NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 69
response to further inquiries Mr. Hawkins adds : —"The nests were photo-
graphed in situ, and were in the same boat as those last year. I have no
doubt that the same birds chose the boat each year, as the eggs were of the
same variety. On the marsh where the photographs were taken I am glad
to say that there is a very marked increase in the number of nests. In one
place on one of the larger "fleets" I could have covered three nests at one
time with an ordinary bath towel; in fact, where there were 17 nests last year,
I should say that there are more than 70 now. I noticed a rather curious
thing, that where eggs had been taken from a nest, a fresh pair of birds will
secure it at once." On the 27th of June Mr. Hawkins wrote :—"I was on the
same marsh last Sunday and found the young gulls hatched out in the boat.
Then I suppose they will have to stay for the present, unless the old birds
carry them, moorhen fashion."
BATRACHIA.
A "Happy Family" of Batrachians.—Having occasion to underpin
and spur a gate-post in an old garden, at a foot below the ground, I came
across a happy hibernating family which may be worth recording. I have
seen large families in various situations but never so mixed a colony—three
frogs, two toads, three snails, and six or seven common smooth newt or eft
(Molge vulgaris). The wood of the post had rotted below the surface line and
the mixture of soil with decayed wood probably afforded suitable bedding for
a long sleep. The frogs were a few inches apart from one another, as were
the toads, but the efts were curled up in close proximity, pretty much as one
may occasionally see snakes hibernating in an old manure heap. One of the
frogs was of the brightest yellow, with brown markings, more brilliant in
appearance than any specimen I have noticed. The toads and newts
showed no activity when unearthed but the frogs appeared rapidly to recover
from their torpid condition. The remarks made by the workmen were
illustrative of the common misconception as to innocent reptiles. The digger
handed out the frogs, whereupon his companion remarked, "I wouldn't do