'f0'^' & <'/^'.-- C^Mf -. '- ''/^'^ri. '^^m. w^ ^^^. .Kj^S^*i^illing away the dry reed leaves by which they were completely hidden. " One soon learns, however, to know a likely looking spot at the base of a cluster of reeds, and then the ground must be carefully cleared with the hand, when possibly a little brown cup of a nest may be discovered right down in the swampy ground. Although the substructure of the nest will be found to be wet, the cup itself is always dry and snug." Besides the nests which we found on the ground we also found three built in a mass of old dry reeds, about eighteen inches above the water. The ordinary full clutch of eggs is five, and fresh eggs may be found from the 15th of May to the first week in June. (To be continued.) OTES *^* A series o£ Articles commencing next month will deal Avitli tlie records concerning British birds, published from 1899 to May 31st, 1907, consequently extracts from periodical literature will not begin under this heading until next month. THE FAE SOUTHERN WINTER QUARTERS OF THE ARCTIC TERN. In working out the birds obtained by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, I found, to my great surprise, that all the Terns captured in widely scattered portions of the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Ocean, belonged to the most northern representative of their genus, namely, to Sterna macrura, the Arctic Tern ! Specimens were obtained between 64° 29' and 72° 18' S. latitude and from 12° 49' to 35° 29' W. longitude. They were often observed in considerable numbers, and are logged for March 5th, 1904, as being seen in thousands in 72° 31' S. ; while from the 9th to the 13th of the same month, when off Coats Lands, in 74° 1' S., 22° 0' W., many were seen. Thus this bird so familiar to British Ornith- ologists would seem to have the most extensive latitudinal range to be found among vertebrate animals, since it is now known to occur from 82° N. to 74° 1' S. It is at present the only Tern known to occur south of the Antarctic Circle. The occurrence of this boreal species in the far-off ice fields of the South Polar Ocean during the northern winter season, is one of the most interesting zoological discoveries made by the many recent Antarctic expeditions. That it is only a winter visitor does not admit of doubt for the bird certainly does not breed there ; nor is any other Tern, so far as we know, a native of the Antarctic Con- tinent. These very remarkable southern incursions are, no doubt, to be explained by the extraordinary abundance of food, especially of crustaceans swimming at or near the surface, to be fomid in the icy waters of the far south in the smnmer (our northern winter). This allm-es the Terns, and other birds, further and further towards the pole, until the great ice-barrier, which almost girdles the Ant- arctic Continent, arrests their further progress, since at its base the food supply entirely ceases. William Eagle Clarke. ( 29 ) BIEDS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. On the afternoon of February 8tli, 1906, about 2 p.m., the east of Norfolk was visited by a violent storm of snow and hail, and what was very unusual, it was accompanied for at least twenty minutes by incessant flashes of lig'htning'. The storm came from the north-west, and the wind was registered as Force 4. This unusual atmospheric combination caused a stampede among the horde of Pink-footed Geese, estimated at nearly four thousand, which usually make the preserved salt-marshes of Holkham and Wells their head-quarters. These birds, probably terrified by the noise of the thunder and half -blinded by the snow, flew about in all directions, exposing- themselves to the electric fluid, with fatal results in several cases. I am informed that fifteen Pink-footed Geese and four White-fronted Geese were picked up by different people in the parishes of Bayfield, Holt, Kelling and Weybourne, which are four adjacent parishes at from ten to fourteen miles from Holkham. Seven of the Geese were lying more or less in a line extending- over three fields, and these had possibly all succumbed to the same flash. None of them showed much sign of injury ; some had holes in their backs, one had a groove on the neck, another had been struck on the wings, and one or two are said to have exhibited no mark at all. During- the same thunderstorm a Greater Black-backed Gull was struck at Corton in Suffolk, and was, I believe, seen by a woman to fall. Of the iiost-mortem appearance of this bird Mr, T. Southwell gives the following account in the "Norwich Naturalists' Transactions," VIII., p. 326 :— " Externally there was a track quite denuded of feathers about three-quarters of an inch wide, extending- from the right carpal joint along the anterior margin of the wing, obliquely across the breast, and terminating on the left side of the abdomen ; the skin was not broken, and there was no discoloration. On removing the skin there was no apparent trace of the passage of the electric current, and the abdominal wall was not perforated." J. H. Gurnet. REVIEW5 Ueport on the Immigrations of Summer Residents in the Spring of 1906, bv the Committee appointed by the British Ornitho- logists' Club. (Forming Vol. XX., Bull. B.O.C. Edited by W. E. Ogilvie-Grant.) 34 Maps. Witherby & Co. 6s. In December, 1904, the British Ornithologists' Club appointed a Committee to enquire into the movements of the common migrants in so far as concerned England and Wales. In 1906 this Committee issued its first Report, in which the movements of twenty-nine strictly migratory species were traced from the time of their arrival on our shores in the Spring of 1905 until they settled down to breed. The present is the second Report of this Committee, and it deals with the movements of the same species, and five additional ones in the Spring of 1906. No comparison is made between the results obtained in 1906 and 1905, and, although the Committee are, no doubt, perfectly right in refusing to generalize on so comparatively slender a basis as the records obtained in two years only, nevertheless a comparative statement of the facts recorded in the two years would have been a very great gain, and need not have involved any expression of opinion. For instance, the areas of arrival of most of the species seem to have been the same in both years. Thus we now have evidence that the Glarden Warbler, Wood VV^arbler and Landrail have arrived solely on the western half of the south coast, and the Whinchat, Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Wryneck and Turtle Dove solely on the eastern half and south-eastern coi'ner, while most of the other species arrive along the whole south coast. The summary of the arrival areas (page 12) is somewhat carelessly made up ; the Landrail, for instance, is stated on page 165 to have arrived entirely on the westei-n half of the south coast, but is placed in the summary as arriving along the whole south coast. Points of arrival are often very difficult to ascertain, and birds may very easily be missed by observers on the coast. This fact does not seem to have been taken into account sufficiently in the present report for, although it is recognised that Swifts and House-Martins which appeared in South Wales had probably passed over Devon without being seen, yet it is argued, on apparently very slender evidence, that House-Martins appearing in Sussex and Kent had made their way thither from Dorset and Hampshire. Another point to which attention should be directed, as it may indicate inaccurate observation, is that apparent movements REVIEWS. 31 of the Sand-Martin and otlier species were recorded even as late as the first week in June. One of the chief aims of the investigation shoukl be, we think, to trace where the birds of each immigration settle down to nest, and whether all the individuals of one species nesting in a particular district arrive in the same immigration. Evidence on these points is somewhat vague. Points of general interest which are confirmed in this second Eeport are that the west of England was in many cases populated before the east ; that there is a well-defined . route passing due north through Devon and Wales ; and that the large race of the Wheatear arrives not earlier than April 9th. We have drawn attention to the points above mentioned by way of suggestion rather than criticism, and we fvilly believe the Committee will work out, in the course of a few years, this intricate and difficult problem in a thoroughly satisfactory way. The results of their labours become more and more valuable year by year as additional or confirmatory information is collected, and everyone at all interested in the migration of birds should study these Reports and keep them for future reference. The proceeds from the sales of the Reports are devoted to the furtherance of the enquiry. LIST OF BOOKS Published since Jmiuary 1st, 1907. Animal Artlsan>t and other Studies of Birds and Beasts, by C. J. Cornish. Illustrated. (Longmans.) 6s. 6d. net. Birds I have knoioi, by A. H. Beavan. (Unwin.) 2s. Birds of the Countryside : A Handbook of Familiar British Birds, by F. Finn. (Hutchinson.) 5s. net. 0)ie Hundred Plioloijraohs of Bird Life, by R. B. Lodge. (Bousfield.) Is. A Read)/ Aid to Distiiujuish the Commoner Wild Birds of Great Britain, by D. T. Price. (Gurney & Jackson.) Is. net. The Game Laios of Ireland, by E. C. Farren. (Ponsonby.) 6s. 6d. net. The British Warblers : A History n^iih Problems of their Lives, by H. EHot Howard. Part I. Illustrated. (Porter.) 21s. per part. The Birds of the British Isles, by Charles Stonham. Parts III. and IV. Illustrated. (Grant Richards.) The Eggs of European Birds, by Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain. Parts I. and II. (Porter.) Ootheca WoUegana, by Prof. A. Newton. Part IV. (Porter.) 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. Py craft, 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, 1907. ^Lcu^ )z^w2-^ (^S<>rru Sf^ne^ //. /^^ff-^Lae/. ,^Lne,7.-^ff07. British Birds Vol,I.PL2. BRIimDIRDS EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S , M.B.O.U. Contents of Ntjmbeb 2. July 1, 1907. Memoir of Alfred Newton, bj' R. Bowdler Sharpe, ll.d., etc. ... Page 33 A Study of tlie Home Life of the Ospre}', by P. H. Bahr, b.a., M.B.O.U. (Part II.) — continued, from page 22 ... ... 40 Tlie British Willow Tit {Partis atricapiUus Meinschmldti Hellm.), by the Hon. Walter Eothsehild, PH.D. ... ... 44 Nesting Habits observed abroad of some Bare British Birds, by F. C. Selous (Part II.)— cow/twwprf/row^^a^e 27 ... ..". 