NOTES AND QUERIES. 415 
Birdsnesting in August.—For the last two years I have noted in ‘ The 
Zoologist’ a list of nests with eggs and young found on Bank Holiday in 
Cambridgeshire. This year I was in the same district, but searched mostly 
in a different direction, and the following were my discoveries :—One nest 
of Bullfinch, with one naked young and four eggs hatching ; three nests of 
Thrush, with eggs stale, apparently deserted; one nest of Turtle Dove, with 
two eggs; one nest of Wood Pigeon, with two eggs; two nests of Meadow 
Pipits, with four and five eggs respectively, all apparently fresh ; two nests 
of common Whitethroat, with young; eight nests of Yellowhammer, with 
eggs, mostly fresh ; two ditto, with young; one nest of Tree Sparrow, with 
two eggs deserted; two nests of Linnet, with eggs; one ditto, with young ; 
six nests of Greenfinch, with eggs, half of them fresh; two ditto, with 
young; one nest of Hedgesparrow, with one egg in hatched-out nest; two 
nests of Blackbird, with eggs deserted; one of these contained one hand- 
some egg of deep spotless blue, with a rich zone of brown at the large end. 
This does not include new nests of Wood Pigeon, House Sparrow, Swallow, 
and House Martin, which I did not examine.—Roserr H. Reap (7, South 
Parade, Bedford Park, W.). 
Coition of Birds in the Air.—Readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ have doubt- 
less been interested in some remarks that have lately appeared on this sub- 
ject in the pages of that Journal. I therefore send you a short account of a 
personal observation. Whilst passing along one of the roads skirting 
Clifton Downs, about the middle of June last, I noticed some six or eight 
pairs of House Martins (Hirundo urbica) engaged in collecting mud from 
the road. Suddenly a pair alighted within three or four yards of me, 
where I could see them quite plainly. Immediately they dropped into the 
road the male bird jumped on the back of the female, and appeared to 
attempt copulation. In an instant, however, the hen slipped from under 
him, and flew toward me, pursued by the cock bird, uttering loud cries. 
When quite close, I distinctly saw the male bird (whilst both were in the 
air) resume his position on the back of the female, and complete the act 
of copulation. They did not appear to take the least notice of my presence. 
—W. Barrett Rovs (Cliften, Bristol). 
Parasites in Birds.—A most interesting although serious epidemic in 
the form of Tape and Round Worms infests every Thrush and Blackbird in 
this immediate neighbourhood. All through last year it was prevalent, and 
at present seems to be on the increase. During the last two months I 
have examined some forty to fifty examples of T’urdus musicus and T. 
merula, also two of T’. viscivorus, that have been netted or shot from the 
fruit. In every case the intestine, and in a few the entire length of the 
alimentary canal, was full of a small Tapeworm, of about an inch in length, 
