SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES 
159 
Blackbird Nesting Twice in Same Nest. — Some years .-igo a pair of 
blackbirds built their nest in the ivy on a fence in my garden. They did not 
seem to mind my watching them, and in due time four nice young blackbirds left 
the nest. Greatly to mv surprise the mother bird came back again in a very short 
time and laid four more eggs. She was .so tame that I used to go and talk to her 
as she was silting on her eggs. When the young were hatched and ready to fly, 
one came out ol the nest in the path just behind a fox terrier : I was so afraid the 
dog would get it that I picked it up and put it back in the nest. But I suppo.se I 
alarmed the others for out came two more. I tried to put them back but the 
parents made such a raid and flew about so that I left them. I was very sorry, 
for I thought I should see no more of my blackbirds, but I did ; the hen bird 
built a second nest for a third brood, quite close to a window. I knew her again 
by her very black head and her tamene.ss. The window (a French one) was 
always open and the piano, which was near, was often played upon. At such times 
Mrs. Blackbird would sit on a rose-tree close to her nest and make .such a noise. 
Whether she liked music or not we could never find out. She laid four eggs and 
reared her young safely. After that I lost sight of her. 
Hatfield, Herts. LuCY Rowlati . 
Cuckoo-Spit. — There is a common belief among gamekeepers round here 
that cuckoo-spit, or frog-hoppers, are destructive to the lives of young partridges 
and pheasants. To these insects in the larv.Ts state, surrounded by the well- 
known mass of froth, they ascribe much of the diseases they have to contend with. 
They even say “Gapes” come from eating them! which is of course absurd. 
I should imagine that the cuckoo-spit insect was a toothsome and harmless morsel 
to young birds. 
June, 1899. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
White Spider. — Will somebody kindly inform me whether a white spider 
is a great rarity ? I have this morning found one in the petals of a white pink. 
He was lunching off a bee. He is not perfectly white but has the faintest tinge 
of green so that he matches the bases of the petals, and he has four gold spots on 
his very fat body. I have never heard of such a creature before and should like 
to know whether there are ever albino insects. 
Kent, June 27, 1899. E. K. Hitchcock. 
SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES. 
Death of Sir W. Flower. — At the Council Meeting on July 4, it was 
resolved: “That the Council of the Selborne Society wishes to express its deep 
sense of the loss sustained by the Society and by the cause of humanitarianism 
by the death of its Vice-President, Sir William Flower.” 
Donations. — The Council beg to acknowledge the receipt of from the 
Ealing Branch, and fix from William White, Esq., F.S.A. 
Council Meetings. — The next meetings of the Council will be on 
August I and 15. 
Field Club Rambles : — 
August 5. — Saturday before Bank Holiday. No ramble. 
August 12. — Roydon Village and Nether Hall. Meet at Rye House Station, 
2.50. (Liverpool Street, 2.15; Clapton i p.m.) Day return ticket is. 6d. 
Thence by fields to Roydon, where tea will be taken, and afterwards to Nether 
Hall and back to Rye House by the banks of Stort and Lea. Train home, 8.45. 
Guide, Mr. W. B. Gerish. 
August 19. — Cheam, Nonsuch, Morden, and Carshalton. Take single tickets 
to Cheam. Victoria (L.B. & S.C.R.), 2.14; London Bridge, 2.38; West 
Croydon, 3. Guide, Mr. E. A. Martin, F.G.S. 
August 26. — Leave Byfleet Station on arrival of trains from Waterloo (main 
line) 2.29; Surbiton, 2.52; Weybridge, 3.7. Ramble by lanes and fields to 
Wisley Church. Tea at Anchor Inn. Return from Byfleet 8.7 or 9.21. Guide, 
Dr. Willson. Permission has been granted for a visit to the famous garden of 
G. F. Wilson, Esq., at Wisley. 
