NOTES AND QUERIES. 277 



and only the second nesfc of this species we ever had in a box), Nut- 

 hatch (one), Tree-Sparrow (many), Starling, and Stock-Dove. The 

 last-named bird seems on the increase here, as they have occupied 

 four boxes. One sitting bird I think came to grief, as I found a 

 great many feathers in the box one day, and two deserted eggs about 

 half incubated. Possibly a Tawny Owl was the aggressor, but our 

 pair here have always been very peaceable with human beings. 

 When spring-cleaning the boxes early in the year, I found in one 

 which had been occupied two or three times over by Stock-Doves 

 last year enough "guano " to give a dressing to a bed of aquilegias, 

 which did remarkably well on it. On June 10th I was looking at 

 a box and heard a humming inside, which I put down to a bee. 

 However, the tenant proved to be a large queen Hornet, which had 

 begun a nest there, and made it up to about the size of an oyster- 

 shell. It is needless to add that both nest and owner were promptly 

 destroyed. To find a Bat in a box is not uncommon, and one which 

 we found one evening was a source of great delight to some young 

 friends who had never seen one in the hand before. He was, I think, 

 a Pipistrelle ; we put him back in his retreat, and I believe I found 

 him again in another box about a month later. We used often 

 to find Great Bats in boxes, but have not seen one for some years. 

 This year we had hoped to add the Jackdaw to our list of box- 

 breeders, but the two pairs which nested about the place both 

 preferred hollow beeches. As for several years past, Eedstarts and 

 Wrynecks have been absent ; Swallows and Martins more abundant 

 than usual. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, 

 Suffolk). 



