BLACK REDSTART AS A BREEDING SPECIES. 419 



to discredit the supposition. Possibly the eggs were the very 

 rare white variety of the Hedge-sparrow's egg : the site would 

 be a very likely one for this species. In any case there is nothing 

 to connect them with the Black Eedstart, except a statement 

 subsequently made by Hawkins to William Hewitson that " a 

 respectable person in his neighbourhood " had seen a pair of birds 

 the male of which he described as resembling a Black Eedstart, 

 nesting in a wall, and that the eggs were white (Col. Illustr. 

 Vol. 1. p. 106). 



An even more extraordinary statement was made by W. J. 

 Sterland, in his little book on the ' Birds of Sherwood Forest ' 

 (p. 67), who believed that he had found this species on three 

 occasions in Nottinghamshire nesting in hedgerows ! and who- 

 took in May 1854 four white eggs, one of which afterwards was 

 passed into Professor Newton's collection. In the ' Ootheca 

 Wolleyana ' I. p, 308. the professor stated his belief that these 

 eggs were really those of the Blackcap. From the position of 

 the nest it is impossible that Sterland could have had a good view 

 of the bird, and his description of the nests would pass for those 

 of the Blackcap. Of this record we may say in Seebohm's words 

 that " the position of the nest in a hedge almost amounts to 

 proof that he was mistaken in his identification." 



In 1858 Mr. G. Kirkpatrick found a nest with five white eggs. 

 on a patch of waste moor at Duncow, near Dumfries. The nest 

 is said to have been like a Yellow-hammer's, but larger (See 

 'Birds of the West of Scotland,' p. 85). There seems to be no 

 reason for supposing that these eggs were anything but white 

 varieties of Yellow-hammer's eggs, and it is remarkable that on 

 the same piece of waste ground Mr. B. Service found on June 16th, 

 1886, a nest of the Yellow-hammer with three eggs, two of which 

 were practically pure white, while the third had only some very 

 faint speckles (see H. S. Gladstone's ' Birds of Dumfriesshire,' p. 

 14). The only noticeable difference between the descriptions of 

 the two clutches is that those found by Mr. Kirkpatrick were 

 ' shiny,' while Mr Service's eggs were without gloss. The 

 extreme improbability of the Black Eedstart breeding here is 

 emphasized by the fact that no specimen of the Black Eedstart, 

 has ever been obtained in the county. 



Coming to more recent times we find in the ' Zoologist ' for- 



