Notes and queries. 271 



hammers' nests in different years, and yet I have only once seen a nest 

 containing five eggs ; very rarely have I seen clutches of four, three being 

 usual, and two quite as common. The same writers assign five as the usual 

 number of eggs for the Chaffinch. Seebohm says four to six. Now in 

 Wicklow the Chaffinch very rarely lays five eggs ; four is the usual clutch, 

 and three often occurs, and there is generally but one brood. The Chaffinch 

 and Yellowhammer are perhaps our two commonest birds ; conditions must 

 therefore be very favourable for their increase. In such specially favourable 

 districts it may possibly be that Nature maintains the balance by dimin- 

 ishing the number of eggs. It would certainly be absurd to suppose that 

 the best writers have all erred on a simple matter of field observation. On 

 a point such as the duration of the period of incubation, it is quite possible 

 that good authorities may fall into mistakes by copying the mis-statements 

 of their forerunners, as it requires repeated and tedious observations before 

 any certain conclusion can be independently arrived at in this matter. — 

 Allan Ellison (Trinity College, Dublin). 



Nesting Habits of the Sky Lark.— The communication under this 

 heading, in ■ The Zoologist' for June, was of considerable interest to me, as 

 I had a similar experience in the spring of 1889. I was then in a district 

 of Peeblesshire where Sky Larks are numerous, and had an opportunity of 

 examining a good many of their nests — eight or nine in all. Like your corre- 

 spondent Mr. Laws, I always considered five to be the normal number of eggs 

 laid by the Sky Lark, and was therefore somewhat surprised to find three eggs 

 only in each of the nests that came under my notice. In order to test 

 whether three was to be the full complement of eggs laid at that time, 

 I marked a few of the nests, and visited them occasionally until the young 

 were hatched out, and in no case were any additional eggs laid. In the 

 same district, in previous years, four or five eggs were usually to be found 

 in the nests, and I could find no reason for the difference in the number 

 laid in the season referred to. I hope some one else may be able to give 

 an explanation. — T. G. Laldlaw (9, South St. Andrew Street, Edinburgh). 



Cirl Bunting nesting near Brecon. — On June 4th I took a Cirl 

 Bunting's nest and four eggs on a hill-side close to Brecon. I had a good 

 view of the female sitting on the nest, on three separate occasions, and 

 was able to identify her positively as a Cirl Bunting. The nest was in a 

 gorse bush, about a foot from the ground, and the eggs are handsomely 

 and boldly marked with nearly black streaks on a greenish white ground. 

 I was desirous of obtaining one of the birds to add to the interest attached 

 to the eggs, and succeeded in shooting a male Cirl Bunting a few days later 

 near the site of the nest. Having become acquainted with the song of this 

 bird, I have been able to identify another male of this species near the 

 same place. It seems to me its song is so like that of the Lesser White- 



