30 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



one of those liable to get killed in this way. — Robert Service (Maxwell- 

 town, Dumfries). 



Quail in Winter in South Hants. — A Quail was brought to me on 

 December 12th by a man whose dog had just caught it. The bird was a 

 male, and in good condition. On referring to my notes I see that I flushed 

 one on Dec. 31st, 1889, near the same spot where this one was caught. — 

 J. Stares (Portchester). 



Wagtail's Nest in November. — The following paragraph appeared in 

 the ' Birmingham Daily Mail ' of Nov. 16th : — " On Monday [Nov. 14] a 

 singular discovery was made in Wolverton Works by one of the firemen, 

 named Pakes. Pakes, while engaged in shunting, observed a Water Wagtail 

 fly from under a truck, and a search made under the coach revealed the 

 existence of a bird's nest located between the axle-box and the axle-guard. 

 The nest contained two eggs, one quite warm, having been recently laid." 

 I presume the bird was a Pied Wagtail, and that the truck had been disused 

 for a long time; but the situation of the nest is of minor importance when 

 compared with the statement that the eggs had been recently laid. Not 

 feeling satisfied on this point, I wrote to a gentleman in the neighbourhood 

 for further information, and he has replied : — " I have made enquiries into 

 this case, and find the eggs in the nest in question were quite fresh.' 

 Assuming that no mistake has been made, is it not a record to find such a 

 nest with fresh eggs in the month of November? I have suggested that 

 the nest and eggs should be preserved. — A. H. Etches (Birmingham). 



[Some years ago a similar case occurred in Sussex — if we remember 

 right, at Littlehampton. The nest was that of the Pied Wagtail, and, 

 being similarly placed under a railway carriage, the sitting bird made a 

 daily journey to and fro of several miles. It was reported at the time in 

 the ' West Sussex Gazette,' and copied by other papers. In the ' Zoologist ' 

 for 1885 (p. 420) an account is given of a pair of Pied Wagtails which 

 built their nest in a stack of coal, on a wharf at Leicester, — a sufficiently 

 unusual position to attract notice, for in this case instinct seemed to be at 

 fault, and the natural surroundings of the nest could hardly be said to 

 favour concealment. — Ed.] 



KEPTILIA. 



Venom in Harmless Snakes. — Two definite cases of the venomous 

 action of the secretions of harmless snakes seem to be worthy of mention. 

 In the one case, it is a matter of my own experience, in which I was bitten 

 on the first linger by a large freshly-caught specimen of the common red, 

 white and black-banded Coral Snake, Erythrolamprm venustissimus, which 

 happened to grasp my first finger in such a way as to drive its hinder 

 grooved teeth, forcing them about three times deep down into the flesh, 



