Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/202

180 On killing the fish they swallow it whole, and subsequently disgorge the bones. It is very interesting to watch them fishing. They are fond of certain trees and rails, where they sit motionless till an unhappy fish comes in sight, when, before you can speak, you see the fish in the bill so admirably adapted for taking, holding and killing it. They are very often unsuccessful in their attempts, and I have seen them go in six or seven times and only bring out one fish. In this rough sketch I have spoken of their not making any nest, and yet alluded to their nest. This apparent contradiction will be understood by all naturalists, and needs no apology.— (The Woodlands, Burton-on-Trent).

—I have just returned from Sutherland, bringing with me a prize which has seldom gladdened the eyes of British ornithologists, viz., a nest of the Crossbill, with its full complement of five eggs. The nest was taken on Monday last, and my informant spoke very feelingly of the difficulty he had in laying hands on it even after discovering it. It was placed, he says, not in the fork formed by the branch springing from the stem of the spruce fir tree, but almost at the end or extremity of the branch itself! As the branch was too slight to bear the weight of any person going along it towards the nest, the only plan to obtain it was to bend back the branch very carefully, and so briug the nest within reach. The last Crossbill's nest I got was in March, 1874, and it had but four eggs.— (Aldie House, Tain).

—This spring, for the fourth consecutive season, a pair of Wood Pigeons have nested in trees on my lawn, within a few yards of the house. During the last winter the flocks of this species in the beech-hanger have been unusually large.— (The Wakes, Selborne).

—In May, 1868, I communicated to 'The Zoologist' a list of shells which I had noticed in West Sussex; and the perusal of your recent Catalogue of Sussex Mollusca prompts me to send you a note of the additions which I have made to my list since that date. They are the following:—

Paludina vivipara. Occurs at Wisboro' Green. I found it plentifully last summer in a small stream which supplies a portion of the Wey and Arun Canal with water (called there the " feed ditch "), and have no doubt that it occurs throughout the canal.

Helix arbustorum. Found this shell plentifully near Pulborough last August, when on an excursion of the Chichester and West Sussex Natural History Society.