8680 



Birds. 



their nest, which was composed of the inside of the old tree with hay, and lined with 

 feathers. The nest is about three yards from the edge of a pond, measures two inches 

 across, and one and a half inch in depth. — T. Brunton ; Methven Castle, Perth, 

 May 23, 1863. 



Value of the Redstart in a Garden. — A pair of redstarts, who have a nest in my 

 garden, have done me great service by devouring those pests of the garden, the goose- 

 berry grub. From frequent observations I am convinced that a pair of redstarts 

 (during the time their young require their attention) will destroy at least six hundred 

 grubs and caterpillars in a day. I am glad to say that in our neighbourhood these 

 pretty, interesting and useful birds are on the increase. — /. Ranson ; York. 



[I am very glad to receive this information : I have never had ocular demonstra- 

 tion of any bird, excepting the cuckoo, actually eating the gooseberry grub. — Edward 

 Newman~\. 



Snow Bunting in June. — This morning I was much surprised to observe a snow 

 bunting, apparently in full summer plumage, upon a heap of loose stones in the corn- 

 yard at Halligarth. It took wing as I approached, and, uttering its well-known 

 ringing notes, fluttered wildly above the neighbouring fields for a short time, aud then 

 disappeared in the direction of the hills. I have lately seen two pairs about the cliffs 

 at Burrafirth, from which I obtained a nest and three eggs on a previous occasion. 

 (Zool. 7709). — Henry L. Saxby ; Baltasound, Shetland, June 13, 1863. 



The Hawfinch Breeding in Yorkshire. — On the 13th of June a nest of the hawfinch 

 was found in a wood at Hardcastle Crags, near Hebden Bridge, in the West Biding 

 of Yorkshire. The nest contained five eggs, and was placed in an oak tree, at a height 

 of about nine yards from the ground, and corresponds in every particular to the de- 

 scription given by Hewitson. A good view of both birds was obtained, the female not 

 exhibiting that extreme shyness spoken of by most authors. When first discovered 

 she flew from tree to tree, uttering a note very much like that of the spotted flycatcher. 

 She then settled on the nest, the observers remaining at a distance of about twenty 

 yards. On being afterwards disturbed she flew away, and was not seen again. The 

 nest and eggs are in possession of the discoverer, Mr. James Crossley, New Road 

 Bottom, Hebden Bridge.— H. W. Horsfall ; Hebden Bridge, June 22, 1863. 



Nests of the Common Wren and the Goldcrest. — One of my boys found a goldcrest's 

 nest a few weeks since high up in a larch. It was not, as is so often the case with 

 this little bird's nest, suspended to the under side of a pendulous spray of the fir tree, 

 but built upon (or supported by) a small branch near the point of its emergence from 

 the trunk, and immediately beneath an old ring dove's nest. So close, indeed, was it 

 to the latter that, though not in immediate contact, still there was scarcely more than 

 room for the little architect to enter or depart from its neatly built nest-home. The 

 same party of nest-hunters, a few days afterwards, asked me to go and see a nest they 

 had found in a small plantation near the house, — a small, oval, moss- made nest, sus- 

 pended nearly at the very end of a branch of a young Austrian pine, and at a height 

 of about three feet from the ground. It was beautifully concealed, very compact, and 

 much smaller than the wren's nest frequently is ; but there could have been no doubt 

 what it was, even if I had not seen one of the owners leave it. The suspension was a 

 little out of the common rule, but what I have to add was more so. By some means 

 the nest became dislodged, one or more of the eggs broken, and another or two ejected 

 from the nest; the finder of the nest, who regarded it as a special object of interest, 

 on discovering the mishap, replaced the sound eggs and refixed the nest as well as he 



