this a friend found another Thrush's egg on the ground in a field, and I myself found a new-laid Sparrow's egg in the middle of a tennis-court. It seems to me that the most probable reason for eggs being laid on the ground is either that the bird has been disturbed while in the act of laying, and has been obliged to lay the egg before it was able to get back to the nest, or that the bird has deserted its nest when it has only laid, say, two eggs, and has been obliged to lay the remaining three (in the case of its laying five) somewhere outside the nest. Are not these cases rather unusual?—Bernard Rivière (Flaxley, 82, Finchley Road, N.W.).
The Song of the Greenfinch.—I have stated, in 'The Evolution of Bird Song' (p. 126), that the "tewy" alarm (a slurred whistle) is never uttered in the song of the Greenfinch. I regret to say that this statement was inserted in the correction of the proof, and was made from memory, without reference to my notes. I find that the cry in question, the true danger-cry of the Greenfinch, is sometimes included in the song. Also, it is not always slurred upwards, but sometimes remains at the same pitch, when it much resembles a note given by the common Canary in the presence of a stranger. The Greenfinch employs the note in the presence of a Hawk, Cuckoo, Cat, Dog, or Weasel. One day last spring I heard a kind of rhythmical repetition of this note, it being alternately slurred upward and downward by some Greenfinch, so that the song seemed to run: "tewy tewoo, tewy tewoo, tewy tewoo," and so on. After listening to this for a minute I thought I had discovered a new strain in the Greenfinch, namely, one composed entirely of the danger-cry. On investigation I found a female Greenfinch, evidently disturbed, on the lower branch of an oak in the thicket. She was watching something below her; and soon a Cuckoo flew up, and, seeing me, went off. The notes of the Greenfinch immediately ceased, and were not renewed. On other occasions the single cry has been given when a Cuckoo was near.—Charles A. Witchell (Eltham, Kent).
Change of Plumage in the American Nonpareil Finch.—In answer to Mr. Graham Renshaw, my experience of examples of this species, which I have kept at various times, is that (when kept either in cage or aviary) abundance of insect-food retards the loss of colour, but does not prevent it. If but little insect-food is given, the crimson of the under parts disappears in patches, each moult leaving the bird with more yellow and less red in its plumage, until, by about the third or fourth moult, the red has wholly disappeared. If, after the under parts have become wholly yellow, the bird is removed to a sunny and well-ventilated aviary, and plenty of cockroaches are daily supplied in a "demon beetle-trap," so that the bird can freely help itself to as many as it requires, the plumage
