The fact that the long-tailed tits occasionally associate to the number of six or seven, and have a nest in common, which is mentioned in the same page of the “Magazine of Natural History” as the Wrens’ nests, I could prove by the testimony of twenty people who saw the nest and young there spoken of.  I should be glad to learn whether the same thing has been noticed by other people.

Among the few rare birds which it has been my good fortune to procure is a Woodpecker, which I killed this summer, and which is not mentioned in your edition of Montagu, although spoken of by Bewick as a dubious species, under the name of the Middle Spotted Woodpecker.

A pair of these birds had built their nest, or rather hatched their young (for there was no nest), in a hole in a decayed ash tree about twenty feet from the ground.  There were two young ones, which I secured, as well as one of the old ones, and they are all in the possession of a professional friend of mine, who is a collector of ornithological specimens.

The old one measures 9 1/2 inches long, and weighed 46 1/2 dwts. an hour after it was killed.  The forehead is a dirty buff, the whole crown of the head a bright crimson; the irides a dark lead colour, and it has a white ring round its neck.  In other respects it corresponds with your description of the Picus major.  The sex was not ascertained.  The young ones have also the bright crimson head, and differ very materially from the old one.

The Chevy Linnet, as the lesser Redpole is called, is found here throughout the year, and is at no time a scarce bird with us.  It frequently builds its nest in the alder and willow bushes, on the banks of the brooks or rivers.  It is a late breeder, the nests being often met with containing eggs or young in July.  In the winter it feeds upon the seeds of the alder or the cones of the larch, hanging suspended from the twigs like the titmouse.

We have also the Gray Wagtail (Motacilla sulphurea) with us the whole year, but it is rather a rare bird at all times and in all localities with which I am acquainted. (1853:—­It is more plentiful now than it was in 1831.)

I very strongly suspect Selby is mistaken when he says, “that previous to its departure in September, it assembles in small flocks or families, which haunt the meadows or bare pastures.”  This does not agree with my observations of this bird, although quite true when applied to the Spring Wagtail (Motacilla flava); on the contrary, the Grey Wagtail is solitary throughout the year, except in the breeding season, and never frequents the meadows, but is found in the beds of the rivers, brooks, or ditches, where its shrill note often betrays it to eyes which would otherwise never see it.