70 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Nesting of the Jackdaw. — During the past j^ear two unusual instances 

 of the nesting of Corvus monedula came under ray observation. In Hagley 

 Park by far the commonest nesting species are Jackdaws, and their num- 

 bers might be estimated from two to three hundred pairs, the old trees, the 

 church, and various other buildings affording the principal nesting accom- 

 modation. Two pairs, however, constructed their nests in a small plantation 

 of young spruce-firs, and on May 8th both contained eggs. The nests, as 

 is usual elsewhere, were constructed in a very slipshod manner, and seem- 

 ingly very insecure ; no attempt had been made to form a dome or covering 

 over the nest, the hollow in which the eggs rested being quite shallow. In 

 the other instance, which was during April, a pair were l>uilding their nest 

 within a cowled chimney of a house close to the park, the entrance to which 

 always varied according to the direction of the wind. — J. Steele-Elliott 

 (Clent, Worcestershire). 



Nightjar hawking May-flies. — When in company with my friend Mr. 

 H. E. Forrest, on May I9tn last, watching the hundreds of Noctule Bats 

 and Swifts hawking the May-flies over the River Severn above Bewdley, 

 two Nightjars (Caprli/iulgus europcBus) eventually joined the company, and 

 seemed to be equally aaept in tailing these insects : they remained there 

 for a considerable time — in fact, until too dark for us to make further 

 observations. — J. Steele-Elliott (Clent, Worcestershire). 



Shag in West Sufi'olk. — An immature Shag[Phalacrocorax carbo)was 

 shot on the roof of a house about four miles north of Bury St. Edmunds 

 on December 17th last, which Mr. Travis, the Bury taxidermist, showed 

 me in the flesh a day or two later. The Shag is a far less common bird in 

 East Anglia than the Cormorant, and perhaps not more than half a dozen 

 specimens have been obtained in Suffolk. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock 

 Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



Little Egret in Yorkshire. — Seeing the editorial note in ♦ The 

 Zoologist' on the proposed continuation of the publication of the Birds of 

 Yorkshire, I am forcibly reminded of a promise I have times and again 

 made myself that I would publish a record of an unrecorded example of the 

 graceful little white Ardea garzetta. As near as I can ascertain, it is about 

 twenty-five years ago since the Chester Society of Natural Science acquired 

 an almost complete collection of British Birds, which, judging from the 

 style of mounting and certain records, had been made during the twenties 

 and thirties of the last century. The whole collection was contained in 

 ordinary box-cases, and almost all the larger sheets of glass used in glazing 

 them were of the old " crown " type, bearing the characteristic nodules. 

 Until the year 1886 this collection was stored in the Society's Rooms in 

 Lower Bridge Street, when it was removed to this Museum. I then found 



