THE ZOOLOGIST. 



corner of Kensington Gardens. There were some fifteen or sixteen nests; 

 at the same time some eight or ten nests were built in Connaught Square ; 

 five in Stanhope Place ; and two in a plane-tree in Albion Street. When 

 I saw this T quite thought that the re-establishment of the Rook at the 

 West End was a fait accompli; but, alas, it was not so. In 1894 the birds 

 returned to their breeding-place in Kensington Gardens, but when they had 

 partially built their nests they suddenly disappeared, and the site was 

 absolutely deserted and has not since been re-occupied. At the same time 

 (1894) Albion Street and Connaught Square were deserted. I can, 

 however, state that the little colony at Stanhope Place this year consists of 

 three nests, and there are five nests in Connaught Square. — John Young 

 (64, Hereford Road, Bayswater). 



Food of the Firecrest and Little Bustard.— A female Firecrest, 

 Regulus ignicapillus, which I dissected last October, had been feeding on 

 minute beetles. A little Bustard, Otis tetrax, contained a great quantity of 

 larger beetles and grasshoppers, in addition to what appeared to be the 

 tops of turnips. — Hugh A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



The Food of Woodpeckers. — The nature of the food of American 

 Woodpeckers has been investigated by Mr. F. E. L. Beal from an exami- 

 nation of more than 600 stomachs. He has found that the Hairy and 

 Downy Woodpeckers (Dryobates villosus and pubescens) feed chiefly on 

 harmful insects, eating also wild fruits and seeds. The Flicker (Colaptes 

 auratus) subsists largely on ants, of which insects more than 3000 were 

 contained in each of two stomachs. This species also eats other noxious 

 insects and some wild fruit. The food of the Red-headed Woodpecker 

 [Melanerpes ery throe ephalus) is largely insects, nearly all harmful, with wild 

 fruit and some corn and cultivated fruit. The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, 

 or Sapsucker {Sphyrapicus varius), feeds largely on the inner bark and sap 

 of trees, eating also ants and other insects, and is the only species taking 

 more vegetable than animal food. 



Crossbill feeding on Insects.— In 'The Zoologist' for 1890 (p. 414), 

 a reference will be found to the common Crossbill feeding on aphides. In 

 May of the present year four adult Crossbills were brought to me, which 

 had been shot out of a large flock. On dissecting these birds I found 

 that they had been feeding upon small flies and minute beetles, in addition 

 to the seeds of a conifer. The insects in question were numerously repre- 

 sented. — H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



Cuckoo's Egg in Wren's Nest. — In the early part of May I found a 

 Cuckoo's egg in a Wren's nest. The nest was placed in the usual position — 

 beneath the matted and exposed roots of a tree in the channel of a water- 

 course. The egg did not sufficiently assimilate those of the Wren to be 

 remarkable; but there was a curious zone of a lighter colour than the rest 