48 On the More Important Additions to our Knowledge of British Birds since 1899, by H. F. Witherby and N. F. Ticehurst 52 Notes: — Sociable Plover in Kent (C. B. Ticehurst). Supposed Serin Finches in Sussex (EI. Langton). Migrating Birds Returning to the Same Place (V. Wilson). Tlie Spring Moult of the Arctic Tern (W. E. Clarke\ Golden Oriole in Sussex (H. Langton) ... ... ... ... ... 57 Review: — Bird-Life of the Borders ... ... ... ... 60 List of Books 60 Lettei's : — The Ear of the Woodcock (W. B. Nichols and P. C Mitchell). Four Birds in a Long-Tailed Tit's Nest (.A. A. van Pelt Lechner). Birds Struck liy Lightning (F. C. R. Jourdain). " Incubation Spots " (M. C. H. Bird). Baer's Pochard as a British Bird (The Hon. W. Rothschild) ... 61 ALFRED NEWTON. The deatJi of Professor Newton, which took place at Camhridg'e on the 7th of Jvine last, creates a void in the ranks of British Ornithologists which it will be impossible to fill. He was one of the small band of enthusiasts who founded the British Ornithologists' Union, the establish- ment of which has had such a sterling influence on the study of Natural History in the British Islands. Respected and loved by his contemporaries who joined him in this great achievement, revered and consulted by the younger generation, he held a unique position among zoologists in 34 BRITISH BIRDS. this country, and there is no one who can exactly take his place. The foundation of the British Ornithologists' Union was one of the most important events in the history of ornithology, and with the publication of its quarterly journal, the "Ibis," in 1859, commenced that long series of memoirs which have added so much to our knowledge of the Class Aves. It must be remembered that the promoters of the " Ibis " were few in number, for the list of original members contained only twenty names, but among them were those of T. C. Eyton, F. DuCane Godman and his brother Percy Godman, John Henry Gurney, Alfred Newton and Edward Newton, Lord Lilford (then the Hon. Thomas Lyttleton Powys), Osbert Salvin, Philip Lutley Sclater, Wilfred Hudleston Simpson (now W. H. Hudleston), Edward Cavendish Taylor, Canon Tristram, and John Wolley. It is well to recall the circumstances of the founding of the Union, as the writer has unwittingly been the means of publishing an inaccurate account of its foundation in his Presidential Address to the Fourth International Ornithological Congress in 1905. The information was given to him in all good faith by an original member of the Union, whose memory was evidently not quite accurate, and it was not the case that the inception of the Union and the idea of publishing a journal specially devoted to ornithology was conceived at a gathering of bird-lovers in Canon Tristram's study at Castle Eden, as stated by me. Only a few weeks ago Professor Newton challenged the correctness of my statement, and in the April number of the "Ibis " there is (p. 372) a refutation of it, which refers to the preface of the first volume of the " Ibis " for the true story of the foundation of the British Ornithologists' Union. I can only say that the account published by me was told to me on several occasions by my old friend, and I am quite certain that he considered that the idea of founding the Union was discussed originally at Canon ALFRED NEWTON. 35 Tristram's Rectory, at Castle Eden. I have, however, been further assured by Dr. F. D. Godman and Dr. P. L. Sclater, the two surviving- original members, that the idea of the " Union " was started in Cambridge, and that Professor Newton was one of the prime movers in its foundation. It had been the custom, so says the " Preface " to Vol. I. of the " Ibis," for a few gentlemen attached to the study of ornithology, most of them more or less intimately connected with the University of Cambridge, to meet together, once a year, or oftener, to exhibit to one another the various objects of interest which had occurred to them, and to talk over both former and future plans of adding to their knowledge of this branch of natural history. In 1857 the gathering of ornithologists had been greater than before ; and it was proposed to publish a magazine devoted solely to ornithology, and in the following year the question was again to be considered. In November, 1858, when another meeting took place at Cambridge, the publication of a quarterly journal was agreed upon, and the British Orni- thologists' Union was founded, the number of members being limited to twenty. Dr. P. L. Sclater, who was then Secretary to the Zoological Society of London, was appointed the first editor. And what a revelation that first part of the " Ibis " was ! Dr. Sclater and Mr. Osbert Salvin began a series of articles on the ornithology of Central America ; Canon Tristram followed with an account of the birds observed by him in Southern Palestine in March and Aj^ril, 1858, the precursor of further memoirs in future numbers of the "Ibis"; Mr. Edward Cavendish Taylor gave his orni- thological reminiscences of Egypt in the winter of 1853 — 1854, a subject which he followed up on subsequent visits to that country. To the first number Mr. T. C. Eyton contributed an article on the methods of preparing natural skeletons of birds, and Canon Tristram described nine new species from the Algerian and Tunisian Sahara. Professor Newton and his brother Edward commenced 36 BRITISH BIRDS. their memoir on the birds of the island of St. Croix, in the West Indies, illustrated by a marvellous plate of the little Bare-legged Owl {Gymnoglaux 7iudipes) by Joseph Wolf. Then followed John WoUey's memorable account of the breeding of the Smew in Lapland, and a plate of hitherto unfigured European birds' eggs, including those of the Great Spotted Cuckoo, Andalusian Hemi- pode, and Cream-coloured Courser, was contributed by Mr. W. C. Hewitson. Then followed the ever memorable review of Bree's " Birds of Europe," which, though unsigned, has always been attributed to Professor Newton, probably because no one else could possibly have written it. All the reviews and notices in the first part of the " Ibis " were very interesting, and included original letters from Dr. A. E,. Wallace, then engaged on his exj)lorations in the Malay Archipelago. Part II. of the " Ibis " contains a sketch of the trachea of the male and female Harlequin Duck, drawn by Professor Newton himself to illustrate his article on the subject. Another article in Part lY. of the same volume contains a review of Baedeker's and Brewer's w^orks on eggs, and is evidently attributable to his pen. Professor Newton took a keen interest in the success of the " Ibis," of which he edited the second series (1865-1870), bemg succeeded by Mr. Salvin. The reviews and criticisms which appeared in the second series were fine examples of what criticism should be, and as a reviewer he stood unsurpassed. In 1864 he wrote the " Aves " portion of the " Zoological Record," and continued the work till 1869. More scope was allowed in those days for critical remarks on the various memoirs recorded, and here again Professor Newton was able to do much admirable work. In 1866 he was appointed Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, and held the post for forty-one years. All this time his influence on the study of zoology was very great, and numbers of ornithologists were helj)ed and guided ALFRED NEWTON. 37 by him as to the particular line of study they should pursue. He was one of the best type of Eng-lish g-entlemen, dignified in his manner and in his correspondence, but withal possessed of a kind and generous nature, which showed itself to young and old, whenever the opportunity occurred to do any one a good turn ; as, for instance, when he heard that T was writing the " History of the Collection of Birds in the British Museum," he most generously offered to lend me his copy of the Sale-Catalogue of Bullock's collection, of which only two copies are known ; and the loan of this priceless and imi^ortant volume greatly enhanced the value of my labours. In his earlier years Newton travelled considerably, visiting Iceland, Lapland, North America, and also the West India Islands. The account written by him and his brother Edward on the birds of St. Croix is one of the most interesting contributions to our knowledge of the ornitholog}^ of the Antilles. Although disabled by an accident in early life, which made him permanently lame, he managed to do a considerable amount of field-work, and his notes on the habits of birds were always interesting. His early work lay chiefly among the Birds of the Palsearctic Region, and he wrote lists of the Birds of Iceland and G-reenland, while his great book "Ootheca Wolleyana " contains an annotated catalogue of the col- lection of eggs bequeathed to him by his friend John Wolley, one of the most celebrated oologists the world has ever known. Professor Newton edited Vols. I. and II. of the fourth edition of " Yarrell's British Birds." He also wrote the articles on Birds for the ninth edition of the " En- cyclopsedia Britannica," and re-edited these in a compre- hensive "Dictionary of Birds," which will always be one of the standard works on ornithology. As a critic he was always just, but could be severe when the occasion arose. Those who crossed swords with him soon realised the fact, and he usually had the last word. 38 BRITISH BIRDS. On the only occasion that I entered into a controversy with him — the question of the nomenclature of Eiu'opean Owls — we each said our say, and left the issue to ornithologists to decide in the future. When I told him that I was sorry to have felt oblig-ed to differ from him, he laughed and said, "Well, I think we can sa}' that we have con- ducted our controversy like gentlemen. " There is one aspect of Professor Newton's career which has not been alluded to in any of the biographical notices of his life which have come under my notice, and that was his intense feeling and admiration for the work of Gilbert White. My own edition of the " Natural History of Selborne " he described as being issued in style " most garish,'' but his criticism did not annoy me, as there were many truisms in it, and we discussed the points at issue ever after in a friendly way. He knew the history of Gilbert White and his times better than any man of his generation, and his memoir of the Selborne natui'alist in the " Dictionary of National Biography " is as much a masterpiece as his essay on Ornithology in the " Dic- tionary of Birds." Those naturalists who visited Cambridge at the time of the 1905 Congress will remember the exhibition of rare books which Professor Newton exhibited from his library. Many valuable works were lent by him not to be seen in other collections of ornithological works. It is interesting, therefore, to know that he has bequeathed to the University of Cambridge his collections and library, including all his copyrights, books, pictures, papers, etc., relating to natural history (subject only to a condition regarding legacy duty), and one thousand pounds for " the keeping up and adding to the said library." The University will thus possess one of the most important ornithological libraries in the world. Many of my readers can recall the visit of the Ornitho- logical Congress to Cambridge in 1905, when we assembled in the great hall of Magdalene College and paid a tribute of respect to Professor Newton. We all remember his ALFRED NEWTON. 