346 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
while the Snake took to the rushes. As I followed the path 
round, a Wild Duck suddenly rose at my feet from a heap of 
the leaves, disclosing a well-concealed nest; the down and leaves 
were heaped so thickly that the eggs were scarcely visible. 
Thence to the ‘“‘rocks’’ on the side of a slope; they were 
evidently still haunted by some bird of prey, as there were 
plenty of pellets and whitewash, while one ledge in particular 
seemed to be often used. A few Starlings nest in holes in the 
sandstone. 
The groves of trees were alive with Green Woodpeckers and 
Nuthatches, and resounded with the laugh of the former and 
the ‘‘ pretty dick, pretty dick, dick” of the latter. At one time 
three pairs of the Woodpeckers were in view near one another, 
all engaged in violent flirtations. In an old oak by the road 
there was a small hole, about three feet from the ground, which 
a Nuthatch had plastered up and filled with fragments of dry 
leaves, but as yet there were no eggs. . 
Later on I saw an oak in which was a big hollow rotted out 
above the lowest branches; on going nearer I perceived that the 
ground beneath was littered with large castings, two or three 
inches in length. This looked so promising that it seemed 
worthy of closer investigation, but how was I to get up? The 
tree, which was too big to swarm, stood on the edge of a bank, 
and its lowest boughs were several feet above my reach. Luckily ~ 
several dead branches were to be seen lying about, and one of 
these I fetched and dropped at the foot of the tree. The crash 
brought out a beautiful Barn Owl, who flew into a neighbouring 
oak, whence, after turning his white face to have a look at me, 
he sailed away. This incident increased my enthusiasm, which 
was still further heightened, while I was collecting more branches, 
by the appearance of a second Owl from the hole. At last the 
pile was completed, and mounting on it I succeeded, with the 
aid of a twig about the thickness of a lead pencil, in getting my 
arms round a bough, when suddenly the erection collapsed, 
leaving me hanging in mid-air. Pulling myself up I found the 
bases of the boughs littered with more pellets which had over- 
flowed from the hollow. The hole was thickly carpeted with 
broken pellets which gave forth an unpleasant odour, and on 
the sodden trampled mass reposed one white egg—a sight which 
