as described above. I am now satisfied that the kingfisher 

 makes no nest; and if there is any of this substance found in the hole before the young 

 are hatched, it is formed by the young of former years, for these birds, if undisturbed, 

 will breed in the same hole for a number of years." " In May, 1828, I found a king- 

 fisher's nest : the young in it were just hatched, and were without nest, upon the bare 

 mould. I visited them a fortnight after, they were surrounded by filth in so putrid a 

 state that maggots had bred in it." I have two other notes on this subject, of later 

 dates, by the same author ; but they are only repetitions of the above. The writer was 

 a true sportsman for upwards of sixty years, thirty-five of which were chiefly devoted 

 to fishing and shooting ; at the age of seventy-five he was " a dead shot," and seldom 

 known to miss his aim, and could tire many a youthful sportsman. — Richard Strang- 

 wayes ; 70 and 71, Chiswell Street, July 15, 1851. 



Occurrence of the Avocet (Recurvirostra Avocetta) at Yarmouili. — Two fine speci- 

 mens of the avocet were killed at Yarmouth on Thursday last, and are being preserved 

 by Mr. Knight, of this city. — /. O. Harper; Norwich, June 16, 1851. 



The Domestic or Mute Swan in the Leamington Gardens. — We could only briefly 

 announce, in our last week's impression, the singular circumstance of the swans on the 

 lake in the Jephson Gardens, producing the extraordinary number of nine cygnets ; 

 and we are happy to observe that both the old ones, aud the whole of their progeny, 

 appear in excellent health, and enjoy greatly the sunny days alternately on the lake 

 and the river ; although the male bird is not altogether in the most amiable mooc 

 when any person approaches near them. It may not now be out of place if we give { 

 lew particulars of this majestic bird, which the poet Wordsworth so elegantly describes. 



