XATURE XOTES 
will build their homes wherever possible — beneath the slates of house-roofs, or 
in any crevice where they can drag their conglomeration of nesting material>. 
It is, however, something out of the ordinary course of proceedings for a pair 
of these birds to nest in a truck-load of coal. On arrival at Bourne, Lincoln- 
shire, a nest of young starlings was discovered among the fuel which had come 
from one of the collieries near Nottingham. There is no doubt that the young 
birds were hatched during the journey, for the parent birds were in attendance 
on their offspring. Another nest that travelled some miles before being found 
was that of a blackbird, which was lodged under a North-Eastern Railway meat 
waggon, having come from Edinburgh to London with goods, and back again 
to Edinburgh and Tweedmouth. The nest, which contained two eggs, was only 
discovered when the waggon was being cleaned ; but in this instance neither of 
the birds were present. 
In the tool-house of Mr. Culpin, an inhabitant of the Garden City, Letch- 
worth, a wren chose to build its domed edifice on a clothes-line suspended from 
a hook. From Brackley village, Northamptonshire, we hear of our confiding 
friend, the robin, having its nest in a nail-box. This was hung on the wall in 
a forge, within a foot of the bellows, and, apparently undisturbed by the noise 
of the anvil, the bird flies in and out with the confidence of a welcome guest. 
65, Cowley Road, Brixton, S. IV. Chas. E. J. Hannett. 
A/ay 9. 
626. Birds in Kew Gardens and Richmond Park.— An afternoon 
ramble through the above-named places on May 9, in the company of Mr. M. J. 
Fletcher, showed bird-life to be at full tide, vigorous and abundant. I did not, 
however, quite realise the number of species which a few hours of a “London 
afternoon ” at this season of the year may yield, until I made up the annexed 
list, which may be of interest to Nature Notes. I should say that we did not 
make any special search for birds, but simply kept our eyes and ears open as we 
went along. This explains the absence of some species which could have been 
found with a little trouble, and we also exclude the IVkeatear, Blackcap, Wood 
Wren, and Spotted Flycatcher, as these were not quite unmistakeably spotted by 
ourselves. As it is, the list contains forty-six species. The names in italics are 
those of summer vi->itants, and square brackets [ ] enclose introduced species. 
List. 
Song Thrush 
Blackbird 
Redbreast 
Garden Warbler 
Chiffchaff 
Willow Wren 
Hedge Sparrow 
Great Tit 
Coal Tit 
Blue Tit 
Common Wren 
Pied Wagtail 
Yellow IVagtail (Penn Ponds) 
Swallow 
f/oiise Martin 
Sand Alartin 
House Sparrow 
Chaffinch 
Yellow Bunting 
Starling 
Jackdaw 
Rook 
Skylark 
Swift 
Cuckoo 
Grey Heron (in Richmond Park there 
are more nests than in recent years, 
but several seem unoccupied) 
[Canada Goose and three other foreign 
species of geese] 
Common Swan 
[Black Swan] 
[Black-necked Swan] 
Shellduck 
Mallard (a brood of twelve young on 
the Penn Ponds) 
Pintail Duck 
Wigeon 
Tufted Duck 
[Mandarin Duck] 
Ring Dove 
Turtle Dove 
Pheasant 
.Moorhen 
Herring Gull (pinioned) and 
Great Crested Grebe (nesting on the 
Penn Ponds) 
Cormorant 
3, Willow Mansions, IVest Hampstead, N. W., 
May II, 1908. 
Hugh Boyd Watt. 
