318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



birds on the shore only a few miles from the said lake. Also, when 

 was at Llyn Dinas, near Beddgelert, on May 13th, I saw three Great 

 Black-backed Gulls pass over the lake, and go on up the valley, 

 getting very high up in the air. One at least appeared to be adult, 

 and I could see no dark marks on the tails of any of them. If they 

 continued their flight for three miles up the valley, and then for about 

 one and a half up a tributary stream, they would arrive at Llyn 

 Llydaw. But they were perhaps rising in the air to go by a more 

 direct route, crossing the wall of mountain. Llyn Llydaw is about 

 twelve hundred feet higher than Llyn Dinas. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, 

 Oxon). 



Some Strange Nesting Habits in Holland. — The Oystercatcher, 

 recorded as nesting on turf, is not the only bird in Holland to depart 

 from its usual custom as known with us. The Common Tern, instead 

 of nesting along the seashore, there nests as a Marsh Tern in fresh 

 water, in company with Black Terns, as well as on short turf, in com- 

 pany or close proximity to the Oystercatcher. I have photographs of 

 nests in both positions. The Common Heron, in one " meer " at all 

 events, nests amid the reeds exactly like the Purple Heron, though 

 elsewhere in Holland it nests in trees as in England. — E. B. Lodge 

 (Enfield). 



Birds in Nest-Boxes. — The following birds have nested in our 

 boxes during the past season : — Nuthatch, Great Tit (seven or eight 

 nests). Blue Tit, Tree-Sparrow (for the first time). House- Sparrow, 

 Starling, and Wryneck. Going the round of the boxes one day, I 

 found a Dormouse in one, which is nailed to an elm-tree about twelve 

 feet from the ground, and I not unfrequently find Great Bats in them. 

 These are undesirable tenants, as when they get into a box no bird 

 will come there. In one box, the lid of which had been blown off in 

 the winter, I found a Squirrel's nest. We find that our boxes here are 

 most successful when put up at a height of about twelve or fourteen 

 feet. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Kectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). 



PALAEONTOLOGY. 



Fossil Vertebrates from Egypt. — I have recently returned from 

 Egypt, where, in conjunction with the members of the Egyptian 

 Geological Survey, 1 have been collecting vertebrate fossils from the 

 Tertiary Beds of the Western Desert. The most important collection 

 was made during an expedition with Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell, and in- 

 cludes remains of primitive Proboscidians from Upper Eocene and 



