ciii [Vol. X. 
A discussion ensued, in whicli the President and other 
members took part. 
The Hon. G. Lascelles gave an interesting account of 
the efforts made by the Crown for the preservation of the 
birds in the New Forest. He lamented that, in spite of 
the strenuous efforts made, the keepers were only partially 
successful, although men were specially told off to guard 
the nesting-place of some rare species. He was pleased to 
say, however, that on some occasions their efforts had been 
rewarded with success. 
Mr. Fitzherbert-Brockholes exhibited a remarkable 
nest, jointly constructed and inhabited by a Blackbird 
{Merula merula) and a Hedge-Accentor {Tharrhaleits mo- 
dularis). He gave the following account of the circum- 
stance : — 
“ The nest was found by my daughter on April 13th in an 
unfinished condition. It was looked at by her every day, 
and on the 19th was found finished and containing 1 egg — 
a Hedge-Sparrow^s. On the 20th it contained 2 Hedge- 
Sparrow^s and 1 Blackbird’s ; on the 21st the score was 
3 — 2, and on the 22nd 4 — 3. On the 23rd there was no 
addition to the 4 Hedge-Sparrow’s eggs, but the Blackbird 
had laid a fourth and was found sitting. On the 24th the 
Blackbird was again found sitting, one of the Hedge- 
Sparrow’s eggs being crushed in tbe nest and another 
cracked. The nest was then taken. The latter bears most 
self-evident proofs of the joint work of the two pairs of birds 
during the entire process of building, and is therefore 
totally different from an appropriation of the nest of one 
pair of birds by another pair, or from two hen birds of one 
species laying in the same nest, in the way that Partridges 
occasionally do. The nest was in a thick mass of rhodo- 
dendrons in ray grounds. 
"It was unfortunate that my curiosity had not been 
sufficiently aroused when my daughter first told me of her 
discovery, hut even if I had gone to look at it before the 
