i;6 
NATURE NOTES 
16. Foster-parents. — You may be interested to know that a blackbird 
laid three eggs in a swallow’s nest in a cowshed near Kineton, Warwickshire. 
From these the swallows hatched two young blackbirds which they brought up 
to maturity. Ernest Parke. 
17. Curious Nesting Places. — This year two pairs of wrens selected 
very curious nesting sites in this garden. One pair built in a butcher’s-broom 
bush, about three feet from the ground, and dose to a gate, which when open is 
only a few inches from the entrance to the nest. The hen bird was very tame, and 
I often watched her when sitting. Six or eight eggs were laid, two of which I took, 
getting them out with great difficulty. On May 25 four or five eggs were hatched, 
and the young birds flew on June 11. The second pair of wrens built on a beam 
in the stable, inhabited by two very noisy dogs. The first attempt they deserted 
after laying the foundation of dead leaves, and the nest was destroyed. On May 5 
they commenced building again, but left the nest for over six weeks before they 
laid any eggs. During this time I examined it at least a dozen times, reaching 
it by means of a pair of steps. There are now seven eggs, and the bird sits 
perfectly calmly, though people go in and out all day. When the door is shut, 
the birds go in and out through a window which is left open for them. 
Blanche A Coney. 
July, 1903. 
18. Dates of the Arrivals of Summer Migrants at Fuckle- 
church, Gloucestershire 
1902. 1903. 
Swallow 
April 6 
April 20 
Cuckoo 
17 
29 
Willow warbler 
„ 17 
„ 19 
House martin 
„ 18 
,, 28 
Chifif chaff ... 
,, 21 March 31 
Blackcap 
,, 22 
May 9 
Whitethroat 
,, 23 
9 
Swift 
,, 29 
,» 19 
Turtledove 
„ 29 
» 19 
Lesser whitethroat ... 
30 
„ 9 
Redstart 
,, 30 
» 9 
Wood warbler 
May 4 
„ 9 
Spotted flycatcher 
» 17 
,, 18 
Note . — Unfinished nest of a redstart found on 
May 9, and onl} 
the female 
seen. Blanche A. Coney. 
The Poplars , Pucklechurch. 
June 3, 1903. 
19. Pike and Water-fowl. — In answer to A. S. Godfree’s note re Pike and 
Geese, in June number of Nature Notes, last year we had a young wild duck, 
nearly full grown, killed by a pike having caught its head, the teeth mark being 
most distinct on the soft part of the lower mandible. Also, I was told by an old 
man some years ago of a swan and pike he had once seen, both dead, the pike 
having got hold of the swan’s head and been unable to get free again. 
20. 1 am assured by a gamekeeper that the following strange and fatal con- 
flict took place at Castle Howard some years ago : “ A swan put its head under 
water to reach the bottom of the pond when a gigantic pike swallowed his head, 
with the result that both pike and swan perished.” Zeno. 
The Vicarage , Barmby Moor, York. 
July, 1903. 
21. Jack killed by Hail.— Last week a friend of mine who lives at 
Groby Pool, near Leicester, told me that after one of those thunderstorms with 
abnormal hailstones which we had last summer, he counted thirty-five dead jack 
floating on the surface, many of them being badly bruised. The villagers found 
many more. W. A. S. 
July 20, 1903. 
