Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/554

520 and the high road to Kensington. I never saw them except in the early morning, and where they spent the remainder of the day I do not know. On March 28th I noticed that a pair of Rooks had completed a nest in a plane-tree in the Park close to the lodge at Prince of Wales's Gate. In the same tree there were some remains of an old nest, which had, I think, been occupied by a solitary pair some years ago. On April 6th a second nest was begun close to the first, but so far I never saw more than a pair of Rooks. Early in the morning of April 13th I saw five Rooks busy about the nests, but the second nest was not completed. I was away from London till April 26th; when, on my return, I hastened to see how the rookery was progressing, and found the original nest near the lodge was quite demolished, but the second one was still remaining. Across the Kensington Road, in the yard or garden of Kingston House, a large and flourishing settlement had sprung into existence. There were seven nests in a large elm-tree, and two in a plane-tree just beyond it. In Hyde Park there was a new nest in an elm-tree opposite 18, Prince's Gate. The second nest near the lodge was completed, and altogether there were ten nests, all occupied, as far as one could discover from below. The birds were all about the nests, and a most melodious chorus rejoiced my ears. So far as I can discover, there is no record of a rookery at Kingston House in former years. In May I visited Connaught Square, and counted twelve nests in the plane-trees there. The rookery in Connaught Square was deserted in the season of 1899.— (2, Temple Gardens, London).

Number of Eggs in the Nest of Swift.—With reference to the note on the number of Swift's eggs in last month's 'Zoologist' (ante, p. 479), I can fully confirm Mr. Steele-Elliott's statement as to there being at times, and by no means infrequently, three eggs in a nest of Cypselus apus. I had some correspondence with Mr. Howard Saunders on the subject, and my notes appeared in my yearly natural history notes in 'The Zoologist' for 1898. I have found three eggs in a Swift's nest that was isolated, some miles from any other, so that there was no chance of two hens laying in the same nest. "Other places, other manners," you know.— (Thornton Dale, Pickering).

Cuckoo's Egg in Song-Thrush's Nest.—On July 1st of this year I met a friend at Richmond who told me that a Song-Thrush had nested in a bush just beside his garden-door, and laid four or five eggs, but that it had deserted, and a Sparrow or some such bird had laid in the nest. I walked home with him, and examined the nest. It was an ordinary Song-Thrush's nest, built in a laurustinus-bush in the garden, a few feet away from the side-door, and contained three eggs of the Thrush and one egg of a Cuckoo. The nest and eggs were very wet and deserted. My friend told me it had