NOTES AND QUERIES. 315 



On May 21st I noticed one of the birds again at the nesting-hole, 

 which rather surprised me ; so I allowed her what I thought a sufficient 

 time to deposit another clutch, which I intended to take, in order to 

 see how many I could induce her to lay. On June 5th, at 6 a.m., I 

 again visited the nest. The same lad mounted the ladder, and took 

 five eggs, slightly incubated. The birds did not forsake the hole, for 

 on June 20th one of them flew out on my approach ; so I again placed 

 the ladder against the tree on June 28th, at 4.30 a.m. The same 

 small lad again bared his shoulders (for length), and placed his arm in 

 the hole ; but this time he was beaten. He could not reach the bottom 

 of the hole. He tried again and again, but the birds had bored deeper 

 since the last visit. I sent the boy home for the mallet and chisel, 

 and a big lad of eighteen years. The wood was very tough, taking 

 me over an hour to enlarge the hole sufficiently. The nest contained 

 six eggs; three of them were much incubated, but the other three 

 were quite fresh and splendidly transparent, the yolks being plainly 

 visible. 



The Woodpeckers still stuck to the hole, and on July 4th both 

 birds were about the trees. I saw and heard both birds again on 

 July 10th ; so, after allowing them the usual interval of about three 

 weeks, I again borrowed the ladder from the local builder, and assisted 

 in carrying it to the wood at 7 a.m. on Friday, July 18th. As the 

 ladder touched just beneath the hole the bird flew out, and the big lad 

 Parker quickly brought six eggs to the bottom of the ladder, one at a 

 time. I noticed that incubation had commenced. The female seemed 

 greatly agitated, and flew into the tree calling loudly ; she thereby 

 saved her eggs. The lad, by my wish, replaced each one, and we left 

 the vicinity of the nest quickly, leaving her to bring forth her brood. 

 This made a total of twenty-four eggs deposited by the same female in 

 a last year's hole, eighteen of which are in my collection ; and I am 

 sure I wish her every success with her fourth attempt. — Stanley 

 Lewis (Wells, Somerset). 



Breeding of the Bittern in Herts in 1849. — In the fourth edition of 

 ' Yarrell ' (vol. iv. p. 208) nests of the Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) are 

 recorded from near Tring, in Herts, and near Drayton Beauchamp, in 

 Bucks. In a footnote the editor suggests that these records relate to 

 the same occurrence. This appears to be the case, for, from informa- 

 tion kindly furnished by Miss Williams to Miss Harpur Crewe, I find 

 that the nest with four eggs was taken in July, 1849, at the Wilstone 

 Beservoirs, in Herts, about a couple of miles from Tring, and close to 

 Drayton Beauchamp. The eggs were afterwards accidentally broken, 



