274 
CHAPTER OF xMISCELLANIES. 
distance of a yard or two above my head*—-E dwin Lankester, Campsoll^ near 
Doncaster^ July 19, 1837. 
The Nest op the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida^ Linn.).—A friend of 
mine while fishing on a small Trout-stream, near Louth, called the Crake, in the 
early part of June,' observed a Kingfisher, with a fish in its mouth, flying 
several times near his hat with a whirring noise. He watched it until it entered 
a hole in the bank, the entrance to which was strewed with fish bones. On 
digging into the hole (which commenced low down in the bank, and ran upwards 
in a slanting direction for about two feet), he found the nest, containing seven 
young birds just hatched. The bottom of the nest was excessively thick, and 
mixed up with small bones of the Stickleback. Its structure, excepting the 
mixture of fish-bones, was not very unlike that of a Thrush. It crumbled to 
pieces on being touched, and I could procure no portion worth preserving. Near 
the nest was another hole, which had all the appearance of having been the 
Kingfishers last years residence, the bones at the entrance being dry and 
crambly; but in this the parent bird again commenced laying, and on opening 
the nest six eggs were found on the fragments of the structure. They were 
white, and beautifully transparent, shewing the yolk through, which gave them 
a pinkish hue at the larger end. I have now in my collection one of the eggs, 
which, though so transparent, I was surprised to find thicker and stronger than 
the generality of eggs, and rounder in its form, the circumference being two inches 
and a half, the length eight-tenths of an inch.^—R, P* Alington, Swmhope 
House, Lincolnshire, July 15, 1837. 
The Name ‘‘ Garden Thrush” as applied to Turdus mtisicus, Auct. —In 
The Analyst, No. xviii., I find the name Garden Thrush” proposed to be 
substituted for Song Thrush. I should have given the name Garden Thrush to 
the Missel Thrush. At least its habits here would warrant such an appellation. 
I knew of five nests in gardens last year, and have already found one in a similar 
situation this year, snowy as it is.— Thomas Allis, York, 3 Mo, 24, 1837. 
The Nest of the Yellow Bunting Seven Feet from the Ground.- —On 
the 29th of May, 1834, I found the nest of a Yellow Bunting at the extraordi¬ 
nary elevation of seven feet from the ground. It was placed amongst the 
branches of a Broom (Cytisus scopariusJ, which was quite naked at the bottom, 
but which had a thick close head; in this the nest was situated.—J. D. Salmon, 
Thetford, Norfolk, June 14, 1837. 
The Nest of a Blue Tit found inclosed in the Trunk of an Oak. —In 
the course of the present week, two men engaged in sawing into planks an Oak 
tree at Mr. Hunt’s timber yard, near the canal basin, found in a hole in the 
centre the nest of a Blue Tit, containing several eggs. The nest must have been 
in this situation, it is supposed, for the last century, and when taken out was 