89 kind reception of the members, and the speeches which were made by Dr. Fatio and Dr. Oustalet, both past- Presidents of Ornithological Cong-resses, Dr. Reichenow, the President-elect, and Mr. Frank Chapman. Two of these celebrated ornithologists passed away in 1905, and now they have been followed by the genial host, whose praises they sung in such feeling and graceful language. There was not one of us who did not esteem it a privilege to do honour to Professor Newton on the occasion of the visit of the Congress to Cambridge, and we sorrow now, knowing that we shall see his face no more. R. BOWDLER ShAKPE. [Some of the readers of British Birds having expressed a wish for a portrait of Professor Newton suitable for framing, such a portrait has been prepared. All particulars will be found on page 3 of the cover of this issue.] ( 40 ) A STUDY OF THE HOME LIFE OF THE OSPREY. BY P. H. BAHR, B.A., M.B.O.U. Part II. {Continued from page 22.) By means of an umbrella enveloped in green cloth, my companion, Mr. C. G. Abbott, was enabled to study the home life of this noble bird at a distance of some twelve feet. It took, however, two of us to deceive completely the anxious parent. One would fasten the other into the structure we politely termed a tent, and then walk ostentatiously away. Having once discovered that danger lurked inside the tent, the bird would refuse to return for the rest of the day, and it was useless to persevere. A much more rapid and certain way of obtaining photographs was to lie partly concealed and watch, at a short range, through field glasses. Then, so familiar were they with the sight of man, that the Osprej's would return to their nests when we were hardly a hundred yards away. When the heat on the beach became un- bearable we would retire into the sea, and from that cool resort were enabled to pull the string attached to the camera, and so take many of our best photographs. Often would we observe the old bird, also evidently overcome by the heat, flap out to sea and dangle her legs and tail, and sometimes the tij)s of her wings, in the water, then, returning, she would spread this cool and grateful shade over her young. We could not, however, obtain any trustworthy evidence that water was "sprinkled " over the young. On our approach to the nest the birds would evince great nervousness and would ascend and hover high over our heads, uttering a note like "killy, killy, killy," at the same time flapping their wings and dangling their legs in characteristic fashion. On no occasion were they at all p. H. BAHR : HOME LIFE OF THE OSPREY. 41 ferocious and when they did swoop it was a very feeble pretence, in contradistinction to what has been elsewhere written.* Some of the notes uttered struck us as being- infantile for so large a bird, and reminded us strongly of a lost chicken calling for the brood-hen. When angered, however, the bird gives vent to a penetrating shriek sounding like "kee-kee-kee-kee-ich-ich-ich " the last part of which is uttered as if a bone were being coughed out of the throat. Again, when carrying a fish they would call, very appropriately, "fish, fish, fish." Ne\er during our stay of one week did we see an old bird offer to feed its young. Hour by hour they would stand on the edge of the nest with their prey in their Fig. 4. — Female Osprey, calling, with crest raised. (Pliotograph by P. H. Bahe.) talons contemplating their " perspiring " offspring or gazing lazily out to sea, every now and again raising their crest, and giving vent to a shriek as a neighbour passed {vide rig. 4). * Vide Newton, "Diet. Birds." p. 662, and Nuttall, "Birds of United States," New edit., 1903, p. 30. 42 BRITISH BIRDS. On the other hand, the young", in many cases fully fledged, did not appear to crave for their meal, but would stand with ruffled plumage and with drooping bill, often with their heads overhanging the nest, as if overcome by the heat. Totally unlike those on an islet in some Highland loch, of which we read as eagerly scanning the horizon for the advent of their meal. Indeed, the most lethargic of creatures they appeared, save when we approached close or tried to handle them. Then they would assume the most absurd attitudes, such as one would hardly credit. They would be transformed into regular spit-fires, with every feather standing on end, their wings and tail raised and head lowered, and in every other possible ridiculous attitude. In spite of this show when we did lift them out of the nest they offered no resistance, nor did they attempt to peck, but merely scratched our hands in their frantic endeavours to obtain a foothold. In many instances the young appeared to rely on their undoubted protective coloration for concealment, surely a rare trait amongst the Raptores. The fact remains that when lying spread out on their nest, they were very difficult to distinguish from their surroundings. The two shown squatting in Fig. 5 were a marked instance of this. They had evidently fallen out of their tree-nest when comparatively young, and judging from the amount of sticks and seaweed round them it seemed as if the old birds had attempted to build a new nest for them on the ground, indisputable is it that the structure bore a resemblance to a nest. We never heard the young utter any other but a hissing sound. There were generally three young in each nest, in some there were two, in no case did we see four. Though hatched in this locality early in June, and apparently fully fledged by the middle of July, we were assured that they seldom flew before the first week in August, and as confirmatory of this fact we saw many young with fully formed wings yet incapable of flight. p. H. BAHR : HOME LIFE OF THE OSPREY. 48 Of the eggs we saw but little. I remember finding three beautifully marked specimens, two in one tree-nest, which, by the way, though situat-ed high among ' comparatively slender branches, was so firmly constructed that I was able Fig. 5. — Youn^ Ospreys, in characteristic attitudes, making full use of their protective coloration. (Photograph by P. H. Bahe.) to sit in it. Of these eggs I shall ever bear a lasting remembrance, for long exposure to the hot rays of the sun had rendered them somewhat "high," a fact which was emphasized when one exploded in my hand, and the con- tents were discharged all over my face. The New World eggs have a peculiar rancid, almost Fulmar-like odour, a fact pointed out to me by Professor Newton, and thus may be distinguished from those taken in Europe. In addition to the Osprey on this island there were many other species replete with interest, which do not come under the category of British birds. In conclusion I must, as ever, express my great indebtedness to my friend and companion, C. G. Abbott, well known in New York ornithological circles, of whose notes, a model of their kind, I have made full use. 44 THE BRITISH WILLOW TIT (PARUS ATRI- CAPILLU8 KLEINSCHMIDTI HELLM.). BY The Hon. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, ph.d. In the first number of this Magazme (see j)age 23), Dr. Sclater asks for information about the British Willow Tit, which he calls a supposed new British Tit. Like all the wider spread species of Parus, the Willow Tit varies a good deal g-eographically, and those ornitho- logists who want a complete review of these various local races or, as we prefer to call them, subspecies, should consult Dr. Hartert's " Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna." Taking the species as a whole we find that the first name applied to a European form was montanus, by Baldenstein, who called the Alpine form of this Tit Parus cinereus Tnontanus, m 1827, his type coming from the Grisons. In 1831, Pastor Brehm called another form Parus salicarius, his type coming from Renthendorf . Lastly, in 1843, Baron de Selys-Longchamps applied to a Willow Tit the name Parus horealis, founding the name on specimens from Norway. The first name given to the American forms was Parus atricapillus, given by Linnaeus to Brisson's ^^Mesange a tete noire de Canada." The American group of forms of the Willow Tit differs from the European group principally by the much greater lateral extension of the black throat- patch. These American forms all agree with the European ones so closely in the structure of the feathers on the crown and the graduation of the tail, and the other characters which separate the Willow Tits from the Marsh Tits, that it is evident they form a single Holarctic species, having numerous local subspecies. W. ROTHSCHILD : THE BRITISH WILLOW TIT. 45 The principal differences between the Willow Tits and the Marsh Tits are, firstly, that the feathers of the crown and forehead are in the former longer and more loosely constructed, while in the latter they are shorter and more compact. The edges of these feathers in the Marsh Tit are glossj-black, thus causing the whole crown to be glossy and much blacker than that of the Willow Tit, which is of a dull brownish-black or sooty-black ; secondly, in the Marsh Tits the tail is almost square, while the Willow Tits have it distinctly graduated. Lastly also the notes of the birds are said to be different. A.. B. Tails of (a) British Willow Tit ; (b) British Marsh Tit. The first discovery of the Willow Tit as a British bird was made by Pastor Kleinschmidt and Dr. Hartert in 1897, when they found, mixed up with the skins of Parus palustris dresseri in the British Museum, two skins from Hampstead which were undoubtedly Willow Tits. The Tring Museum received two specimens in the same year, killed in Coalfall Wood, near Pinchley, the well- known suburb of London. One of these specimens is the type of Hellmayr's Parus atricapillus Meinschmidti, which is