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The Yellow Wren sings occasionally the beginning of August. 
August 8th, a pair of House Martins have just begun to build a 
nest on the west end of my house. The mud work of this nest 
was finished in about a week, it was then left to dry for some 
days, and afterwards lined with short pieces of straw ; in about a 
fortnight from the beginning of the nest the eggs were laid. 
September 26th, the young are still in the nest, and frequently 
make a twittering at night, some hours after it is dark. October 
7th, this day the young left the nest. 
[August 9th, I took a young Sparrow from a nest, it was 
blind, and apparently three or four days old; the mouth very 
large, and gape wide ; the abdomen very large in proportion to 
its size [sm] ; neither down or feathers upon it, but the rudiments 
of the feathers were visible on the back of the head and along 
the backbone, on the sides and wings ; on the latter only had they 
pierced the skin. The gizzard was very large, and much dis- 
tended ; it was filled with the exuvite of small black Beetles. I 
found also one grain of Wheat half digested, and a few grains of 
white sand. 
August 17th. I took another young Sparrow from the same 
nest, it was very nearly fledged, and flew a short distance. I 
found the gizzard vastly more muscular, and in it were nine grains 
of Wheat nearly whole, besides some pieces — the remains of several 
small Beetles, and some pretty large gravel stones. 
August 21st. Took another bird from the same nest; there 
was a good deal of fat about the abdomen, a grain or two of Wheat, 
one of Barley, the remains of insects, and much gravel in the 
gizzard, but the gizzard was not so full as in either of the pre- 
ceding. A young Sparrow, killed at the same time, which had 
left the nest, had corn and gravel in its stomach, but no insects.] 
September 26th, killed a young Partridge and also an old male. 
The bill of the young one was dusky at the base, with a horn- 
coloured tip, the legs yellowish-grey — the bill of the old bird 
entirely of a pale lead-colour, the legs bluish-grey. 
I am informed by Mr. Sabine that he procured a young Arctic 
Gidl, killed on a warren near Brandon, the beginning of this 
month. About the same time an old bird of the same species 
was killed at Yarmouth, and is now in the possession of Hunt. 
N.B. The weather was mild at the time. 
