THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



189 



" The prohibition, which will be found 

 " at page 15, of the Post Office Guide, has 

 " been in force for a great many years." 

 " I am. Sir, 



" Your obedient Servant, 

 "Henry R. Fye, 



" (for the Secretary.)" 

 " A. P. Decie, Esq." 



So the matter stands at present. Our 

 correspondent assures us that the box was 

 very well packed, and having received many 

 ourselyes from the same lady, we are quite 

 prepared to believe that it had been pur- 

 posely opened. That living larvas do con- 

 stantly pass to and from the continent by 

 post is quite certain, and long may it con- 

 tinue to be so. The question now is whether 

 anything can be done to get the restriction 

 modified, or whether we must continue to 

 evade the law as we do at present, but be a 

 little more careful not to be found out. It 

 is quite certain that entomologists cannot 

 do without the privilege of sending living 

 larvae, &c., by post, and though we don't 

 like the idea of recommending any govern- 

 ment regulation to be systematically broken, 

 we do not see what other course entomolo- 

 gists can adopt. 



We observe a newspaper paragraph states 

 that there is likely to be a postponement of 

 the commencement of the Parcels Post, in 

 consequence of the intimations received as 

 to the number of parcels likely to be for- 

 warded by it, being largely in excess of what 

 had been calculated upon, the Postmaster 

 General, desiring it to work without a hitch, 

 thinks it better to postpone the date for 

 commencing it, rather than have any irregu- 

 larities. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 

 BIRDS. 



The Little Grebe. — I have got a speci- 

 men of the Little Grebe here in summer 



plumage. It was shot on the 28th May. — 

 R. Hann, Byers Green. 



(We scarcely think this an exceptional 

 circumstance, for we know the species 

 breeds in some numbers at the reservoir 

 of the Hartlepool Gas and Water Co., not 

 very many miles from Byers Green. Had 

 it been any other Grebe it would have been 

 more noteworthy. — Eds. Y.N.) 



A Strange Place for a Nest.— In the 

 ship-yard of Messrs. E. Withy and Co. here, 

 is a large crane, at the top of which, where 

 it is open to admit the sheave, a sparrow 

 has built her nest. The crane is in constant 

 use, but the bird neither notices the work- 

 men about, the movement of the sheave, 

 nor of the chain, but flies in and out with 

 the utmost unconcern. It appears now to 

 have young birds, and seems quite likely to 

 bring them up. — James Dixon, Hartlepool, 

 June 19th, 1883. 



Decrease in the Number of Eggs 

 Laid by some Birds, April, 1883. — Resum- 

 ing my rambles in search of eggs and 

 nests this year, I have been struck with the 

 falling off in the number of eggs laid by 

 some of our commoner birds. With the 

 beginning of the month, blackbirds, thrushes, 

 robins, &c., were all either sitting or laying. 

 In few cases have I found a blackbird's nest 

 containing four eggs, not once with five, the 

 majority of them containing three, whilst 

 some hatched one young one out of two 

 eggs. Thrushes, out of nearly fifty nests 

 found, eight only contained four eggs, one 

 five (the last one laid in this case was very 

 little larger than a hedge-sparrow's and 

 contained no yolk), the rest containing but 

 twos and threes. Robins have seldom ex- 

 ceeded four, with the exception of one nest 

 I found in which there were three young 

 ones and five rotten eggs — an extraordinary 

 number for this bird. Missel thrushes 

 have not, to my knowledge, exceeded three; 

 whilst ten chaffinches' nests out of a dozen 

 contained but four eggs. Hedge-sparrows 



