36 
NATURE NOTES 
Strange Blackbird’s Eggs.— In the spring of igoo I found a black- 
bird’s nest containing one egg of a bright greenish-blue colour, without a spot or 
streak. I took the one egg, and on visiting the nest three or four days after, 
found three more eggs of the same colour. About a fortnight later I again looked 
at the nest and the three remaining eggs were covered with brown spots. What 
became of them afterwards I cannot say. Once only I saw the bird and she 
certainly was like a blackbird. The nest was made of dry grass. I should like to 
know if this has happened before. 
PucklecJmrch, Gloucestershire . BLANCHE A. CONEY. 
A White Blackbird. — Some time ago I saw a fine specimen of a white 
blackbird : with the exception of a mere trace of black in the tail feathers, the 
whole of the bird was pure white. To be quite sure of its identity I followed it 
amongst the trees and bushes of Epping Forest and kept it in view for about half- 
an-hour. Although I had been over the .same ground many times before, and 
have also been many times since, that is the only occasion I ever saw it. 
Buckhurst Hill, John Horne. 
January 6, 1902. 
Albinism in Birds. — We had for several years a blackbird in our garden, 
the middle of whose tail was white. There was just a little black on either side, 
but if the tail was spread the black feathers were hardly visible. The nest was in 
the forked branch of a plane tree, and the tree having grown inconveniently large, 
it had to be curtailed, and this branch was removed. 
The birds disappeared during two summers, but came back to our garden in the 
autumn, apples and pears being an attraction, and plenty of food provided in the 
winter. This season the bird has not been .seen, so we conclude he had lived out 
his span of life. None of the progeny have inherited the white tail. 
We also have sparrows that are partially white. 
Clifton, M. R. F. S. 
f antiary, 1902. 
An Egg-suckingr Thrush. — As will be seen by the following incident, the 
egg-sucking propensity is not always confined to such birds as jays, cuckoos, and 
birds of the crow tribe. 
Colonel Gordon, who lives close by, was telling me the other day that for some 
time they had found the doves’ eggs pierced and the contents in some way 
mysteriously to disappear. Thinking Mr. Rat was up to his games, they set 
a watch, and found the culprit, and instead of the suspected rat they found the 
thief to be a hand-reared thrush, which they caught, as soon as the doves had laid, 
in the act of piercing the eggs and sucking the contents. 
Hampstead, James E. Whitinc. 
December yo, 1901. 
A Pendant Neat. — A doctor, lately returned from the war, says that when 
in the Transvaal he saw a curious nest, which unfortunately was in such a difficult 
position that he was unable to get at it. He does not know the name of the birds 
that built it. The nest was small and round with a hole for an entrance, and 
made of moss. It was attached by a single piece of grass, about two feet long, 
that looked like a bit of string, to the end of a branch on a shrub growing on the 
side of a precipice. The nest swung freely in mid air. The birds looked some- 
thing like swallows, but the doctor knew from the character of the nest that they 
could not belong to that tribe. What were they ? 
Market Weston, Thetford, Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
November, igoi. 
Kingfisher and Goldfish, — Three years ago a pair of kingfishers used to 
frequent the Roman bath, which is in the centre of the city of Bath, for the 
purpose of feeding on the goldfish which are kept in the tepid mineral water. 
Unfortunately they played such havoc with the fish that the attendant shot them. 
Through the instrumentality of the local branch of the Sclborne Society, a minute 
was passed in the Bath City Council preserving these beautiful birds in future ; 
but not until the last few weeks has a kingfisher been seen to visit the Roman 
