Notes from 
an Old Diary. 
(47) THE BIRD WORLD. 
they are destroying life, especially those 
who possess a gun. I have laughed 
many a time to see a would-be sportsman 
stalking a sitting bird in a tree, and 
seen his delight if successful. The trap 
cage was a home-made one, and I have 
caught dozens of birds in this way, using 
a Goldfinch and Bullfinch as coy birds, 
and baiting the trap with hemp seed. 
Once I caught a fine Nut-hatch, which 
I kept for over three years; it then got 
away through knocking in the cage 
bottom. The bird gave me no end of 
pleasure. It was amusing to see it hide 
its food in the crevices at the back of its 
cage; not that it ever wanted for food, 
but I suppose only from habit or nature. 
At large, I believe they do store their 
food for future use, but why, when in a 
cage and well-fed, I could not under¬ 
stand. This bird would take food from 
my fingers, and then go straight away and 
hide it. 
(To be continued.) 
nesting of the Cong-tailed Cit. 
Mr. Geo. Macleod, of Barrhead, 
writing of the Long-tailed Tit, says:— 
“ It has nested in this locality, and as it 
is by no means common, perhaps a few 
notes may be of interest. The birds 
started early in March, and on April 7th 
the nest was completed, and eggs were 
laid regularly. Since completion of 
building I have had the nest under obser¬ 
vation. It is probably the prettiest and 
most elaborately built nest of all our 
British birds, and rivals the Chaffinch 
nest in decorative art. It somewhat re¬ 
sembles the nest of the Chaffinch, but is 
larger and dome-shaped, having an 
entrance in side near top. The outside 
is composed of moss and pieces of bark 
of the silver birch, in imitation of the 
tree in which it is built. The inside is 
lined with feathers. A naturalist 
counted the feathers used in lining a 
Long-tailed Tit’s nest, and found over 
4,000. As the nest was about a month 
in building and feathers are scarce in 
the early months of the year, I can quite 
credit the statement. After the first egg 
was laid, I observed that both parents 
occupied the nest of a night; but what 
is perhaps more peculiar is the fact that 
after the young are fully fledged and able 
to provide for themselves both young 
and old occupy the nest at night. The 
eggs sometimes number over a dozen, 
and are white in colour with small red 
spots at the broad end. The bird 
measures slightly over five inches in 
length, and closely resembles the lesser 
Tit, with the exception of the tail. The 
Bearded Tit, now almost extinct, is 
very much after the style of the Long¬ 
tailed Tit in build, but is, of course, of 
an entirely different colour. I trust the 
nest I have under observation will escape 
the attentions of the thoughtless nest 
robbers, and as it is extremely difficult to 
locate, I have great hopes that it will 
escape interference. 
Buntings’ Strange nesting Place. 
A pair of common Buntings have 
started housekeeping inside an old zinc 
pail in the neighbourhood of Campsie. 
The can is quite near the keeper’s house 
at Cappistone on Lennox Castle estate. 
The nest is well built and snugly lined 
with hair. The eggs are small, with 
irregular purple lines round them. The 
parent birds enter by the hole on the top 
of the pail. It is seldom that this bird 
chooses such a place for nesting. 
Photo by] [Angus Buchanan, ]unr. 
Young Sedge Warblers. 
