20 
THE NATURALISTS’ JOURNAL. 
they are often called, arrived on April 24th, and almost immed¬ 
iately commenced their nests. 
The cuckoo seems unusually common in the neighbourhood 
this year. On the afternoon of May 13th I noted a rather 
peculiar occurrence. A cuckoo by some means had offended a 
sparrow which very courageously attacked him as he was flying 
and not till the sparrow had been repulsed five times, the last 
very severely, did he desist from the attack. 
Before I close I should like to mention a singular nest in my 
possession found last year at Lakenheath. A wren had built 
its nest in a thorn hedge when a lazy linnet thought some 
trouble might be spared by using the dome of the wren’s nest 
for the foundation of its own, which he did forthwith, and both 
were sitting on their eggs at the same time. The wren’s 
feelings may be imagined but not described. 
, The Wanderer. 
Oological Notes from Ludlow. 
On March 25th I found a long-tailed titmouse’s nest with five 
eggs; it was placed in a blackthorn bush in a hedge and about 
four feet from the ground. Is not it unusually early for this 
bird and is not the situation rather low ? as W. Gorden in “Our 
Country’s Birds,” says that it is generally built about ten feet 
from the ground in tall hedges or trees. I have also taken two 
water-ouzels’ nests, the first on March 28th with five eggs and 
the other on March 31st, with two. I took my first nest this 
season on March 9th, a blackbird’s with three eggs, quickly 
followed by thrushes’ and hedgesparrows'. Yesterday (April 
13th) we went to a magpie’s nest in a very large oak tree and 
threw several stones at it, two of which hit the nest itself, to 
see if the bird was sitting, but as it did not fly off we concluded 
that they were both away. When my friend climbed to the 
nest, however, we were both greatly ' surprised to see the hen 
bird fly out. Theie were six eggs in the nest, all alike but one, 
which had the small end thickly blotched. I should like to 
know why the bird remained on after its nest was hit hard twice ? 
Was it so occupied in incubation as not to notice it or did it 
feel secure in its nest, built as it was on the top of an old oak 
tree. 
Ludlow. E. H. Blackmore. 
[The date on which the long-tailed tit's nest was found is not 
exceptional ; I have known instances as early, although April is 
the usual time. The height of this nest is not out of the 
common ; I have seen five nests this season in Ashtead Woods, 
none of which were more than five feet from the ground, while 
one was less than four feet. On the other hand nests which I 
have found in Highgate Woods, where thej^ would be frequently 
molested, have been placed at some height in small lichen- 
covered oak trees. It would be hard to say what caused the 