distinguishable from P. a. borealis — the Continental form — by its much darker coloration and considerably smaller size. Since then a fair number of Willow Tits liave been obtained in Great Britain, though the bird is evidently a rare form in our islands. The eggs appear to differ from those of the Marsh Tit by the larger and paler brick-red spots at the larger end. 46 BRITISH BIRDS. but careful records have still to be made to confirm this, for egg collectors in this, as in most other cases, have been keen to get fine and abnormally coloured eggs rather than to enquire closely into their parentage. Since the occurrence of Willow Tits in Great Britain was first recorded by Kleinschmidt, a great deal of controversy has taken place on tlie subject. Most of our older ornithologists have failed, or rather refused, to see the differences between the English Marsh and Willow Tits, and again, in this instance, the old proverb, " None so blind as those that will not see," has abundantly justified itself. There are, however, also a few of our ornithologists who, while seeing and appreciating the differences, stoutly maintain that the Willow Tit is only the yomig in the first year of the Marsh Tit. This is at once confuted by the fact that several nests and a number of fully adult parent birds of the Willow Tit have been taken in England. To me the strangest and most deplorable fact connected with the history of the Willow Tit in this country is that nearly, if not all, those who absolutely deny the existence of this bird in England maintain tlie distinction as good species on the Continent of Parus palustris and Parus borealis, and in North America of Paru^ atricapUlus and Parus sclateri. Anyone who, Avithout preconceived ideas, examines a series of specimens of the forms of Parus palustris and those of P. atricapUlus side by side, cannot fail to detect the differences I have before mentioned. And finally, regarding the question whether these differences are of specific value, I can only say that modern systematists have decided that no two races or subspecies of the same species of bird can live side by side ; they must either inhabit different geographical areas or be found at different vertical heights, i.e., one inhabiting the mountains and the other the plains of one given district. Taking this for an axiom, the Willow Tits, which occur W. ROTHSCHILD : THE BRITISH WILLOW TIT. 47 side by side with the Marsh Tits throughout almost their whole area of distribution, can only be one of two thing-s, either casual aberrations or good species. The fact that Willow Tits have been collected in numbers and that all those from any one district have been found to be similar, shows conclusively that they are not casual aberrations, and therefore they must form a distinct species, as opposed to the Marsh Tits. The British form of the Marsh Tit is Parus palustris dresseri, and the British Willow Tit, of which I have before me at Tring fourteen specimens from the following places : 2 from Coalfall Wood, Finchley (1 the type of the subspecies), 5 from St. Leonards, 4 from Hastings, 1 from Chersley, Bucks, 1 from Thornhaugh Rectory, Northamptonshire, and 1 from Tunbridge Wells, must bear the name of Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti. [It will be seen from Mr. Rothschild's remarks that very little indeed is known of the British Willow Tit. Information is sorely needed about its distribution, its numbers, and its habits. We appeal to the readers of our Magazine to help in working out these details, and thus establish the status of this bird in this country. It is only of late years that the differences in habits and notes of the Marsh and Reed Warblers, which are so very much alike in form and colouring, have become more generally known, and, as a consequence, additions have been made to the knowledge of the distribution of the Marsh Warbler. Similarly, it may be found, as is already suspected, that the habits and notes of the British Willow Tit differ from those of the British Marsh Tit. To obtain this knowledge specimens must be collected of those birds which appear to differ in their notes or habits, and as it is impossible to identify the birds satisfactorily without a comparison, the Editors will be only too pleased to have authoritatively identified any specimens which are sent to them. Any observations on the subject will also be welcomed. — Eds.] 48 ) NESTING HABITS OBSERVED ABROAD OF SOME RARE BRITISH BIRDS. BY F. C. SELOUS. Part II. (Continued from page 27.) IsABELLiJSiE Wheatear. Saxicolu isabeUina Riippell. During my visit to Asia Minor in the spring of 1899 I saw several pairs of these birds on the level plain near the Lake of Sakizbounou, and found one nest with yoiuig" birds about a week old on May 13th. Two years later, in the spring of 1901,1 found the Isabellme Wheatear quite a common species on the plain through which the Meander River runs, below the town of Sochia. On May 16tli of that year I found, by watching the birds, two nests, one containing four very hard-set eggs, besides an addled one, and the other three young birds a few days old and two addled eggs. All three nests were placed in the burrows of a small rodent, the entrances to which were on the level ground. The nests were in each case a considerable distance from the mouth of the burrow — from four to five feet. The addled eggs which I obtained are of a very pale blue colour, some shades lighter than those of the common Wheatear (Saxicola cenanthe), they are also considerably larger than the eggs of that species. Blue-headed Wagtail. Motacilla flava. In the S23ring of 1899 I took six nests of this species at a place called Szunyog, near Budapest. They were all placed in tussocks of grass, growing out of the water, in what might be described as a flooded meadow. A colony of Black Terns had built their floating F. C. SELOUS : NESTING HABITS. 49 nests on the same piece of flooded ground, though more in the centre of it, where the water was deeper. But I had to walk some distance through water at least a foot in dej)th to get to all six of the Wagtails' nests. As I believe that when the Blue- headed Wagtail nests in England it builds its nest on dry ground, as does the Yellow Wagtail in the part of Surrey where I am now living, I have thought that this note of the breeding habits of this sj^ecies in Central Hungary might be of interest. Of the six nests which I took, five contained six, and one five eggs. These eggs vary in colour from grey to brown, but on the whole closely resemble those of our Yellow Wagtail. The first nest was taken on May 2.5th, the last on June 1st, and the eggs in all were quite fresh. When in the south of Sj)ain in the sj)ring of 1900, I took, on April 22nd, two nests, each containing five fresh eggs, of a Wagtail which I thought belonged to the same species as those of which I had found the nests in Hungary the preceding year. But according to the Eev. Francis C. R. Jourdain, the form of Yellow Wag'tail which breeds in Southern Spain is not the Blue, but the Grey-headed Wagtail {Motacilla jiava cinereicapilla Savi). The two nests which I took near the Lucia Real were both built at the foot of small bushes on quite dry ground, at some distance from water. Nutcracker. Nueifraga caryocatactes (L). On j)aying a visit, in April, 1899, to my friend, Mr. C. G. Danford, who was then living- in Transylvania, near the foot of the Southern Carpathians, he showed me the nest, containing three eggs, of the Nutcracker which is now exhibited in the bird gallery of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. He had brought it down from tlie mountains a few days previously. Mr. Danford and I then went up into the momitains and searched for more Nutcrackers' nests, but without success, as, although the birds were numerous, the forests in which they breed are of enormous extent. 50 BRITISH BIRDS. Last yeai';, accompanied by Mr. J. C. Musters, I paid a visit to Bosnia. With the kind assistance of Herr Otmar Reiser, the well-known ornithologist and curator of the Museum at Sarajevo, we searched for Nutcrackers' nests in the mountains near that town. It was an unfavourable season, as during* March the weather had been very cold, and a oTeat deal of snow had fallen in the mountains. This seemed to have very much interfered with the building operations of the Nutcrackers. A Bosnian peasant first showed us a nest, which was not yet ready for eggs, on April 8th. When we first visited this nest the Nutcrackers were busy lining it. They were excessively tame, and both birds kept con- tinually flying to and from the nest with moss and other materials required for the lining, without showing any sign of fear, although we sat watching them for a long time at a distance of less than twenty yards. Subsequently two eggs were laid in this nest, and the hen bird then commenced to sit. Herr Reiser, however, who has had a greater personal experience of the nesting habits of the Nutcrackers than any other European ornithologist, tells me that it is most exceptional for this bird to sit on two eggs. The usual clutch is three or four, the latter number being less usual than the former. During the next four days, assisted by several Bosnian peasants, we hunted hard for fresh nests ; but although we were shown at least a dozen from which Herr Reiser or one or other of the peasants had taken tlie eggs during the three previous seasons, we only found one nest ourselves. This nest was placed close against the stem of a small spruce tree, about a foot in diameter, and about twenty feet from the ground. When we found it the bird was on the nest, and did not fly off till I commenced to climb the tree. There were only two eggs in the nest, and as I could see that they were fresh, I left them. Two days later we again visited the nest, and found the bird again on. There were still only two eggs in it, but we F. C. SELOUS : NESTING HABITS. 51 found a third lying- broken at the foot of the tree. How it came there I cannot say. Judging from my limited experience the nest of this bird is not placed either in large trees or far from the ground. Two nests were placed in very small trees, and were certainly not more than ten feet from the ground. The usual height seemed to be from twenty to thirty feet. None of the nests we saw were in dense forest, but usually near the edge of clearings, amongst trees not growing thickl}^ together. {To he continued.) 