Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/362

334 lately heard the cry of a young one from the top of a lamp-post, and several others, just able to fly, were around the spot. An old Tit occupies about a minute in descending and re-ascending a lamp-post, and probably it proceeds by rapidly hopping from side to side; there is not enough room for the spreading of its wings.— (Eltham, Kent).

Red-backed Shrike near Rainworth.—I saw one of these birds in a garden near the village here, and sent my son up to look for the nest, which he soon found. In it there were five eggs. This is the first time this bird's nest has been found in these parts, but not first in the south part of the county, though it is far from common there.— (Rainworth, Notts.)

A probable Second Brood of Starlings.—In Yarrell's 'British Birds,' 4th edition, vol. ii. p. 234, it is stated respecting the Starling that "occasionally the same hole may be tenanted twice in the season; but such an occurrence seems to be very rare in this country." A pair of these birds had a nest this spring under the eaves of a house close to this. The young appeared in the gardens about three weeks ago, but for fully the last ten days they have ceased to be fed by the parents. These latter are now (June 13th) busily engaged in carrying nest materials to the spot where the old nest was situated. A quantity of bean-sticks in my garden, which were put in the ground scarcely a week ago, have already been nearly decorticated by the birds. I look forward with interest to the advent of the second brood.— (23, Clarendon Road, Lewisham).

[As we go to press, Mr. McLachlan informs us that the young of the second brood have appeared and are out of the nest.—]

Unusual Position for the Eggs of the Starling, Song Thrush, and Sparrow.—While staying in Gloucestershire last April, I was surprised at finding the eggs of several birds, namely, the Starling, Song Thrush, and Sparrow, laid on the ground. I was walking in a field one day, when I found a Starling's egg on the grass. About twenty yards from the spot was a tree in which I knew some Starlings had a nest. I turned round and began to walk to the tree, in order to pace the distance, when I found another egg, also a Starling's, about five feet from the first. They were both uninjured, and, on blowing, proved to be fresh. About three weeks afterwards I climbed the tree, and found the nest in a hole. It contained two young ones. The fact of there only being two seems to prove that the eggs on the ground were laid by the owner of the nest. About an hour after finding the Starling's eggs I startled a Thrush from under a hedge in the same field, and on looking found a Thrush's egg on the ground. In the hedge just above the egg was an empty Thrush's nest. A week after