326 



THE NATURALIST. 



mingled with very small twigs and moss, and lined with feathers, contained 

 eight eggs, which, had I not had ample opportunity of knowing better, I 

 should, have said, were the eggs of the Titmouse. 



Hedge Sparrow. Accentor modularis. This little plain and unas- 

 suming bird, is one of my feathered favourites, and last year I was favoured 

 above measure with their confidence, for I had no less than seven nests in 

 my garden ; four of which were in one stick heap. A friend of mine tied 

 up a double wall-flower to a stick, and in the head of the plant thus bound 

 up, a pair built a nest, and brought up four young ones. The nest was close 

 to the garden seat, which was in d aily use. 



Bullfinch. Pyrrliula vulgaris. Th^ nest of this handsome bii'd, is 

 not generally found near the dwellings of men, but in woods. Last year, 

 a nest was taken in this village in a hedge row, which borders the common 

 causeway between two villages. The cock bird while sitting on a twig was 

 killed by a stone thrown at it. 



Elackheaded Bunting. Emheriza schoeniclus. This bird is the 

 water-sparrow, and ring-sparrow, of thelSiorth Yorkshire boys. It is common 

 here and often finds its way with the common sparrow into the brick traps 

 set in the fold yards during winter. The general site of the nest is near the 

 water ; Yarrell says, it "is generally placed on the ground, among coarse long 

 grass or rushes, at the foot of a thorn, or on the side of a canal bank." One I 

 found last season, was about three feet high up in a road-side hedge, a very 

 unusual place, the hen was taken with the nest. 



Cole Titmouse. Parus ater. This little, restless entomologist, is very 

 numerous in some parts, where old apple orchards are common. In this 

 part of Yorkshire they are not so ; last year I found two nests, one in an 

 old stump about a foot from the ground, and in the other case in a rat hole 

 in an old " stoop." This nest was robbed three times by two young ladies, 

 who succeeded in adding twenty one eggs to their string out of this one nest. 

 After this the hen actually laid another setting ; sat on them, and brought 

 off a brood. 



Partridge. Perdix cinerea. Last season, a nest of a partridge was 

 found in the hedge bottom, close by a stone heap, on the roadside. It 

 contained the extraordinary number of thirty-two eggs. It was discovered 

 by a man breaking stones, who showed it me. They were forsaken, I suppose 

 by the noise and neighbourhood of the old man. I should suppose two hens 

 had laid in this nest, as they often do. Patridges seem to me to like road- 

 side situations for their nests ; perhaps for the purpose of dusting. 



Lmton-on-Ouse, February 18C6. 