52 ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BIRDS SINCE 1899. BY H. F. WITHERBY and N. F. TICEHURST. In the first number of this Magazine Mr. Howard Saunders gave the history of those birds which have been added to the British List since the publication in 1899 of his well-known " Illustrated Manual of British Birds." Li the present contribution we propose to deal with the fiu-ther occurrences, since that date, of those species which are reckoned among our rarer visitants, and also to detail certain other important facts which have been added to the knowledge of our native avifauna during this same period. More especially we shall refer to the all-important question of the extension or restriction of range. We have omitted all mention of the descriptions of sub- species, because Dr. Ernst Hartert has promised to con- tribute to this magazine an article dealing with this subject. Those records which affect the distribution of our birds outside this country have likewise been omitted as being outside the scope of a Magazine article. During these eight years much valuable work has been done by Messrs. W. Eagle Clarke and J. A. Harvie-Brown, and others under their direction, to add to the knowledge of the birds of Scotland ; while equally remarkable have been the numerous occurrences recorded from the south- east of England of birds which rarely visit this country. Most of the rarer visitors have been exhibited at meetings of the British Ornithologists' Club, and have been duly recorded in the Bulletin of the club. Amongst the works which have been j)ublished the following, as adding to our knowledge of the subject, may be mentioned : — "The Birds of Ireland," by R. J. Ussher and R. Warren ; " The Birds of Surrey," by J. A. Bucknill ; ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 53 " The Birds of Cheshire," by T. A. Coward and C. Oldham ; " A Fauna of the N.W. Highlands and Skye," by J. A. Harvie-Brown and H. A. Macpherson ; '^' The Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight," by J. E. Kelsall and P. W. Munn; "The Birds of the Isle of Man," by P. Ealfe ; "A Fauna of the Tay Basin and Strathmore," by J. A. Harvie-Brown. Mention should also be made of Mr. W. Eagle Clarke's reports for the British Association on the migrations of the Song Thrush, Fieldfare, White Wagtail, Swallow, Starling, Rook, Skylark and Lapwing, and the same author's migration essays contributed to the "Ibis " ; while attention must be called to the two reports on the spring immigrations of summer residents prepared by the Migration Committee of the British Ornithologists' Club. We have also to express our indebtedness to Mr. R. J. Ussher, who has very kindly sent us some notes on the changes in the status of some birds in Ireland since the publication of his and Mr. Warren's book. In the following list references to the second edition of Mr. Saunders' " Manual " have been abbreviated thus : — " S. page — " ; and in all cases the records in this list should be read in conjunction with Mr. Saunders' work, which we have regarded as the standard one on the subject. MISTLE THRUSH Tardus viscivorus (L). S. page 1. Outer Hebrides, Stornoway. — Breeding iu 1 908 and possibly since 1902. Previously unknown in the Outer Hebrides (J. A. Harvie-Brown, A)in Scot. Nat. Hist., 1902, p. 138, and N. B. Kinnear, 1907, p. 17). Ireland. — Is probably still increasing (R. J. Ussher, in lift.). REDWING Turclus iliacus (L). S. page 5. Supposed hybrid between T. iliacus and T. pilaris described (Prof. CoUett, Ibis, 1898, 317). WHITE'S THRUSH TurJus varius Pallas. S. page 11. Yorkshire — One shot at Luddenden Dean, near Halifax, on December 18th, 1902. Fourth record for Yorkshire. (Naturalist, 1903. p. 68.) BLACKBIRD Tardus merula L. S. page 13. Hybrid with T. pilaris described by Prof. Collett (Christiania Vid. SelsJc. For., 1905, No. 11). 54 BRITISH BIRDS. Ireland. — Breeds now in extreme western districts as Valentia Island, the Aran Islands, the Mullet, Co. Majo. It was first observed breeding in the latter by Mr. Hichards in 1890, and now it is common in summer there (K. .1. Usslier, iti litt.). RING OUZEL Ttirchis torquatus (L). S. page 15. Recorded as nesting near Osborne, Isle of Wight, iu 1906, but insufficient particulars given (A. M. C. Nicholl, Ji.N. College, Field, 23rd June, 1906). DESERT WHE ATE AR Snxicola deserti Hiip]}. S. page 25. Pentland Skerries (Lighthouse). — Male adult captured June 2nd, 1906 (W. Eagle Clarke, Attn. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1906, p. 138). This is the third record uf the occurrence of this species in Scotland, and the fourth iu the Bi'itish Isles. WHINCHAT Pratincola ndjetra (L). S. page 27. Fair Isle (Shetland). — Double passage in fair numbers (W. K. Clarke, Lc. 1907, p. 75). Shetland.^ An adult male occurred during a remarkable visitation of birds in the latter half of April, 1898 (W. E. Clarke and T. Henderson, junr., t.c , 1898, p. 178). The VVhinchat has been very i-arely found in the Shetlands. REDSTART RuticiUa phoenicurus (L) S. page 31. Shetf^anu. — A pair founcl building at Spiggie, May lOth, I90I (C. A Sturrock, i.e., 1901, p. 194). Outer Hebrides. - Two observed on October 6th, 1903, and one on September 21st, 1906, at the Skerrvvore Lighthouse (J. Tomison, t.c, 1907, j). 20). In the Shetlands the Redstart is mainly an autumn visitor, while in the Hebrides it had not been previously recorded. BLACK REDSTART Rutirilla titys (Scop.). S page 33 Scotland — Solway area — One November 17th, 1899. Aber- deen, one March 20th, 1900 (t.c, 1900, pp. 47 and 121). Moray- One October 30th, 1903 (t.c, I9C4, p. 55). Flannan Isles— K female adult obtained on June 27th. 1905, was forwarded to W. E. Clarke in the flesh, and other examples occurred on November 3rd, 7th and 8th, 1905 {t.c, 1905, p. 244, and 1906, p. 142;. Orkney — An adult male was picked up dead on November 19th, 1905, and on the same date one was seen near Glasgow {t.c, 1906, pp. 51 and 143). The Black Redstart rarely occurs in Scotland, and its occur- rence as far north as the Orkneys was previously uncertain, while the end of June is a remarkable date for this bird to occur anywhere in the British Isles, and especially so far north as the Flannan Isles. ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 55 BLUETHROAT Cyanecula siiecica. S. page 35. Norfolk. — The Bluethroat may now be regarded as an annual visitor to the coast of Norfolk on the autumn migra- lion vide .1. H. Gurnev in Znoloqist, 1900, p. 898 ; 1901, p. 122 ; 1902, p. 81 ; 1903, p. 133 ; 190i, p. 203 ; 1905, p. 9Q ; 1906, p. 13-t ; 1907, p. 122, and for an occurrence on May LGth, 190G, t.c, 1907, p. 128. Lincolnshire.— In 1899 {t.c., 1900, p. 20;-!). and 190:} {t.c, 1904. p. 291). Sussex. -In 1903 {t.c, 1903, pp. 389. 421). Surrey —In 1904 {t.c, 1904, p. 262). Yorkshire.— 1903 {t.c, 1904, p. 212). Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A young male was shot by Mi'. N. B. Kinnear on September 25th, 1905, and about a dozen young and adult were observed during September, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, t.c, 1906, pp. 21 and 237 ; and 1907, p. 75). Shetlands, JJnst. — One reported to have been seen on September 25th, and two on September 26th, 1906 (T. E Sax by. t.c , 1907, p. 50). Only five Bluethroats have been previously recorded as visiting Scotland. NIGHTINGALE Baulias luscima (L.) S. page 39. Yorkshire. KnaresborougJi. — A pair reported as having " taken up their abode on the banks of the Nidd " in 1902 (R. Fortune, Nahiralist, 1^02, p. 192). Selbij.— Nest and eggs found and photographed by W. S. Forrest in the spring of 1904 (^r., 1905, p. 353). The Nightingale has very rarely nested as far north as Yorkshire. Plumage. — A specimen in moult with the tail and wing feathers latelv renewed was found dead in Sussex on April 8th, 1899 (M. J. Nicoll, Bull. B.O.C., XIII., p. 14). WHITETHROAT Sylvia cinerea Bechst. S. page 41. Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A bird of double passage (W. E. Clarke, Ann. hlat. Scot. Hist., 1907, p. 73). Mr. H. Saunders says " its appearance in the Shetlands is exceptional." LESSER WHITETHROAT Sylvia currwa (L.) S. page 43. Ross-shire. — .\ clutch of eggs taken in 1896 at Inverbroom was identified as belonging to this species (L W. Hinxman and W. E. Clarke, t.c, 1903, p. 71). Outer Hebrides, Flannan Islands. — One shot, September 23rd, 1904 (W. E. Clarke, t.c, 1905, p. 15). Fair Isle (Shetlands). — Frequent, as a bird of double passage, in 1906 (W. E. Clarke, t.c, 1907, p. 73). 66 BRITISH BIRDS. Northumberland. —Nesting at Chipchase in 1899 and 1900 (Abel Chapman, Bird Life of the Borders, 2nd ed., p. 145) The Lesser Whitethroat is a very rare bird in the northern counties of Scotland, and has never been recorded before as breeding so far north as Ross, nor has it before been recorded as nesting in Northumberland. ORPHEAN WARBLER Sylvia orphea Temm. S. page 45. Sussex. — A female was shot near St. Leonards-on-Sea on October 7th, 1903 (W. R. Butterfield, 5»/Z. B.OC. XIV., p. 16). An immature male was picked up dead undsr telegraph wires near St. Leonards on September 16th, 1905 (0. B. Ticehurst, /.c, XVI., 35). These are the third and fourth records of the occurrence of this species in the British Isles. GARDEN WARBLER Sylvia liortemis Bechst. S. page 49. Outer Hebrides, Flannan Islands. — One seen September I6th, 1904 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist.. 1905, p. 15.) Fair Isle (Shetlands). — Small numbers during September, 1905 (W. E. Clarke, t.c, 1906, p. 20). The Garden Warbler is a very rare visitor to the Outer Hebrides and Shetlands. BARRED WARBLER Sijlvia nisoria (Bechst.). S. page 51. Kent. — Two males obtained at Woodchurch on April 24th, 1907. These are the first recorded for Kent, and they are also the first occurrences of this bird in spring, previous examples having been obtained in the autumn (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., XIX., p. 89). Norfolk. — One identified by Pashley on September 13th, 1902 (J. H. Gurney, Zoologist, 1903, p. 133). Lancashire. — One shot near Fleetwood on August 20th, 1898 (W. R. Butterfield, Naturalist. 1899, p. 75). Lincolnshire.— A young female was shot at North Cotes on October 17th, 1899 (G. H. C. Haigh, Knowledge, 1899. p. 278^; another young female was shot in the same district on September 20th, 1902 (G. H. C Haigh, Zoologist, 1903, p. 363), and a third example occurred in the same place on September 4th, 1905 (t.c, 1906, p. 133). Outer Hebrides. — A young bird was shot on Barra on October 29th, 1900 (W. L.