392 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Late Eggs of Nightjar. — Mr. Corbin (ante, p. 339) asks whether 

 the Nightjar may be considered double-brooded, he having had sent 

 to him on August 15th two freshly laid eggs. I am inclined to think 

 that the species is occasionally double-brooded, but this is not the 

 rule. C. europaus is by no means uncommon in this district, and if 

 the majority which visit it were to breed twice many more nests 

 would have to be found in August than is the case. For three nests 

 which are found in June not more than one is to be found in August. 

 Mr. Corbin says : — " The two eggs in question were perfectly fresh, 

 the yolks were intact, and without the least indication of having been 

 incubated, although one of the birds — presumably the female — rose 

 from the spot when approached." I have never found the male bird 

 taking its turn in the act of incubation. Since the male is so diffe- 

 rent from the female, I think there can be no mistake in this matter. 

 In early September I was, with an under-gamekeeper, on the border 

 of Bingley Wood at dusk during one very cold evening, when a 

 Nightjar came very near to us, and settled down in a pasture and 

 began to feed upon insects, which it pecked from the grass — I thought 

 these were " daddy-longlegs " (Ti^mlcC), but could not be certain. Two 

 years ago one of my sons found a nest which contained an egg almost 

 pure white. Some time ago a gamekeeper's wife asked me, at the 

 instance of her husband, to examine something which he had found 

 in the wood, which I took to be a pellet of the Tawny Owl, con- 

 taining the head of a Hawfinch in a perfect condition. She archly 

 asked if I would still continue to defend the species as a compara- 

 tively harmless bird as I had previously done? The keeper in 

 question told me he had found the nest of a Eobin with eight eggs — 

 an unusually large clutch ; the largest number I ever found was one 

 with seven eggs. Five is about the average clutch here. — E. P. 

 Buttekfield (Wilsden). 



Kestrel mobbed by Starlings. — Eecently I was walking along 

 with a few friends on an eminence overlooking a tributary of the 

 Aire in this neighbourhood, when our attention was attracted by a 

 phenomenon at a considerable distance above the earth, which was 

 a source of no little wonder and perplexity to all the party. The 

 object when first seen must have been nearly a mile away, and kept 

 appearing and disappearing as if by magic, and, as the object came more 

 within the field of vision, it became apparent that this protean sight 

 was due to a flock of birds, which as they came nearer were seen to 

 be Starlings accompanied by a Kestrel. Whenever the Kestrel began 

 to hover or make the slightest delay in its passage through the air, 



