egg in a Blackbird's nest (see Yarrell's 'British Birds'), I think it is of sufficiently rare occurrence to be recorded. The notice of a Cuckoo's egg in a Swallow's nest in 'The Zoologist' for June (p. 260) is very interesting, and although it is the first time the egg has been found in the nest of this species, yet as in 'The Zoologist' for 1869 (p. 1866) a description was given of a young Cuckoo falling out of a Swallow's nest, it is to be presumed that the egg must have been previously laid there. If any of your readers know of an instance of a Cuckoo's egg being found in the nest of the Twite, Goldfinch, or Lesser Redpoll, I shall esteem it a favour if he will send me the particulars.—Edward Bidwell (7, Ormond Terrace, Richmond).
[In the account referred to ('Zoologist,' 1869, p. 1866), no evidence is adduced to prove that the young Cuckoo was ever in the Swallow's nest. The statement to that effect is purely inferential. It is just as probable that the bird may have been hatched in the neighbouring nest of a Water Wagtail, and on perching on a chimney top in one of its early flights may have overbalanced itself and tumbled down.—Ed.]
Cuckoo evicting Young Hedgesparrows.—A Hedgesparrow hatched in May four young ones in a thick bush of Arbor Vitæ by my drawing-room window. One afternoon I saw a Cuckoo fly down right into the middle of the bush, and a great scuffle ensued. I ran up and found the nest empty, and all four young birds on the ground. I replaced them in the nest, and thought I had frightened away my Hedgesparrows' enemy for good. However, three days after I looked at my nest on returning from London, and found the four young birds on the ground. They were stiff, and I thought dying, but I replaced them as before. Under their mother's warm feathers three of them recovered; one died. A day or two after I found on my return from London all the birds again on the ground quite dead. They had evidently been out of their nest some hours. I have not a doubt that on each of the last two occasions the Cuckoo was the culprit, but she (if it was a she) never laid an egg, and the only just verdict I can think of is "malice prepense."—J.H. Buxton (Nuusbury, Hoddesdon).
The Collared Duck, Fuligula collaris (Donovan).—When at Liverpool, in April, 1876, I was informed by Mr. T.J. Moore that he had recently met with three ducks of the above species in St. John's Market. This is a capital market for rarities. On a former visit I found a Nyroca, or White-eyed Pochard, there among a row of Tufted Ducks. In the present case there was no doubt of the Collared Ducks having been imported from America; but the species was met with in Leadenhall Market, London, so long ago as January, 1801, by Donovan (who seems to have been the first describer of it), and why it was excluded from the British list by Yarrell I do not know. The American Wigeon, which was also obtained in Leadenhall Market, was admitted on the ground that it was found here
