316 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



believe, so far as numbers go. A Goldfinch's nest in a chestnut-tree 

 contained seven eggs on May 25th, all marked with the black streaks 

 and dots — a rather uncommon phase of these eggs. A Lapwing's nest 

 on Easter Monday contained five eggs, four of the ordinary type, but 

 the fifth was the size of a Thrush's egg, with a thick ring of spots 

 round the small end. A Linnet's nest at Tealham Heath, Wedmore, 

 contained seven eggs on May 5th ; a Robin's nest on this date also 

 contained seven eggs, very closely resembling eggs of the Red-backed 

 Shrike both in ground colour and markings. On May 27th I found a 

 nest of the Golden-crested Wren rather high up in a yew-tree at Dinder, 

 near Wells, containing six eggs ; five of them are the ordinary size, 

 but very pale in ground colour, and sparsely speckled, resembling 

 Long-tailed Tits'. The sixth egg is as large as a Robin's, but exactly 

 the same colour as the five small ones. Can this large one be a 

 Cuckoo's egg ? I shall be pleased to send the nest and eggs to any 

 ornithologist who would be likely to pass a sound opinion as to whether 

 the egg is the Cuckoo's or the Golden-crested Wren's. — Stanley Lewis 

 (Wells, Somerset). 



Notes on Nest-Boxes. — During the past season we have had as 

 tenants of our nest-boxes the Great Tit, Blue Tit, Nuthatch, Tree- 

 Sparrow, Starling, Tawny Owl, Kestrel, and Stock-Dove. The Tawny 

 Owl, which had taken possession of an old cask, deserted after the 

 second egg was laid, perhaps owing to the fact that one day when I 

 went to look at her she flew off, and as she went away one of our fox- 

 terriers chased her. Most keepers and watchers have a firm belief 

 that a sitting bird alarmed by a dog will never go back to her nest. 

 However, I believe that two or three pairs of Owls have hatched off in 

 the parish this year, and in one house there was considerable excite- 

 ment not long ago over an Owl which had found its way into an unused 

 attic, but was got out again without injury. We have never had 

 Kestrels in a box before, and their use of one seems to be unusual, 

 though Mr. Whitaker has recorded an instance at his place in Notting- 

 hamshire (Zool. 1904, p. 192). Four eggs of a very Merlin-like type 

 were laid, all of which were hatched, and, though one young bird died 

 in the nest, I believe the others went off safely. Two broods of Stock- 

 Doves were hatched in the same box, and one pair are there now (July 

 19th). Tree-Sparrows have abounded, but House- Sparrows seem to 

 have quite deserted the boxes, possibly because they are never allowed 

 to hatch out when the nest can be got at. My chief grievance against 

 this bird is the damage it does to thatched buildings, and most cheer- 

 fully would I pay "4 pence for soame sparos " (ante, p. 257) if the 



