388 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and I visited the large heronry, and I was glad to see that the nests were 

 as numerous and the birds as flourishing as formerly. — E. Cambridge 

 Phillips (Brecon). 



The Nutcracker breeding on the Hartz Mountains. — I have recently 

 received from a woodman in the Hartz Mountains a nest and two eggs of 

 the Nutcracker, Nucifraga caryocatactes, — the first eggs from that district, 

 though a nest and young ones were found some years ago by the same 

 woodman during a search instituted by Prof. R. Blasius. The two eggs 

 sent were the only ones in the nest, and on blowing them they proved 

 to have been incubated for several days, so it is very unlikely that more 

 eggs would have been laid. A similar case of the Nutcracker sitting on 

 only two eggs is mentioned in * The Ibis ' for 1887. The nest is constructed 

 of twigs of beech, oak, and hazel (beech largely predominating), a quantity 

 of earth at the base, a bit of blackened string, a large supply of lichens, with 

 a lining of fine fibrous grass, a large tuft of Roe's hair, and a little moss. 

 During a three days' search I was enabled to make at the end of March 

 three old nests — undoubtedly Nutcrackers' — were found in a close-set 

 plantation of spruce-fir, Abies excelsa, of about 25 ft. high, placed against 

 the stems of the trees at a height of 12 — 15 ft. from the ground. One of 

 these, which, from its freshness, was evidently that of last year, was 

 similarly built of beech-twigs. According to the woodman, who is an 

 excellent observer of birds, it is useless to look for the Nutcracker's nest in 

 the Hartz Mountains, except in plantations of spruce of some 25 ft. high. 

 Spruces of a much greater height, and other kinds of trees, have no 

 attraction for it. — L. W. Wiglesworth (Geysostrass 15, Brunswick). 



Similar Habits of the Greenfinch and Serin.— A well-known habit 

 of the mule Greenfinch, in the breeding-season, is a slow and circling flight, 

 with flapping, extended wings, which make the bird seem larger than he 

 really is ; he usually sings, too, on these occasions as he flies. I noticed 

 exactly the same habit in the Serin Finch when in the Rhone Valley this 

 year ; and this, as in the case of the pigeons, bustards, and game-birds, is 

 evidently for the purpose of impressing the hen with a becoming sense of 

 the beauty and dignity of her mate. On one occasion I observed a male 

 Serin flying a short distance before the hen in this particularly gallant and 

 captivating manner, singing vigorously all the while. They alighted in a 

 tree not far distant, from which, however, in a moment or two the hen took 

 flight in another direction, evidently dissatisfied with her surroundings, and 

 was followed by the cock, no longer with extended wings or singing, but 

 plainly a mute and dejected bird. — C. VV. Benson (Rathmines, Dublin). 



Number of Eggs laid by the Shag.— I should like to know whether 

 any of your readers have ever met with a nest of the Shag, Phalacrocorax 

 crktala, containing more than three eggs. If we refer to the latest authorities 



