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appearance of the insect, and draws it forth from its long captivity, is uncongenial 
to the growth of the plant, which consequently fades or dies. Other agriculturists 
attribute the destruction to the larvae of a plague of flies with which several parts 
of this county have lately been visited ; but this I consider an erroneous suppo¬ 
sition. 
Francis Orpen Morris. 
ON THE NESTS OF BIRDS. 
In the last number of The Naturalist an intelligent correspondent at Camp- 
sail Hall, gives an account of a most curious instance of eccentric nest-building, 
viz., “ a Wren’s nest in that of the Chimney Swallow,” and invites the readers of 
The Naturalist to bring forward any parallel instances. I regret that he omitted 
to state in what situation the nest of the Swallow was built, as these delightful 
summer visitors will sometimes indulge a freak and choose a place of all others, to 
our ideas, the most unlikely. The handles of a pair of garden shears, the Owl 
and Conch Shell in White’s Selhorne , are convincing proofs. I now comply 
with Mr. C. T. Wood’s wishes, by stating the following facts. In the spring of 
1832, I was agreeably surprised to see a pair of Chimney Swallows busied in mak¬ 
ing their nest within a small shed in my garden, closed on three sides, but open to 
the east,, at eight feet from the ground. In this nest they had two broods. In 
1833 the nest was usurped by a pair of Wrens, and the Swallows, on their arrival, 
finding it so, made another nest on the opposite side, in which four eggs were depo¬ 
sited ; I had then the satisfaction of shewing to my friends the nests of my pets, at 
twenty inches distance only from each other. A violent gale of wind in the night, 
during the Swallow’s incubation, damaged the thatched roof of the shed, and in 
the morning I saw the nest hanging by a portion of the thatch, with the eggs re¬ 
maining in it. I had it replaced immediately as well as I could, but it would not 
do ; and from that time I lost the pleasing company of my Swallows. The other 
nest remains, and the Wrens have this year hatched their young in it, being the 
fourth of their occupation. I have hitherto taken out their old nest in autumn, to 
prevent the accumulation of insects, but have not done it at present, as I think of 
removing the shed. I shall be much gratified if my feathered favourites continue 
their domicile on my premises. 
J. Clayton. 
Fishbourne, near Chichester , 
Oct. 13th, 1836. 