^MacGillivray, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1901, p. 114). Twenty-four occurrences in the British Islands of this species have now been recorded. (To he continued.) nOTES SOCIABLE PLOVEE IN KENT. On May 3rd, 1907, a specimen of the Sociable Plover (VaneUus gregarius (Pallas) ) was shot in Eomney Marsh, Kent, by a shepherd who gave it to a farmer ; the latter sent it to Mr. Bristow, taxidermist, of St. Leonards, for preservation, and in his shop I examined it in the flesh. The bird, a female, was one of a flock of six, and is a young- bird in its first breeding- plumag-e. This, the third example obtained in the British Islands, was exhibited by me at the British Ornitholog-ists' Club {vide Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XIX.. pag-e 85). The first British example was shot in Lancashire about 1860, and the second in Co.Meath, Ireland, onAug-ust 1st, 1899. Besides these examples this species has only been recorded about half-a-dozen times from South-western Em-ope, and not at all from Helig-oland or North-western Europe. The home of this species is in the Steppes of the Crimea and the region between the Don, the Volga and Caucasus, the Caspian region and Turkestan. In autumn it migrates to the u]3lands of Sinde and plains of India ; while Ceylon, Arabia, Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia are also visited in the cold season. C. B. TiCEHURST. SUPPOSED SEEIN FINCHES IN SUSSEX. My friend. Captain Copp, and I, whilst walking over the downs from Brighton to Lewes, on May 5th, 1907, saw on a piece of fallow, a flock of small birds, consisting of Yellow hammers. Greenfinches and Linnets. Among them were some birds I did not know. Serin Pinches had been in my mind when I saw the birds, and on examining, on the following day, three specimens of this bird in the Booth Musemn, I came to the conclusion that the birds I had seen were Serins {Serinus hortulanus). A subsequent examination of the large series at Cromwell Eoad con- firmed me in this decision. My friend thinks there were 58 BRITISH BIRDS. five or six, but personally I think there were rather more. I know I am making rather a startling assertion, but the birds were all fairly close, and two that I observed on the rough road in front of me, were not more than twenty-five yards away. Through my glasses the yellow patch on the rump, the yellow on the forehead and other parts of the head and on the breast, were perfectly distinguishable, as was also the streaky appearance on the back, which was the first thing that drew my attention. I may say that all my life I have studied birds in a wild state both in England and Scotland, and should not make the statement if I were not absolutely convinced of its truth. Herbert Langton. [It is always difficult to regard as authentic the identi- fication of a rare visitor seen by an observer who has had no previous knowledge of the bird in question. But there is no great improbability in Mr. Langton's record, since a fair number of examples of this species have been caught from time to time near Brighton. The date is rather late, but the bird has several times been recorded at the end of April, and once as late as May 5th. — Eds.] MIGRATING BIRDS RETURNING TO THE SAME PLACE. There have been many proofs that individual migrating birds return to the same place year after year, but as every well-proved instance of this habit is of value to the study of migration, it may be well to record the following : — Among a large flock of Starlings which visits us every 3'ear in Cheshire there is a perfectly white bird. I have noticed this bird now for three successive years. It appears at the same time as the flock, and after careful inquiries I cannot find that it is ever seen after the flock has left. If ornithologists all around England would but trap birds and mark them, by a metal ring or otherwise, and advertise their having done so in this Magazine, how much we should be able to learn of their movements which we do not at present know. Victor Wilson. [The plan of marking birds by an aluminium ring round the leg has often been tried, but never in a reall}^ sys- tematic fashion. It would certainly teach us a great deal NOTES. 59 that cannot conceivably be learnt in any other way. To place rings on the leg's of young- birds just before they fledge would not be a great difficulty. We should like other readers' opinions on this matter. — Eds.] THE SPEING MOULT OF THE ARCTIC TEEN [Sterna macrura Naum.). The "Scotia" collections (see British Birds, Vol. I., p. 28) include some interesting spring specimens of Arctic Terns. An adult female obtained on March 23rd, 1904-, has already assumed full breeding-plumage and shows no signs of moulting. Another (a male) is assuming its summer hood, leaving the head a mixture of black and white feathers. This specimen still retains the dusky upper wing-coverts of youtli. In addition to gaining the black head for the first time, it exhibits further evidence of moulting, inasmuch as neither the primaries nor the rectrices are quite fully grown, the first jDrimary being- still shorter than the second by about half an inch. I am inclined to think that we have here a bird about twenty- one months old. The series also includes two immature examples in the jDlumage known as the *S'. portlandica stage. These have the forehead and crown nearly white, the rest of the head blackish, the lesser wing-coverts conspicuously dark, and the bill and feet black. They are in deep moult as far as their primary-quills and tail-feathers are concerned, but apparently not otherwise. Some of the j^rimaries are only three inches long. VViLLiAM Eagle Clarke. GOLDEN OEIOLE IN SUSSEX. On June 5th last a female Golden Oriole (Oriolus galhukt) was caught and killed by a cat on the Marine Parade, Brighton. Some of the eggs in the ovary were as large as No. 5 shot. Herbert Langton. [The Golden Oriole is an annual spring migrant to this country, and has been recorded as nesting on a few occasions in Kent and other counties. Those that visit this country, however, rarely escape the gun of the ignorant "collector" parading as an ornithologist. — Eds.] REVIEWS Bird-Life of the Borders. By Abel Chapman, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. Map and illustrations. G-uruey & Jackson. 14s. net. This is a new and revised edition of perhaps the best known of Mr. Abel Chapman's charming works. The author is essentially an outdoor naturalist, and that he is a keen as well as a cautious and systematic observer this book abundantly testifies. He takes us delightfully through the year over the moorlands dividing England and Scotland, where for many a long year he has studied the habits and movements of the birds. Nor does he lack in experience of the coast, and the second half of the book is devoted to shore and sea birds, and especially to the wildfowl. Drawing on a gi-eat store of anecdote, he gives accounts, ever charming to the naturalist-sportsman, of many an eventful day and night with punt and gun on the bleak Northumberland coast. Not only has Mr. Chapman the faculty of describing what lie sees (and he sees a great deal) in an enchanting fashion, but, as is evidenced by the capital chapters on migration, he can sum up and set forth most clearly and satisfactorily the main issues hidden in a mass of facts and theories. But we would recommend the book mainly because it is brimful of first-hand observation from the book of Nature which seems to lie wide open to Mr. Chapman's eye. It may be worth while to point out that the " drumming ' of the snipe is attributed to the wings (p. 49), whereas Mr. P. H. Bahr has lately demonstrated very clearly that this noise is made by certain feathers in the tail. There is a curious slip on page 87, where the author states that " the plumage acquired by every bird in autumn must serve it for a year," whereas, as Mr. Chapman himself writes in another part of his book, some birds moult also in sj^ring. BOOKS ON BRITISH BIRDS Published in June. Grouse Disease : What it is and How it Sjireads, with Sur/gestions for Stamping out Disease, by the Rev. E. Adrian Woodruffe-Peacock. (Louth : Goulding.) 5s. Birds and Their Nests and Egrjs Found In and Near Great Toivns, by George H. Vos, B.A., M.B.(Cantab.). (Routledge.) Is. British Birds' Nests ; How, Where, and Wheii to Find and Identify Them, by Richard Kearton, F.Z.S. Illustrated. (Cassell.) 21s. Notes on the Birds of Nottinghamshire, by J. Whitaker. (Nottingham : Wm. Black & Sons.) i2s. 6d. nms THE EAE OF THE WOODCOCK. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs, — In the new edition of N'aumann's " Naturg-e- schichte der Vogel Mittel-Europa's," in the introductory article on the anatomy of the Scolopacince, it is stated that the ear is underneath the eye and near the anterior corner of it. The exact words are : — " die Oliroffnung-, die bei alien anderen Vog-eln hinter den Aug-en steht, ist hier unter das Auge g-estellt und deni vorderen Augen winkel genahert." — Naumann, Vol. IX., p. 164, new edition. W. B. Nichols. Stour Lodge, Bradfield, June 8rd, 1907. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs, — If Mr. Whymj)er will consult the edition of Nitzsch's "PterylogTaphy," published by the Ray Society in 1867, edited by Dr. Sclater, he will find in Plate IX., fig. 10, the external orifice of the ear correctly placed below and in front of the orbit. P. Chalmers Mitchell. Zoological Society of London, 3, Hanover Square, June 8th, 1907. [With regard to Mr. Nichols' letter, we would point out that Nauniann's remarks apply to the Scoloixicidoe generally : he merely repeats a statement that has been made by other ornithologists on many occasions. But Naumann evidently fell into the same error as all other writers have done up till now. He assumed that what obtained among the Snipe held good also for the Wood- cock which, as has now been shown, is not the case. The quotation, to which Mr. Nichols refers, evidently does not apply to the Woodcock, wherein the aperture of the ear is below the level of, and in front of the eye. Since receiving Dr. Chalmers Mitchell's letter, we have again examined Nitzsch's figure, and agree that it may be described as an approximately accurate figure. Nitzsch, 62 BRITISH BIRDS. however^ does not seem even to have realized the striking' difference between the Snipes and the Woodcock in this particular, or indeed that either presented any noteworthy peculiarities in the position of this apertiu'e ; he, at any rate, makes no mention of the fact. It is, of course, quite j)Ossible that many ornitholog-ists may have known of this curious featm-e, but the credit of bringing- the matter into general notice belongs to Mr. Whymj^er. — Eds.] FOUR BIRDS IN A LONG-TAILED TIT'S NEST. