which the Chiffchaff's nest is usually composed, and contained six eggs. Professor Newton mentions, in his edition of Yarrell, two instances in which this bird has been known to build in other situations than on the ground, and also refers to an instance of the Willow Wren having built at some distance from the ground. Probably these two species may nest off the ground more frequently than has been observed, or perhaps they may have done so, hoping to be more secure, after having had their nests on the ground destroyed or robbed.— J.E. Palmer (Lucan, Co. Dublin).
How to Form a Rookery.—Our gardener once told me that he had on different occasions induced Rooks to build near a house in trees where previously there had been no nests, by fixing, in the fork of a branch near the top of the tree, round platforms of strong twigs. These were made out of old besoms or brooms, and served as foundations for the nests.— Walter Stamper (Oswaldkirk, York).
Nesting Habits of the Water Ouzel.—In reference to the breeding of the Water Ouzel (p. 213), the 9th of April is by no means an early date on which to take the full complement of eggs. Here they build and many lay before the end of March, and it is no unusual thing to find eggs by the middle of that month. On the 4th April last, a friend and I found some six or seven nests. One had no eggs in it, two others had full complements of freshly-laid eggs; another had eggs hard set; and two more had young birds.—J.A. Harvie-Brown (Dunipace House, Larbert, N. B.)
Early. Nesting of the Kingfisher.— With regard to the date of laying by the Kingfisher (p. 214), I have taken fresh eggs from a nest here on the 25th April. The tunnel was remarkably dirty, and the fish-bones in it were rotten and crawling with maggots.—Id.
Turtle-Doves building near a Dwelling-house.—As usual, a pair of Turtles (Columba turtur) are breeding in my grounds. They were first heard on or about the 1st of June, and are nesting in a Wych Elm not very far from the house.—Thomas Bell (The Wakes, Selborne).
Occurrence of the Grey Phalarope in Cornwall in May. This Phalarope, Phalaropus platyrhynchus, was shot near Par a short time since with its summer plumage almost assumed, the under parts being—with the exception of a small admixture of white on a portion of the breast— of a brownish red from the chin to the vent. I do not know of a single instance of this species remaining in the southern latitudes in the breeding season certainly there is no recorded instance of its occurrence in Cornwall during that season. It appears pretty regularly in the autumn and sometimes late on in the winter on our coasts in uncertain numbers. Singularly enough the specimen now under notice has only one leg; the other is entirely gone, and nothing remains to show that the limb ever existed. Whether this has
