192
NOTES.
Propolis versicolor, Fr. On decorticated wood. Epping
Forest.
Phacidium ilicis, Lib. On holly leaves. Epping Forest.
P. dentatum, Schm. On dead oak leaves. Epping Forest.
P. coronatum, Fr. On dead leaves. Epping Forest.
Trochila craterium, Fr. On dead ivy leaves. Epping Forest.
Stegia ilicis, Fr. On dead holly leaves. Epping Forest.
A Swallow Bowled Out at Cricket.—During the cricket match played
on the Felstead School ground, on Wednesday August 15th, between Charlton
Park and Felstead Long Vacation Club, Mr. A. H. Pease, the slow underhand
bowler of the Charlton team was tried, when he hit a swallow with the ball,
killing it in the centre of the wicket. The ball was hit afterwards by the bats-
man and two runs scored. The bird has been preserved and is in the possession
of the Charlton Park Club.
Nests of the Kingfisher, and Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis, L.)—
Calling at Mr. Swaysland's establishment at Brighton the other day, he showed
me two nests—a Kingfisher's and a Meadow Pipit's. The former he had cut out
of the clay on the river bank at Henfield, and the soil being tenacious, the exact
shape of the nest and tunnel thereto had been preserved, but the curious thing
was that underneath the young Kingfishers which it contained were four fish,
averaging from three to four inches in length. It is rather remarkable that the
young birds did not mind their presence, for they were much too large for them
to eat, but apparently Kingfishers are partial to an odour of decaying fish. The
Meadow Pipit's nest was merely remarkable for being in an old tin kettle which
had been thrown away on the Racehill, where it was found by a pair of Titlarks,
who must have been very hard up to build in such a strange place.—J. H.
Gurney, Junr., F.Z.S., Keswick Hall, Norwich, September, 1888.
Black Redstart Nesting in Essex.—Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, of the
Natural History Museum, South Kensington, writes as follows to the "Zoologist"
for October (vol. xii., 3rd ser., p. 390) :—"The Natural History Museum has
recently received an interesting acquisition in the shape of an undoubted nest,
with two eggs, of the Black Redstart, Ruticilla tithys, taken in Essex. This is
the first authentic instance, I believe, which has been recorded of this bird breed-
ing in England. The nest referred to was presented by the Hon. Mrs. Ronald
Campbell, who found it at Danbury Palace, Chelmsford, the seat of her father,
the Bishop of St. Albans. She describes the circumstance of this interesting dis-
covery as follows :—' The nest was in a hole in an ivy-covered oak tree, which is
more like a wall than a tree, and stands a few yards from a dairy, in a dark
sheltered corner. It was about four or five feet from the ground, and there were
four eggs in it. The nest was found by some village boys who come to the dairy
for milk, and their constant passing close to the nest must have caused the bird to
forsake it. They showed it to my boys, and we watched it carefully, and saw the
bird fly off twice—a dark-coloured bird with a red tail. This first made me think
it was a redstart, as they abound about here; but I could not understand the white
eggs. They were a delicate pinkish white before being blown, like pink pearls.
The nest was built early in May. . . I am sorry one of the eggs was accidentally
cracked. The other two were the same size as the cracked one. One of them
was broken in the nest when we first saw it, and the other was given by my boys
to a friend who had a good collection.' The egg which is not cracked is consider-
ably smaller than the injured one, which, as stated above, was the same size as the
two others. I hope to have the pleasure of exhibiting this most interesting nest
and eggs at the next meeting of the Zoological Society."