508 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



to avoid being observed and its curiosity to learn all about the 

 observer. Its croaking note I have especially remarked after the 

 young have left the nest ; it is undoubtedly a signal of danger. 



I have seen few nests, comparatively speaking, in situ ; 

 one, however, that now lies before me, and was taken in this 

 county after the young had left it, is constructed externally of 

 flags, a little dry grass, and a profusion of oak leaves ; while the 

 interior, which is of some, depth, is lined with very fine dry 

 grasses and a few small oak leaves. The nest itself was placed 

 in some old exposed roots amidst some brushwood in the centre 

 of a small plantation, and was close to that of a bird I have only 

 once met with breeding in Leicestershire — I mean the Red-backed 

 Shrike. A second nest of a similar character, though ragged in 

 appearance, was placed in a hedgerow-bottom, and contained four 

 eggs of the usual olive-brown colour. 



The Whitethroat (Sylvia cinerea). 



Many are the nests I have found of this species — hundreds, I 

 may say — but I do not recollect having noticed any in abnormal 

 situations. Sometimes it is placed very low down, but more 

 often it is built two or three feet above the ground, and it may 

 be noticed amongst nettles and coarse vegetation generally, in 

 brambles, shrubs, whitethorn, gooseberry-bushes — indeed, in a 

 variety of kindred situations ; but when I said just now that I 

 did not remember having discovered a nest abnormally placed, I 

 had for the moment forgotten the fact that in the summer of 1894 

 I came upon one containing five eggs of a beautiful type all but on 

 the ground. It was in a tuft of rushes in the middle of a grass 

 field near to Bala Lake. Perhaps I am not justified in deeming 

 the actual site quite so uncommon as the fact that the nest itself 

 was located right away from the haunts the Whitethroat usually 

 affects for shelter as well as for breeding purposes. 



A few summers ago I was indebted for the discovery of not a 

 few of the commoner nests usually to be found low down in 

 hedges and bushes to a couple of Clumber Spaniels. That 

 Clumber Spaniels should have taken to this form of pastime — 

 hunting for little birds' nests — may seem singular, and I can 

 only account for it in this way : — They were in the habit of 

 frequently accompanying me in my roadside rambles, and herein 



