NATURE NOTES 
156 
had been done towards completing it during this time I then took the egg, on 
May 31 as I see by my note book, and it is now in my collection. 
I, Sefton Terface, Arundel. W. S. Cleather. 
July 5 - 
Mr. W. Shelley, of Swymbridge, North Devon, sends the following notes on 
the same subject : 
“On June 23 {1893) I . . . found a nest which I took to be a meadow 
pipit’s. Although apparently not finished (lining wanting), it contained an egg 
which was undoubtedly that of a cuckoo ; and, from the exactness with which it 
matched one taken on June 5 within twenty yards of the same place, probably 
laid by the same cuckoo. 
1 removed the cuckoo’s egg and substituted one of Anthus arboreas, which 
was cf about the same size and general colouring, but on visiting the nest on 
June 25 found things as I left them, and the nest apparently deserted.” 
“June 15 (189s). Found an unfinished nest of hedge sparrow, which con- 
tained a cuckoo’s egg. Size and colour totally different from hedge sparrow’s.” 
The Goldcrest. — Some of your readers may be interested to know that a 
pair of goldcrests built their nest this year in our garden. The nest (a most 
exquisite structure) was suspended to a branch of a spruce fir, about four feet 
from the ground, on a shady part of our lawn. The eggs — about the size of a 
large pea — were five in number ; we took one, and three were hatched out of the 
remaining four, one being addled. The young ones were flown by June 5. We 
were much interested in watching the progress of events in this tiny habitation, 
and our observations entirely confirmed the remarks of naturalists as to the fear- 
lessness and confidence of the goldcrest. The little bird remained on her nest 
even when a hand was placed above it, while the steps of passers-by and the 
whirr of the lawn-mower did not seem to disturb her equanimity in the slightest. 
I shall be glad to know whether you think that Shakespeare was referring to the 
goldcrest in the well-known passage in Macbeth (Act iv.. Scene 2) — 
“ for the poor wren. 
The most diminutive of birds, will fight. 
Her young ones in her nest, against tlie owl.” 
It seems to me that the description, both as regards the size and the fearlessness 
of the bird, applies with more correctness to the goldcrest than to the common 
wren. A. L. Stevenson. 
The Pleasatince, Smeeth, Kent. 
June, 1902. 
A Remarkable Bird.— On Wednesday, May 7, 1902, an extraordinary 
bird flew over the garden in company with a rook. It must have been quite 
twice the size of this latter bird, with a light gray breast and a flight as grand 
as an eagle’s. The outer edge of the wings turned over slightly. The bill seemed 
whitish and the tail long. I was told that it had been seen here once before, 
a month or so ago. It was described as being nearly as large as an eagle. The 
starlings and house sparrows seemed greatly disturbed. 
7 he Poplars, Pucklechurch. Blanche A. Coney. 
June I, 1902. 
A Blackbird’s Hygienic Instinct.— On June i my brother and I 
were walking down a lane near our house, when a cock blackbird flew out of the 
hedge just in front of us. My brother exclaimed, “ Oh, what has that bird got in 
its mouth? It is something neatly as big as itself.” The blackbird flew a little 
way with its burden, then dropped it at the side of the lane and flew off out 
of sight. Upon our coming up to the object the bird had dropped we found it 
to be a young blackbird, almost fledged sufficiently to fly. It had evidently 
been dead a day or two. My brother thought most probably it had died in the 
nest, and the old parent bird, finding it very much in the way, had made a great 
effort and carried it out in his beak. 
'The Rectory, Llautheny Skirrid, I’arnell Jones. 
near Abergavenny. 
Crows and Sparrows (p. 98). — In answer to Mr. Cuthbert allow me to 
say that the crow tribe kill and devour birds, full-grown or otlierwise, whenever 
