and of the golden cre3te5"wren, and exhibited an exquisite 
nest of this last-named bird, over the entrance to which a 
turkey feather was placed by the bird as a valve or trap- 
[ door. The long-tailed tit's beautiful nest was exhibited. 
The nests of this species are sometimes lined with as many 
as 2000 feathers, all carried separately by the little bird. 
The chough breeds in April or end of March, laying five eggs ; 
' the nest is formed of seaweed or other refuse gathered 
from the beach, and is placed usually on cliffs^ facing 
the sea. The great black woodpecker, Picus martius'hred 
] in the New Forest the year before last ; it was never 
! known before to breed in Britain. Several nests and eggs 
; of the green woodpecker laid on the chips found in hollow 
! trees were exhibited. The eggs are naturally pure white and 
1 shining, but are sometimes richly stained yellow with the 
: rotten wood of the nest, of which examples were shown, 
1 The nuthatch's ingenious nest was also shown, made of the 
bark of the Oriental plane, artfully scooped off by the bird 
and carried into a hollow elm tree. The strips of bark ap- 
peared like shavings, done by the hand of man. Mr. Groom 
said he had never known a well-authenticated instance of 
the cackoo, Cnculus canor%is, making a nest for itself ; it has 
been ascertained that here and on the continent it selects as 
j many as 60 different species of nests to deposit its eggs, 
i those of the red-backed shrike, golden oriole, fieldfare, red- 
wing, nearly all the warblers, larks and pippits. It has 
been known to lay its egg on the ground and convey it in 
its mouth to the nest, and has been caught sitting on the 
nest to lay its egg. It usually lays one egg in one nest ; 
two eggs of the cuckoo have, however, been found in one 
i nest, probably laid by two cuckoos. The old cuckoo has 
j been seen to feed the young one, but the foster mother has 
1 more frequently been seen to feed the little bird, whose 
peculiar form enables it to shovel out the other young or 
! eggs, and thus become the sole ruler of ihe nest. The colour 
of the eggs of the cuckoo varies remarkably, and ap- 
proximates to the colour of the eggs of the species 
it selects. If this be a tree pippit, the cuckoo's egg assutnes 
a brownish tinge; if a reed warbler, a greenish cast, &c., 
which was shown to be the casein many examples exhibited 
i by Mr. Groom. This colorisation theory supposes that an 
impression is made on the sensorium of the bud. by the view 
of the tint of the eggs in the foster parent's nest, which 
causes it to lay an egg of somewhat similar colour. Siill 
the egg is always suflficiently marked to be recognised as 
\ the cuckoo's. This is a new application of a popular belief, 
current in all ages, on which Jacob acted in his dealings 
with Laban's cattle. The kingfisher, Alcedo ispida, exca- 
j vates its hole along the sandbanks of our rivers, and lays 
its seven eggs on the bare earth, or on a collection of fish- 
bones, vomited by the bird, the refuse of fish swallowed by it. 
The eggs are of an exquisite pink before being blown, from 
the yolk shining through the semi-transparent shell ; its 
nest and eggs are complete about the middle of April, and 
the hole always rises upwards frons the water, forming a steep 
' drain for any moisture to run away. Mr. Groom exhibited 
a nest of fish-bones and eggs of this species, and concluded 
by describing an ornithologist's ramble in Sussex, and the 
various situations of nests and eggs of many species. 
The usual time of closing the meeting having drawn near, 
and Mr. T. Graham Ponton kindly consenting to defer his 
paper "On the Land and Freshwater MoUusca of the Bristol 
District" to the next meeting of the society, the remaining 
portion of the time was spent in eliciting from Mr. Groom 
some observations on the colouring matter of the eggs of 
birds, and on the occurrence of two birds of the same 
species, or two birds of even different species, laying their 
eggs in one nest. 
After spending some time in the examination of Mr. 
Groom's specimens on the table, the meeting separated. 
ADOLPH LEIPNER, 
Honorary Secretary. 
