foOTES AND QUERIES. 309 



Mr. Clarke has since informed me that he finds the second primary is 

 •035 in. longer than the fourth ; thus it is the second longest in the wing, 

 the third being the longest. — John Cordeaux (Great Cotes, Ulceby). 



The Lesser Whitethroat in Devon. — Having read Mr. Pidsley's 

 'Birds of Devon,' and the letters in 'The Zoologist' from Mr. D'Urban 

 aud the Rev. M. A. Mathew on the subject, I should be glad of the oppor- 

 tunity of stating that five years ago when I was at Blundell's School, 

 Tiverton, I myself found a nest of the Lesser Whitethroat containing five 

 eggs. I could point out the exact spot now. It was at a place about seventy 

 yards north-east of the intersection of the river Loman and the railway, a 

 quarter of a mile or so from the school. I saw the hen bird clearly on several 

 occasions. In the collection of a schoolfellow there were two eggs of this 

 6pecies which I think were found in the same neighbourhood. I remember 

 filso our house-boy on one occasion bringing three unblown eggs of this 

 bird which he had just found. These facts, I think, are sufficiently 



conclusive of the nesting of the Lesser Whitethroat in North Devon. 



Maurice Stubbs (Wavertree Rectory, Liverpool). 



The Lesser Whitethroat in Devon.— As there seems to be a certain 

 amount of conflicting evidence respecting the distribution of Sylvia curruca 

 in this county, I may say that, in my ' Birds of Devonshire,' I have remarked 

 that it is " a rare summer visitant, but has not as yet been found breeding 

 in the county." With regard to this latter statement, I am now convinced 

 that the Lesser Whitethroat has nested in Devon, and still does so, as since 

 the publication of the ' Birds of Devonshire,' an ornithological correspondent 

 who has resided for seven years in South Devon wrote me that, in June, 

 1884, he discovered a nest of this bird containing four eggs, and also another 

 nest in 1887, both clutches being at the present time in his cabinet. A 

 third nest of four eggs was obtained by the same gentleman from Dawlish, 

 near Exeter, and given to me, and are now in my cabinet. I should be 

 glad therefore if those who possess a copy of the ' Birds of Devonshire ' 

 would substitute the foregoing remarks for my statement that "it has not 

 as yet been found breeding in the county," as up to the time of publication 

 I had no knowledge, nor was I aware that the Lesser Whitethroat had ever 

 been discovered nesting in Devon, although no trouble was spared by me 

 in endeavouring to establish it as a breeding species. — Wm. E. H. Pidsley 

 (Blue Hayes House, Broadclyst, Exeter). 



Unusual nesting-place for a Magpie. — When staying with my brother 

 at Wiston, near Leicester, last spring, T was surprised, when driving alon<* 

 a well-used turnpike-road, to see a Magpie's nest in the road-side hedge, 

 and not more than eight feet from the ground. The nest was completed, 

 but had no eggs in it. Though there are a good number of Magpies 

 about, they usually build in the high trees which abound in the hedgerows 



