Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/411

Rh him, when, with one of these in his little bill, he fluttered from the plantation to the wall, and a puff of wind met him by the way. Having laid his burden in its place, away he merrily flew to a heap of old sticks; and like a clever little boy, who, having done a clever little thing, claps his hands and laughs at his own prowess, he flapped his wings and sung his song.

A very singular situation for a nest was once chosen by a redbreast (Sylvia rubecula) at Kelso, in the year 1835. In a letter which I then received from a friend, Mr. William Darling, jun., he thus writes: —

"There is a great curiosity here at present,—a redbreast's nest built on a piece of wood in a Wright's shop. The birds never mind the men working, but carry on their arduous task of building. There are plenty of materials near at hand, as most of the nest is composed of soft cuttings of wood." This letter is dated March 27. In this case, then, both the locality and materials of the nest, and the time of the year, are somewhat singular.

I have often heard of the parasitic disposition of the house-sparrow (Fringilla domestica), but never have I personally ascertained the fact. Avicenna, Albertus Magnus, Batgowski, and Linnaeus, tell us of a contest between a window-swallow and a house-sparrow. The latter having taken possession of the nest of the former, a determined battle ensued between the proprietor and the invader, in which the sparrow came off in the first instance victorious, from its cunningly remaining in the nest. The swallow, however, was fully revenged; for summoning its companions to assist, they brought a quantity of nest-mortar, and entombed the sparrow' alive. Dr. Paxton, in his Poems, relates a similar occurrence which took place while he was present; and Mr. Weir, in Professor Macgillivray's 'British Birds,' tells us of a third. I am happy to add a fourth testimony. An eye-witness, Mr. John Neil, jun., informs me that at Selkirk, I think in the year 1837, he and twenty other individuals saw two martins entomb in their nest a sparrow which had taken possession of it. Afterwards they took down the nest to let out the prisoner, but the felon was dead.

A pair of tomtits (Parus cæruleus) have tried for many years to fix their nest in the shaft of a pump-well in this neighbourhood.

A few years ago Mr. Archibald Walker, Colinton, discovered in C alder wood, the solitary nest of a bird which generally nestles in colonies. While wandering in a certain part of the wood, known by the name of the "Dark walk," he saw situated on a lofty and almost inaccessible branch of a tree, a nest resembling that of the carrion crow, or of the owl. On making his way up to it, to his surprise he