Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/403

Rh deposited in April, or even at the end of March possibly, and generally six in number, occasionally seven. Old Joshua, the companion of my rambles, averred that he had found two nests on the top of one another, and on another occasion twelve eggs in one nest, while a nest sent from Hickling to Mr. Frank Norgate contained ten eggs, but two of them were buried in the lining, and this year one was found at Hickling with eight eggs.

Joshua had also known them to sometimes lay the first egg before the nest was finished, and then, after a layer of material, more eggs, a common habit with true Titmice (Paridæ). An egg taken by Joshua was placed in an incubator by Mr. Evans, of Edinburgh, to ascertain the duration of its incubation, a subject he has specially studied, but the experiment was not successful. John Smith, of Yarmouth, considered the period to be