Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/456

422 the woods outside showed that food was plentiful enough there, but in the tunnels there were not even fungi on which the Mice could feed, and the drippings from the candles of casual trippers did not seem sufficient to account for their presence. Besides two moths, Gonoptera libatrix and Scotosia dubitata, which are fairly abundant, a gnat (Culex), two flies (Blepharoptera serrata and Borborus niger), and possibly other insects, hybernate in countless numbers on the roofs and walls of the tunnels. That the Mice frequent the place in order to feed upon the insects was clear from an examination of the stomachs of several which I trapped. Wings and empty skins of the gnat and flies, as well as legs of the moths, were easily identified in their half-digested contents. In some cases vegetable matter was present in addition, and, as the footprints were present from end to end of the tunnels, it appears that the Mice obtain part of their food in the woods; whilst the burrows in the tunnels themselves seem to indicate that they actually live in their recesses for the time being, and do not merely visit them to prey upon the insects they find there. Even in June there are flies in thousands on the walls of the tunnels, but during the summer months I have failed to trap any Mice, nor are there then any fresh tracks to be seen in the sand.— (Alderley Edge).

Mistle-Thrush laying twice in the same Nest.—Last season I obtained a clutch of four eggs belonging to Turdus viscivorus from a nest near Bath. On visiting it again a short time afterwards—I think at about a week's interval—I found the bird had laid in the same nest a second time, laying two or three eggs. I was unaware that the Mistle-Thrush would return to its robbed nest, and should be interested to hear if others have met with similar instances. It is quite possible another pair of Mistle-Thrushes may have appropriated the vacant nest.— (Marlock, Somerset).

The Bearded Titmouse: a Correction.—In the article on the Bearded Titmouse (Panurus biarmicus), ante, p. 359, Mr. Gurney says "John Ray published the first notice and description of this family of birds in 1674 (a scarce book.)" May I point out that in a much earlier work (now before me in my library), by Conrad Gesner "De Avibus," 1575, there are illustrations given of all the known Tits, with full descriptions. Seven are portrayed. The woodcuts are very quaint, and the volume is in folio, and in Latin. I expect Ray knew this book well, for he wrote and published his work just one hundred years later than Gesner.— (The Dene, Rottingdean, near Brighton).

The Bearded Tit and other Birds in Norfolk.— I have just read Mr.