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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



would have been the word used, although " Mold " occurs in the Stockport 

 churchwardens' accounts for 1700, when a penny was paid for two of these 

 animals. Can any reader of ' The Zoologist ' throw light upon the subject, 

 and state what a " Maupe " really is ? — Charles Oldham (Romiley). 



BIEDS. 

 Nesting of the Goldcrest .— I am surprised that Mr. H. S. Daven- 

 port considers that " authors with common consent have apparently 

 ignored " the fact that Regulus cristatus nests against the side of a tree. 

 In such a familiar text-book as the fourth edition of Yarrell's ' Birds ' we 

 are told that such a situation is occasionally adopted, and that the late Mr. 

 Hewitson bad seen a Goldcrest's nest in the middle of a juniper-bush. In 

 the neighbourhood of Carlisle the Goldcrest nests both against the sides of 

 trees, and in the centre of furze-bushes. On the 13th of May last, a young 

 friend of mine brought me a Goldcrest's nest, which was carefully concealed 

 in the heart of a furze-bush ; and several others have been found in furze- 

 bushes on the same common. The fact has long been known to the 

 Carlisle field-naturalists, and is not a new departure from the usual habits 

 of this Regulus. At Orton, near Carlisle, where the Goldcrests generally 

 nest in furze, there is plenty of coniferous timber, so that it is from choice 

 rather than from necessity that the Goldcrests there nest in furze. I 

 imagined for years that the Goldcrest nested under fir-branches only, 

 because I never happened in those days to come across nests in any other 

 situation ; but the latest records only amplify Professor Newton's remarks 

 in the fourth edition of Yarrell, and cannot fairly be regarded in the nature 

 of a discovery — H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



Nesting of the Goldcrest. — In this neighbourhood I have found Gold- 

 crests' nests more often among the hanging slender branches of ivy cover- 

 ing small stunted trees or thorns, and in larch and fir-woods than anywhere 

 else, the average height from the ground being ten feet. — Richard M. 

 Barrington (Fassaroe, Bray, Co. Wicklow). 



Quail in Surrey. — The occurrence of the Quail in Surrey, at any time 

 unusual, is still more remarkable during the month of October. On Oct. 

 1st one was shot in a field of turnips near Ashstead by a member of a 

 party walking up Partridges; it was in very fair condition, and was eaten. 

 On Oct. 8th, while shooting near Headley, another Quail was observed by 

 several people, including myself. It was ruuning through some tall but 

 thin mustard, two or three yards in front of the beaters. It ran into a 

 thick broad hedgerow, and I saw it again on two or three occasions ; it 

 would not take wing, however, though I do not think it was wounded 

 Apart from the rarity of the occurrence, the late date at which it was 

 noted is, I suppose, due to the splendid warm weather which prevailed at 

 trie end of September.— J. A. Bucknill (Epsom). 



