NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
77 
are not averse to picking a bone, or killing a newly-hatched bird. They do not 
destroy sound buds, but those which have been hollowed out by some insect, and 
consequently cannot come to maturity. Two years ago I noticed a perfect halo 
of buds on the ground round one of my pear trees, and frequently caught the tits 
at work on it. I examined the ends of the twigs from which the buds had been 
picked, and the fallen buds as well ; and to make doubly sure I used a magnifying 
glass. In no case could I discover that a sound bud had been touched, but only 
those that were tenanted by a small grub. The tree was so infested by this insect 
that very few buds came into bloom, indeed, hardly any were lelt. Last spring I 
again examined the same tree. It was the reverse of the year before ; the buds 
were free from grubs and there was a splendid bloom. For this I had in no small 
measure to thank the sharp eyes of the tits, as they had effectually killed down 
the real enemy. In short, tits destroy damaged buds only to get at the author of 
the mischief. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
Market IVeston, Thetford. 
Swallows and their Nests. — A friend sends me the following true 
story : — 
“ Last year some swallows commenced building just against my bedroom 
window. Not wishing them to make their nest just at that spot, I put my boy’s 
toy sheep up there, with his big black eyes looking towards them. Now, thought 
I, you will move a little farther along. A few days later I looked up at the 
window, and there ! on the woolly lamb hung two swallows helping themselves 
freely to the wool for nest-lining purposes ! ! I took the scarecrow down.” 
Foxton, Cambs. A. M. Greenwood. 
Abnormal Birds’ Nests. — At a recent meeting of the British Ornitholo- 
gists’ Club, there was an interesting e.xhibition of nests, all showing considerable 
departure from the normal form. .Mr. E. Bidwell, with whom the idea originated, 
sent the largest collection. This included a heron’s nest, built almost entirely of 
wire, such as is used in some reaping machines to bind sheaves, which appeared 
to have been gathered by the birds when the corn was threshed. The nest was 
blown out of a tree at Stoke Park, Notts., and then, with the aid of a field-glass, 
it was seen that there were, in the heronry, other nests of the same character A 
turtle-dove’s nest made of wire would have been shown, but for the owner’s 
absence from England. Some Indian crows have discovered what good nesting 
material wire makes, and nests formed of wire from soda-water bottles have been 
described in scientific journals. There were also chiff-chaffs’ nests without the 
usual feather lining, a nightingale’s nest and a sedge- warbler’s nest lined with 
feathers instead of fibrous roots in the one case, and hair in the other; a wood- 
chat’s nest built entirely of flowers, a swift’s nest into which feathers had been 
worked, and a moorhen’s nest in which the bird, when disturbed, had covered 
her eggs with pieces of newspaper and the wrappings of champagne bottles — 
evidently left by a picnic party. Mr. P. Crowley exhibited the nest of a chaffinch 
into w'hich a good deal of paper had been worked, |and Mr. Howard Saunders 
showed one covered with confetti. Mr. Gerratd sent a wren’s nest, wanting the 
usual dome-like covering, taken from a hole in a bank in Shetland. Mr. A. H. 
Macpherson showed the nest of a spotted flycatcher, built to a great extent of wax 
vestas, with pieces of thread and silk. It had also the paper of two cigarette-ends 
embedded in the sides. To illustrate the not very common practice of birds 
building inside the nests of other birds, Mr. R. H. Read exhibited, among others, 
the nest of a wagtail built inside the old nest of a blackbird, and a robin’s nest 
built inside the old nest of a thrush. In this last case there was a cuckoo’s egg 
inside the robin’s nest, so that the original structure served three different species. 
White Wild Duck. — Five years ago, Mr. Charles Ambrose, of Ely, 
discovered two white ducklings in a brood of pure wild birds. These were 
caught and isolated, the result being that out of a very large team or flock of 
wild duck, every bird is now hatched pure white. 
Nothing can e.xceed the elegance of these birds, either in their movements on 
the water or their flight, which, by the way, seems rather more quick than that 
of their darker-coloured progenitors. 
