Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/326

300 opening by which the birds entered; the nest was begun at the opposite end. Every morning regularly, for over three weeks, the blind was let down the first thing in the morning, and just as regularly the commencement of the nest fell to the ground; the two Sparrows watched from the top of the next house nearly the whole of each day, and the moment the blind was pulled up, down they came and began to replace the rubbish in the same place. I tried burying the nest when it fell, but the only result was that, the birds having farther to go for material, the nest was not quite so far advanced on the succeeding morning. Owing to the excessive rains during the past week the blind was not pulled down as usual for three days, and the birds went on building; the fall of the nest on the fourth day, when the sun reappeared, seems at last to have disheartened them, and they appear to have discontinued their senseless labours. Are we to look upon this case in the light of a lesson on perseverance in the midst of disappointment, or as evidence of singular absence of reflection on the part of the Sparrows? If the former, it is as instructive in its way as the story of Bruce's spider; if the latter, it shows us that Passerine intellect is by no means so much developed as some people have imagined it to be.— (10, Avington Grove, Penge).

.—A very nice adult-plumaged bird of this species was sent to Mr. Vingoe for preservation on the 4th June. It had been recently shot near the Lizard—I should think on the morning of the day of its transmission. The middle tail-feathers exceed the lateral ones by just six inches, but the primrose-yellow on the sides of the neck is (as it always has been in specimens under my notice) far paler and less diffused than is represented in illustrations, especially that in 'The Birds of Great Britain.' The colour of the legs is a marked character in this species—the tarsi are slaty blue, thighs and feet jet black, while on the inner side of the tarsus a narrow shoot of black extends upwards an inch from the feet.— (Penzance).

.—Four Canada Geese (A. canadensis) made their appearance on Butterstone Loch in this neighbourhood towards the end of April. They remained on the loch four days, during which time they were in a restless state, constantly flying backwards and forwards uttering their loud trumpeting cry. They did not strike me as being so shy or wary as the other species of Wild Geese, venturing much more boldly near the shores of some small wooded islands than their more cautious relatives would have done; they were, however, wide awake, and very easily disturbed on the slightest sign of danger.— (Cardney, Dunkeld).

.—In June last year I came across a nest of a Song Thrush, in which was a young Cuckoo nearly full-fledged. It had apparently been unable to get rid of the young