1872 Birds. 



Arrivals of Migratory Birds at Everton, Bedfordshire. 



1847. 1847. 



Cbiffchaff about April 7 House-martin about April 30 



Nightingale „ April 19 Ring-ouzel „ April 30 



Willow-wren „ April 20 Blackcap „ May 1 



Redstart ,, April 21 Sedge-warbler „ May 8 



Wryneck „ April 23 Swift „ May 12 



Lesser whitethroat „ April 24 Wood-warbler „ May 12 



Tree pipit „ April 29 Spotted flycatcher „ May 13 



Cuckow „ April 29 Turtledove „ May 16 



Swallow „ April 30 Goatsucker „ May 19 



The dates of migration and nidification of birds at Elveden were recorded by my 

 brother. 



With reference to Messrs. Gurney and Fisher's question, by the ' barred wood- 

 pecker' I mean the Picus minor of authors, that being the name applied to this spe- 

 cies by Bewick, and also quoted by Mr. Yarrell as a synonyme. — Id. 



On handling the Eggs of Birds. — There seems to be a very prevalent notion that 

 the eggs of birds, if handled, will certainly be forsaken : that this may occasionally be 

 the result I will not venture to deny, but that it is not so generally the facts I am 

 about to adduce will clearly prove. In a thick bush in the shrubbery at Pentrapar, 

 near Llandilo, I found a chaffinch's nest containing two eggs, one of which I took : 

 the next day as I was passing I peeped into the nest, and found another egg laid ; this 

 I also removed, and put a small oval white stone in its place : on visiting it the follow- 

 ing day, I found the stone ejected, and another egg laid, with which I did not meddle. 

 In a wood at the Ferry side, near Caermarthen, I found a blackbird's nest with two 

 eggs in it, one of which I removed : the next day I visited it, and, finding another egg 

 laid, I pulled the nest off the fern-covered stump of a tree, where I found it, and took 

 it home : the next day in my wanderings I had the curiosity to examine the site of the 

 nest, and found there another egg laid : my unexpected success induced me to visit it 

 again on the following day, when to my great surprise I found another egg ; this was 

 the last, the female bird being killed close to her nest that evening by a hawk. The 

 nests of the greenfinch, yellow-hammer, goldfinch, whitethroat, thrush, wren, swallow, 

 and many other birds, have I deprived of a portion of their eggs, and in every case has 

 incubation proceeded. The like result has attended my handling the green linnet's 

 eggs. This bird I have never seen described in any History of British Birds : in 

 Wales I have repeatedly seen it wild and in captivity. In size and shape it agrees 

 with the common linnet, but its plumage is greenish, a shade deeper than that of a 

 male canary. It builds in hedges, preferring the centre of a whitethorn bush, and 

 lays from five to six eggs. — E. J. R. Hughes ; Catherine Street, Whitehaven, June 8, 

 1847. 



[The term green linnet is usually applied to the greenfinch. — Ed.~\ 



Enquiry respecting the rearing a Lapwing. — Could any of your numerous cor- 

 respondents give me a hint as to the manner of rearing a young lapwing ? If the 

 kind-hearted author of the 'Wanderings' were to give a few hints respecting the 

 treatment of this pretty stranger, he would gratify the enquirer, as well as the nume- 

 rous readers of the ' Zoologist.' — Id. 



Food of Birds of the Pie kind. — The ' Journal of a Naturalist' says, 2nd edition, 

 p. 249, " The rook, the daw, the magpie, consume worms and grubs, and are not ad- 

 dicted, except from hunger, to eating other animal matters." We may presume this 



