2432 Birds. 



gardener, in the destruction of chrysalides deposited under the sills 

 of windows, the eaves of greenhouses, pits, &c. The care with which 

 they will explore every crevice in the small trellis- work of a verandah, 

 never ascending till every point has been accurately searched, has 

 been — early in the morning — often observed here. In April, 1846, a 

 pair of wrens built their nest in a shed which is used for potting 

 plants : the spot selected was a very singular one. There is a beam 

 passing under the thatch immediately over the potting- tables, and so 

 low that it touches the head of any one standing there : upon this 

 beam the wrens built their nest, above the table at which we were for 

 the time daily employed ; nevertheless they completed their work, 

 and hatched and reared their young with as much confidence as they 

 could have done in a barn. The celerity with which they constructed 

 the nest w T as quite marvellous ; the whole outside wall was finished 

 in one morning between sunrise and noon : the material was procured 

 very readily from a large heap of moss lying underneath the table. 

 The adventures of the wren's nest did not, however, end here ; for in 

 the following summer a humble bee (Bombus hortorum) took posses- 

 sion, and colonized it with her own brood ; and in the last year (1848) 

 the bees again resumed their tenancy, but were at last forcibly ejected 

 by a plague of moths (Ilythia colonella), whose larvae destroyed their 

 combs, and upset the whole economy of the tribe. 



Stock dove [Columba anas). The stock dove is occasionally seen 

 in this neighbourhood at all seasons, and its nest has sometimes been 

 found. " Tt breeds in holes of trees in Heythrope Park, and is a resi- 

 dent."— £. 



Pheasant {Phasianus colchicus). A beautiful variety of this bird, 

 having the usual markings of the plumage on a pale stone- coloured 

 ground, has several times been shot in this neighbourhood. By some 

 sportsmen this variety is called the Bohemian pheasant, and consi- 

 dered a distinct species. 



Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus). Although not a common 

 bird, the green sandpiper may now and then be found throughout the 

 year in this county. On the 26th of July, 1838, we met with a family 

 of six, four young and two old birds, by the side of a pond in this 

 parish (Weston-on-the-Green) : the young birds could fly well, and 

 were full grown. This is the only instance in which we have seen 

 more than one bird of this species at the same time. 



Moorhen [Gallinula chloroput). Little notice seems to have been 

 taken of the nocturnal flight of this bird, although there can be but 

 few who have never heard its oft-repeated cry when on the wing, 



