. British birds. Birds. LETTERS FOUR BIRDS IN A LONG-TAILED TIT'S NEST. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs,—On May 5th I found a Long-tailed Tit's nest about five feet from tlie ground in an isolated hawthorn, and as I approached it a bird flew out. Wishing to see how many eggs there were, I began to remove some overhanging branches, and was surprised to see two more birds leave the nest, and I got my hand to the nest in time to capture a fourth as it was about to fly out. This last was an adult bird with incubation spots on the vent. I then examined the nest and found it contained ten eggs
. British birds. Birds. LETTERS FOUR BIRDS IN A LONG-TAILED TIT'S NEST. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs,—On May 5th I found a Long-tailed Tit's nest about five feet from tlie ground in an isolated hawthorn, and as I approached it a bird flew out. Wishing to see how many eggs there were, I began to remove some overhanging branches, and was surprised to see two more birds leave the nest, and I got my hand to the nest in time to capture a fourth as it was about to fly out. This last was an adult bird with incubation spots on the vent. I then examined the nest and found it contained ten eggs in an early stage of incubation. I have never heard of a similar case, and am rather at a loss as to how to account for it; perhaps some of your readers may be able to enlighten me. Hemel Hempstead, J. L. Bonhote. May 9th, 1907. THE EAR OF THE WOODCOCK. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs,—On my shooting a Woodcock last December (1906), the man, when he picked it up, said, " You have shot him right through the head"; and, on looking, there was indeed a hole, but not a shot hole—it was the orifice of the ear! And I was astonished to find it placed in front of the eye—not behind it, as is the case with practically every other vertebrate. Consulting my bird books, I found no reference in any one of them to this remarkable fact, and from conversation with many of the leading ornithologists I gather it is not generally, if at all, known. My friend, Mr. W. P. Pycraft, lias the subject now in hand, and he proposes to deal at length with it in the pages of British Birds at no distant date. Charles Whymper. May 14th, Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original London, Witherby & Co
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherl, booksubjectbirds
