0328 



Birds. 



is seven or eight feet higher in the tree than the other; their situation is conspicuous 

 to every passer-by, and the lowermost of them is little ahove the giving-off of some 

 large branches, from which the aperture of the nest may be easily reached ; the opening 

 is round, and, in appearance, seems of less size than could, without difficulty, permit 

 the entrance of the bird ; round the border the bark is pecked away for the space of 

 about a quarter of an inch ; inside this opening, for seven or eight inches, the descent 

 is but little, but beyond this it dropped rather steeply for about two feet. The inside 

 of the tree could be observed as wet and rotten, and the nest seemed formed out of the 

 rotten wood. In the last week of May there was nothing in this nest, but in the first 

 week of June there were five eggs, which were coloured by this rotten wood, but when 

 washed they were beautifully white, and then it appeared also that their contents could 

 be discerned through the shell : the eggs were taken away by a friend, who assisted in 

 the examination of these nests, and the opening of the nest was firmly plugged up with 

 a turf of grass : when, however, I came to examine it again a new opening had been 

 made into the passage, immediately above the place where the turf had raised an ob- 

 struction, and this had been done by pecking in a circular form an orifice fitted to the 

 former opening, with just so much of descent as to join the old passage close behind 

 the obstruction. At this time the opportunity of a ladder was taken to examine the 

 higher of those openings into the tree, the uppermost having, before this been beyond 

 our reach : the floor of this nest or resting-place was covered with old rotten wood, and 

 there were also found two or three feathers of the male bird, which bird was also seen 

 to fly out of this hole. As there can be no doubt that successive generations of wood- 

 peckers have been reared from this tree, and sometimes the brood has consisted of 

 several individuals, it seems not the least remarkable circumstance in the history of 

 this bird, that the local attachment of a single pair should be accompanied with a 

 strong disposition to wander to a distance in the younger portion of the woodpecker 

 community. The nest of the nuthatch is also in the body of a chestnut tree in a 

 garden belonging to the mansion at Trelawny : the hole by which the entrance was 

 effected was about three inches in diameter, and consequently much larger, in propor- 

 tion to the size of the bird, than that of the woodpecker; but the opening was 

 reduced to about an inch and a half by a border of mortar plastered round it: the 

 passage went inward to the distance of three or four inches, and then descended six 

 or seven inches more, where was the nest, — formed of what seemed the inner bark of a 

 birch or plane tree, — dry and almost flat; it contained one young, living bird: the 

 bed of this nest was formed of rotten wood, and was wet, covering over two addled 

 eggs, which were stained with the colour of the rotten wood ; it appeared probable 

 they were the produce of the former year. — Jonathan Couch; Polperro, Cornicall, 

 December 3, 1858. 



Swallotvs in November. — On Friday, the 12th instant, I was passing by Ewell 

 church, and observed two swallows flying about. I watched them for some time, and 

 pointed them out to several persons who were passing, so that there can be no doubt 

 as to their identity. The sun was shining brilliantly, but there was frost on the 

 ground in the shade. The swallows assembled in large numbers here on the 14th of 

 October, and none were to be seen the next day; but I observed one straggler about 

 ten days afterwards.— Samuel Gurney ; Canhalton, November 14, 1858. 



Lale brood of Starlings. — A pair of starlings have recently made a nest in a hole 

 by the side of a water-tank on the roof of my house; the hole is so dark that one 



