346 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



AVES. 



Breeding Habits of the Great and Blue Tits. — With reference to 

 Mr. Jourdain's note re the breeding habits of the Blue and Great Tits 

 {ante, p. 309), asking for particulars of any instances in which a second 

 brood has been reared, it may be stated that in this district (north-west 

 Yorkshire) neither of these species appears to be double-brooded, or if 

 so but seldom. Are even our resident birds as many-brooded in the 

 north of England as one might infer from the literature on this 

 subject ?— E. P. Butterfield (Wilsden). 



Late Nesting of Linnet (Linota cannabina). — On Aug. 17th my 

 gardener called me to see a Linnet's nest with three eggs in a bush of 

 the arbor- vita3 kind just in front of my drawing-room windows. The 

 eggs were hatched out on Aug. 29th, and to-day (Sept. 9th) the young 

 have just left the nest. I have known young Linnets to be in the nest 

 in August before this, but never as yet in September. This species is 

 unusually abundant here this year, and has twice built in my garden, 

 for the first time in my experience. I may mention that, though this 

 late nest is hardly a dozen yards from the house, I have never once 

 seen the cock bird either on the nest or anywhere near it. — W. Warde 

 Fowler (Kingham, Chipping Norton). 



Breeding of the Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) in Northamptonshire. 

 Definite records of the breeding of this species in Northants are very 

 scarce. The late Lord Lilford, in his work on the ' Birds of North- 

 ampton ' (p. 204), mentions two pairs having bred at Deene in 1902, 

 and birds have been killed during the summer months in other 

 localities. It was therefore with the greatest interest that I received 

 two young Crossbills for examination, which were picked up by a 

 keeper underneath a fir-tree on March 28th, 1904, at Harleston Firs, 

 on the estate of Earl Spencer. They had probably fallen from the 

 nest, and were covered with ants. Fortunately the keeper noticed the 

 unusual size and strength of the bill, and took the birds to a birdstuffer 

 at Northampton for preservation. Mr. C. E. Wright, who kindly sent 



