3512 Birds. 



same. During the time I watched them, they seemed to investigate almost every bud 

 of a large Hawthornden, iu which I found them. As I am foolish enough to prefer 

 my birds to my fruit, I did not even drive them away, much less shoot them. This 

 morning I found the nest on the branch of a pear-tree. The female was silting upon 

 four eggs, and it was most pleasing to witness her anxiety and constant near approach 

 while I was examining the same. The nest was made of roots, hay, and a good deal 

 of wool, and lined with horse-hair, wool, and dandelion seeds. It was exactly two 

 inches in diameter. The catkins of the willow, stated by Yarrell to be a constant 

 lining, were absent. — C. R. Bree ; Stowmarket, May, 1852. 



Note on the Habits of the Hoopoe. — I send you a few remarks on the habits of the 

 hoopoe, several of which birds have occurred near Deal during the last month. I saw 

 one on the 6th, and two on the 24th ; one of these I shot, and the other was shot by a 

 friend. On the 26th, two were seen on some rising land three miles from here, and 

 another occurred at Canterbury. The three I saw were in the sand-hills, a dry, sandy, 

 hillocky slip of land, flanked by the sea on one side, on the other side by marshes 

 extending from Sandown Castle to the mouth of the river Stour, and covered chiefly 

 with tufts of long coarse grass. For many weeks the wind had been east and north- 

 east; and coming home through the sand-hills on the 6th of April, I saw a hoopoe, 

 which, crossing the hills from the sea, passed over a hedge into a bean-field. Its ac- 

 tions were quick ; it ran very swiftly for short distances, then pecked the ground, raised 

 its crest and ran again. It flew for about seventy yards close to the ground, with a 

 Aiery buoyant flight, and rather slowly, but when flushed its flight was rather lofty and 

 well sustained. On the 23rd I saw another, about a quarter of a mile from the same 

 spot where I saw the first. The white rump is very conspicuous when the bird is on 

 the wing. On the 24th, very early in the morning, I shot this bird ; it was only wing- 

 ed, and when I picked it up it bristled up like a game cock, but this was all show, no 

 actual resistance. In a few minutes I found another, which I did not shoot, but it 

 was obtained by a friend a few hours afterwards. Both birds were females ; none of 

 the ova were larger than a mustard-seed : the gizzards contained several caterpillars 

 and small beetles. Within a few years five others have occurred here, besides seve- 

 ral reports not so worthy of implicit reliance. — J. W. Hulke ; May 27, 1852. 



Arrival of Hirundines in 1852. — In spite of the cold backward spring, and the 

 bleak north-east winds which have been so prevalent this season, some of the Hirun- 

 dines made their appearance rather unusually early, at least for this part of the country. 

 I saw two (I believe they were sand-martins) flying about over the lake at Coombe 

 Abbey, on March 30 ; and the keeper, who was with me at the time, assured me he had 

 seen three swallows (as he called them, which, however, I conclude to have been sand- 

 martins) on the 19th of that month, an earlier date than I ever myself observed them. 

 Two swallows (Hirundo rustica) were flying about near Shrewly Pool, in the parish of 

 Hatton, on the 1st of April, which is an earlier appearance of that species than I have 

 ever before recorded. A numerous flight of Hirundines appeared on the 15th of April, 

 over the Tame, near Hams Hall : these were principally sand-martins. If the sand- 

 martins and swallows made their appearance earlier than usual this year, the swifts 

 were equally late ; the weather at the end of April and beginning of May was very fa- 

 vourable, yet I could not see a single swift till the 13th of May, although I was daily 

 on the look out for them. — W. T. Bree; Allesley Rectory, May 24, 1852. 



Anecdote of the House Martin, (Hirundo urbica). — From the erection of the pre- 

 sent manse in 1830, from two to four pairs of this bird had been in the habit of build- 