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs, — With reference to Mr. Bonhote's communication on this subject [supra, page 32), I beg to draw your atten- tion to the record by Mr. Cerva, who saw on Apiil 17th, 1898, in the Tokolo Forest (Hungary), young Long-tailed Tits being fed hy four old bii-ds. Mr. Cerva's conclusion is that most of the large clutches of this species are produced by two hens (" Zeitschrift fiir Oologie," VIII., page 25). This is in conformitv wdth Mr. R. Kearton's opinion ('^British Birds' Nests,'"' page 310). A. A. VAN Pelt Lechner, Wageningen, Holland, June 1st, 1907. BIRDS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. To the Editors of British Birds. At the beginning of May, 1903, I was in W. Jutland with Mr. R. B. Lodge. A severe thunderstorm took place on May 4th, and caused the temporary disappearance of a large herd of Brent Geese, some three hundred strong, which had haunted the marshes up to that date. The villagers picked up five or six birds which had apparently been killed by lightning, and on the evening of May 6th I found another which had succumbed to the same cause. F. C. R. JOURDAIN. " INCUBATION SPOTS." To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs, — I should like to have some information detailed as to the incubation spots on the vent of a " sitting " bird. REVIEWS. 68 The breast, or rather the state thereof in the domestic fowl, is some guide at such a time, but the vent spots are new to me. M. C. H. Bird. [The subject of "Incubation Spots'' has been much neglected by ornithologists. The most extensive observa- tions known are those of Faber in hi,, work " Ueber das Leben der hochnordischen Vogel," -p. 18f), where he describes their appearance in several different species under the name of "'brood-spots," and endeavours to distinguish between " true " and " false ' ' brood-spots. But much that has hitherto been written on this subject must be discounted ; and this because no distinction was made between areas where the feathers had become simply abraded during sitting, and areas actually concerned in the generation of heat for the purposes of incubation . Only the centre of the abdomen is really concerned in this heat production, which is due to the fact that in this I'egion of the body, during the brooding period, the blood- vessels— veins and arteries — become highly congested. In many birds this area is normally feathered, and in such cases, during the work of incubation, the feathers are removed by the beak. In the ducks, which have besides a thick "under-fur "' of down, this down, as is well-known, is used to surround and cover the eggs when the sitting-bird leaves the nest. — Eds.] BAER'S POCHARD AS A BRITISH BIRD. To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs, — In the first number of British Birds, page 14, Mr. Saunders makes certain remarks about the possibility of the record of Baer's Pochard by my brother being more than likely referable to an escaped bird. In reply to this, I can only say that if Mr. Saunders' information as to the introduction of Baer's Pochard as an ornamental species to Europe is correct, it must have been since the record in question, for Dr. Ernst Hartert and I made the most minute inquiries at the time. We found that the only birds introduced alive into Europe had been the pinioned birds imported by Mr, Frank Finn, and as these — all but one — were alive in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, at the time my brother's 64 BRITISH BIRDS. bird was shot, and had never bred, it was practically certain that the Tring bird was a wild one. An additional factor in the case was that, for a week before, the weather was extremely foggy, and a strong easterly gale was blowing throughout the week. I therefore think it is practically indisputable that the bird was a genuine wild straggler, and an undoubted addition to the British List. It must be noted also that at the B.O.C. meeting, when my brother exhibited the bird, Mr. Saimders expressed himself absolutely satisfied with the evidence, and under- took to put the species in the new edition of his Manual. His present unqualified statement " that it is well known that this bird has been introduced on ornamental waters," certainly requires further explanation. Walter Rothschild. BRITISH BIRDS, Vol. I., PI. 3. Reeve going on to her nest. (Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner, in Norfolk, on June 18th, 1907.) BRITI5HDIRD5 EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S, M.B.O.U. Contents of Number 3. August 1, 1907. The Ee-appearance of the Euff as a Nesting Species in Norfolk, by Miss E. L. Turner, F.L.s. ... .. Page 65 The Supposed Occurrenee of the Pacific Eider (Somateria v-nigrum) in British Waters, by F. Smalley ... ... 69 Nesting Habits observed abroad of some Rare British Birds, by F. C. Selous (Part III.) — continued from page bl 76 On the More Important Additiono to our Knowledge of British Birds since 1899, by H. F. Witherby and N. F. Ticehurst (Part II.) — continued from jjage bQ ... ... ... 81 The Sardinian Warbler in Sussex : a new British Bird, by Thomas Parkin, M. A., F.z.s., M.B.O.U. 86 Notes : — Breeding of tlie Blue-headed Wagtail in Wiltshire (Gr. Dent). Canadian Crane in Ireland (H.F.W.). Nesting of the Avocet and Redshank in the Zoological Gardens (H. F. W.). Incubation Period of the Stone-Curlew (E. a. B. Meade-Waldo). The "Drumming" of the Snipe (H.F.W.). "Four Birds in a Long-tailed Tit's Nest" (Chas. E. Pearson). Migrating Birds Returning to the Same Place (Julian G-. Tuck). Meadow- Pipits Nesting in Holes (H. Trevelyan (Major)) 89 List of Books ... ... 94 Reviews : — The Birds of Kent. Histoi-y of the Collections con- tained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum (Part III., Birds) 95 THE RE-APPEARANCE OF THE RUFF AS A NESTING SPECIES IN NORFOLK. BY Miss E. L. TURNER, f.l.s. Everyone who takes an interest in the birds of this country will have the greatest satisfaction in learning that the RufP, so long lost to Norfolk as a breeding bird, has once more nested in the county. A few Ruffs and Reeves may be seen about the particular marshes of which I write every spring, and during the last 66 BRITISH BIRDS. two years young- birds have been shot at the end of the summer, so that, although the nest which I have had the good fortune to photograph this summer is the first which has been recorded since 1889, it is not improbable that others may have existed undiscovered. My excitement was intense when about two o'clock in the afternoon of June loth last, a keeper suddenly dropped into my cabin, without announcing himself, and told me he had found a Reeve's nest containing four eggs. We set off at once with my camera, and in a very short time T was standing about eight feet from the sitting bird. At first I could scarcely see her, as with head low down she crouched in her nest, until she seemed as a part of the surrounding herbage. We remained motionless some time, the Reeve and myself, while the keeper returned to the cabin for a hand camera. After a while, and before the hand camera arrived, the Reeve suddenly flew away, and then I was able to begin preparations for photographing. On this first occasion the preparations were rough and hasty, as I was keen to begin my task. First of all the eggs were exchanged with those of a Redshank, so that I might have no compunction in keeping the Reeve off the nest for several hours at a stretch. The nest, which closely resembled that of a Redshank, was placed in a tussock of rushes in the midst of low swampy ground, near to a dyke, and scarcely fifty yards from a well-used waterway. A hurdle thatched with reeds was fii"st placed on the ground about five feet from the nest, and on this was heaped some rough litter, and over all was spread an oilskin coat. On this I esconced myself with the camera, and then the keeper covered me up with rough sedge and grass. On the first day my chance was spoilt owing to a heavy thunderstorm which raged for upwards of an hour just after I had settled into my cover. I dared not move, for the Reeve was never far off, so when she came I dropped Miss E. L. TURNER : RUFF IN NORFOLK. 67 the shutter and took my chance, which resulted in failui-e, the rain having fog'g'ed the lenses. The next day I failed again — my fingers were too numb to press the ball at the right moment, and my eyes were blurred with long gazing through the criss-cross strands of grass that hid me. Depressed and limp, I crept back to my cabin and awaited the coming of another day. Success came on the 18th June, when I secured my first picture, and this was followed by two on the next day, and one on the 20th, after which I failed to induce the bird to return while the camera was in front of the nest. I had always much more difiiculty in getting the Reeve to face the stereoscopic camera than the ordinary single lens, and throughout she was a difficult subject, for in eight days I only secured four pictures out of six chances. The bird was seldom far away unless off on the feed, in which case she would return suddenly and run straight on to the nest, always approaching from the one direction. Grenerally, however, she would run to and fro, or take short flights over the marsh, or I would hear her s23lashing round me in the swamp, sometimes uttering a low note, resembling the quack of a duck more than anything else. Once she returned accompanied by a Redshank, which perched on my rubbish heap— a favourite " preening " place for all the birds in the neighbourhood — and for half-an-hour whistled and called. The Reeve meanwhile would move her head from side to side and look up at him, as if cheered in her loneliness by his neighbour- liness. On one occasion a Snipe ran across the foreground just as I dropped the shutter ; a fraction of a second later both Snipe and Reeve were side by side, and so I just missed a unique and doubly-interesting picture. I did not see a Ruff during my waiting hours, though to-day (July 6th) both a Ruff and a Reeve were seen in the locality of the Reeve's nest. The eggs of the Reeve closely resembled those of a 68 BRITISH BIRDS. Redshank, except that they were smaller and more pointed, the spots also being smaller and more evenly distributed over the egg than are those of the Redshank. The ground colour of this particular clutch was light greyish-green with reddish-brown spots, one egg in particular being much lighter