NATURAL II I STORY NOTES 157 
efforts to rid herself of the unwelcome parasite. When separated, the mole 
appeared little the worse for the encounter, and was liberated. 
Nascott,June 12, 1899. George Rooi'er. 
Field Mice and Eggs. — I have seen a box in which a great tit laid nine 
eggs. These all disappeared. .\s long-tailed field mice have been noticed to 
ascend the tree in which the box was placed, by means of the ivy round the trunk, 
it looks as if they were the robbers. Can these mice have removed the eggs from 
such a position without a trace being left ? And are they known to be robbers of 
nests ? A second nest, which looks like a sparrow’s, has been commenced on the 
top of the tits’ nest, but has been forsaken. 
Market IVestou, Thetford,June, 1899. Edmund Titos. Dauheny. 
Canaries. — Mrs. Downer, of the High Street, Watford, has a canary sitting 
on seven eggs. Is not this very unusual ? 
George Rooi’er. 
Dropped Starlings’ Eggs. — 1 have now and then found freshly laid 
^ggs of some of our common birds on the ground, under circumstances that 
made me think they had been laid away from the nest. Starlings build in every 
suitable spot on my house, and their eggs are sometimes picked up on my 
lawn ; one not long ago being brought to me by my daughter for identification, 
that was quite fresh. Circumstances may occur among birds as among other 
animals, to cause a sudden birth, such as fright from the noise of a gun for 
instance. Many years ago one of my brothers shot at, but did not kill, a 
heron in the middle of a field : on going to the spot he found it had laid an egg. 
Market Weston, Thetford, July, 1899. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
Blackbird Drinking Milk. — My garden is a sanctuary for birds, and 
the young birds have no fear of me, but look upon me as a foster-mother, whose 
duty it is to feed them ; to-day I saw a young blackbird drinking the milk in a 
saucer which had been put down for the cat. It seemed quite to his taste, as he 
returned to the saucer of milk again and again. 
Swifts, Martins, Sparrows. — friend near here has many nests of 
martins under the broad eaves of his house, and their numbers are much 
increased from the protection he affords them. There were two martins’ nests 
touching each other, for which some swifts seemed to have a curious longing, 
coming there every morning and evening for days together. Thinking that the 
swifts had laid in one of the nests he examined their contents. In one, the 
martins had laid five eggs, and in his examination he broke away a part of the 
nest. This the martins repaired the next day ; and they are now sitting. The 
other nest, which was tenanted by sparrows, he destroyed, and the spot was 
immediately built upon by a pair of martins. Soon after the nest appropriated 
by the sparrows was destroyed, the swifts quilted the spot. Now, swifts are 
known to be partially parasitic, and often rear their young in sparrows’ nests. It 
seems to me that in this case the swifts meditated seizing the martins’ nest 
that was tenanted by the sparrows, but desisted from their intentions when they 
found it was rebuilt and occupied by their cousins the martins. 
Market Weston, Thetford, June, 1899. Edmund Thos. Daubeny, 
Nuthatches. — ■ I have just seen some remarkable work done by nut- 
hatches. In a horse-chestnut tree near here there is a decayed part where a 
branch had broken off close to the stem, and was hollowed out by tits last winter 
when searching for insects. This spot in the tree is as large as a man’s hand with 
the fingers closed together, but not clenched. A pair of nuthatches have 
plastered this up, leaving a small round hole for entrance to their nest. This 
is the largest piece of plastering by nuthatches I have seen, and is so well done 
as to look very like the wood of the tree itself. 
I have also been shown the contents of a box in which a pair of these birds 
have just reared a brood. They were considerably more than could be carried in my 
two open hands. At the entrance to the nest there was a piece of mud two inches 