than the other three. Unfortunately the eggs were infertile, and therefore all our solicitous care was expended over them in vain. One can only hope that, having made a beginning, these interesting birds will return to their old breeding haunts, especially as these marshes are now rigidly protected and every effort is being made to restore the feeding grounds to their old condition. [We may remind our readers that Mr. T. H. Nelson reported the nesting of the Ruff in Yorkshire in 1901, 1902 and 1903 ("Ibis," 1906, p. 735). We have good reason to believe that yet another Reeve nested in Norfolk this year, and, moreover, hatched off successfully, so that with the blessings of efficient protection we may hope to regain these most interesting birds as nesters. — Eds.] 69 THE SUPPOSED OCCURRENCE OF THE PACIFIC EIDER {80MATERIA V-NIGRUM) IN BRITISH WATERS. BY F. SMALLEY. Many ornithologists will doubtless remember the announce- ments which appeared in several papers during- the winter of 1904-05 relative to the supposed occurrence of an adult Pacific Eider drake (^Somateria v-nigrum) in Orkney waters. In the first number of this Magazine (p. 15), Mr. Saunders gives it as his opinion that this bird is only a Common Eider, and I have already expressed the same conviction in conjunction with Mr. J. L. Bonhote in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XIX., p. 80. Having made a thorough examination of the specimen in question, I am in a position to prove, beyond doubt, that it is not a Pacific Eider, but merely a Common Eider {S. mollissima) , showing an abnormal phase of pliunage, namely, an indistinct V-shaped mark on the throat. It will be well to give first the history of this bird, and also that of similar specimens which have been obtained since. In the winter of 1904, Mr. Clarke, the taxidermist of Scarborough, receiving an order to procure an adult Eider drake in the flesh, for Mr. Stubbs, of Oldham, wrote to George Sutherland, of Graemsay, Stromness, Orkney, requesting him to procure a good specimen. Sutherland secured a fine adult drake from one of the flocks passing Graemsay Light, and on reaching home both he and his uncle, Sam Sutherland, noticed a small and indistinct V-mark on the throat, but thought little of it at the time. "When the bird reached Mr. Stubbs he at once noticed the V-mark, and noted carefully the colour of the soft parts. Coming to the conclusion that the bird must be a Pacific 70 BRITISH BIRDS. Eider {S. v-nigruTn), Mr. Stubbs wrote Dr. Bowcller Sharpe to the effect that he had received an example of that species from Orkney, and that he was forwardmg the carcase and his notes. Dr. Sharpe in a reply dated 18th December, 1904, wrote : " We think that the Eider is really S. v-nigrum, but it would be more satisfactory if you would send me the specimen for examination." In due course the bird was sent up to London and exhibited at a meeting of the B.O. Club, held on January 18th, 1905, and Mr. Stubbs' identification was confirmed. The matter received much attention at the time, a full page illustration of the bird, from the brush of Mr. Lodge, was given in the '•' Illustrated London News," at least one other popular journal gave a figure, and the published notes on the subject were very many. In February, 1905, I journeyed to Orkney, making Stromness my headquarters as usual. I knew both George Sutherland and his uncle, Sam Sutherland, and I questioned them very closely as to the details of the drake which George had shot, and which, at the time, I fully believed, not having seen the bird, to be a true example of 8. v-nigrum. The bird, so far as the Sutherlands could see, had no great peculiarity about it, except that it was very white, being a fully adult male, and that it had a small V-mark on the throat, a mark very rarely seen, but which Sam Sutherland declared he had seen at least once before. On December 12th, 1905, my friend Mr. Robinson received an Eider drake, which showed an indistinct V-mark imder the chin. This bird was shot by Sam Sutherland off Graemsay, Orkney, on December 7th, 1905. Naturally Mr. Robinson and I thought this bird might be a Pacific Eider, but to make quite certain it was forwarded to the British Museum. It was carefully examined by Dr. Sharpe and Mr. Saunders, and the latter wrote me : " Dr. Sharpe and I devoted Friday and Saturday mornings to Eiders, and we make Mr. Robinson's drake a Common Eider." SM ALLEY: PACIFIC EIDER IN BRITISH WATERS. 71 On March 29th, 1906, I received from Sam Sutherland another adult drake showing a similar V-mark on the chin. In the foUowmg May I was in London, and by the kindness of Dr. Hartert, of Tring Musemn, Mr. J. L. Bonhote and I examined at our leisure the series of skins of the true 8. v-nigrum and compared them with the two drakes above mentioned. We all, that is. Dr. Hartert, Mr. Bonhote and myself, came to the conclusion that the birds obtained in Orkney were 8. molUssima, and not 8. v-nigrum. No one could possibly confuse the two species when seen side by '*■ I i A. Cliin and Throat of a male Pacific Eider (S. v-nigrum) ; B. Cliin and Tliroat of a male Common Eider {S. molUssima) sliowing an indistinct v-mark. side, the superior size, orange-coloured beak and legs (which remain orange when dry) and the long, bold, clear- 72 BRITISH BIRDS. cut, velvety-black Y-mark on the throat of the male 8. v-nigrum being at once unmistakable. This finaUj settled the identity of the two Eiders received by Mr. Robinson and myself, but there still remained the "Oldham bird," which had been pronomiced so definitely to be a specimen of the Pacific Eider. I was unable to see this bird until last January, when I found myself, in company with Mr. Robinson, in the Oldham Museum. As I fully expected, we fomid this specimen to be identical in every point with ours, and therefore I am now in a position to state that the supposed occiu'rence of >S'. v-nigrum in British waters is an error. Below are details of the measurements of one of the Orkney birds and a true ;S'. v-nigrum, collected for me by C. K. Worthen, Warsaw, Illinois. COMMON EIDER {Soma- teria mollisshnci) . Drake shot on March 26th, 1906, at Stromness, Orkney, N.B Age. — Third year, almost fully adult. Total length 245 inch. Wing llo „ Culmen 208 ,, Tarsus I'S ,, Length from tip of beak to apex of frontal angle 2-88 „ Width of frontal angle. "4 „ r-MARK. Length from apex to base 1-6 „ Length of base '8 ,, Thickness of V ... ... -18 ,, >S'. V-NIGBUM. Adult Male in full breeding plumage, shot on June 3rd, 1905, in Frankhn's Bay, North- West Territory. Age. — Four years or over, being fully adult. Total length 30-3 inch. Wing 11-3 „ Culmen 2"0 „ TarsKs 1'95 ,, Length from tip of Leak to apex of frontal angle 2"5 „ Width of frontal angle. '3 ,, r.MARK. Length from apex to base 3'3 „ Length of base 1'8 ,, Thickness of V '35 to '4 The following points of difference between the males of 8. v-nigrum and 8. mollissim.a should be carefully noted : — SM ALLEY: PACIFIC EIDER IN BRITISH WATERS. 73 Size. — S. v-nigrum is much larger, a bigger and heavier duck in every way. Beak. — In 8. v-nigrum, the colour is deej) orange, which is retained many years after death, and probably permanently. Frontal Processes. — The lateral and forward extensions of the frontal feathers in S. v-nigrum do not reach the posterior end of the nostrils, and have rounded instead of acute terminations. The extension of feathers on the chin extends beyond that on the sides of the bill, the reverse being the case in 8. m,ollissima. The Y-Mark. — In >S'. v-nigrum it is bold, with sharply cut edges ; is 3*3 inches from apex to base, and '3o to '4 inch in thickness, and is of the same velvety black shade as the feathers on the occiput, whereas the Y-mark in 8. moUissima is small, indistinct, with ragged edges, and " mouse-colour " would better define the shade than "black." The Green Patch on Sides op Head. — In 8. v-nigrum the green encroaches on the white on the sides of the head, and extends beyond the eye. In 8. mollissima it does 7iot encroach on the white on sides of head. Although Mr. Stubbs is quite as convinced as I am that the Oldham specimen is not 8. v-nigrum, yet he is not so certain that it is *S'. mollissima. In a letter to me dated March 23rd, 1907, he writes: "It would be as well to remember that our Eider (i.e. ' the Oldham bird '), if we leave out of consideration the black Y-mark, resembles, in its yellow bill and very falcate tertials (far more falcate than those of any other specimen of the genus I have seen), the variety known as the Northern Eider, 8. m. borealis of Ridge way." I do not consider 8. m. borealis a good species, and can find no single point in which the two differ, and certainly no well-defined and constant difference sufficient to warrant the two being separated even as subspecies. A 74 BRITISH BIRDS. fact which seems to have escaped the majority of writers is that all our adult drakes have a yellow base to the bill. Anyone who has shot and examined freshly killed birds will confirm this. As regards the very falcate tertials, I have examined many drakes possessing- these feathers quite as fully developed as in the Oldham specimen. Besides the three above mentioned, I know of two other specimens of 8. moUissima showing a V-mark, namely : — 1. A drake obtained by Mr. Abel Chapman off Holy Isle, in January, 1898. 2. A specimen shot by Sutherland, of Graemsay, in 1906, and sent to Mr. Clarke, of Scarborough, who can perhaps furnish further details as to exact date. It would be interesting if owners of Eider skins would look over their collections and give full particulars of any drakes they may find showing this indistinct V-mark. The fact that our Common Eider occasionally exhibits an indistinct Y-mark is to me far more interesting than the occurrence of a true S. v-nigrum in British waters could possibly have been, for it opens up a new field of thought and research for those interested in our avifauna. I believe I am correct in stating that in no work on the Common Eider [S. moUissima) is there any mention made of the occurrence of a Y-mark in some of the males, yet on the other hand, if we consult the works of American authors, we find that in the American Eider (S. dresseri) there is sometimes a trace of a black Y-mark on the chin indicating an approach to S. v-nigrum, {see Elliot Coues' "Key to North American Birds," Yol. II., p. 940, oth edition), and again in the so-called Noi-thern Eider {S. moUissima horealis) which, as I have previously stated, is identical with our owu S. moUissima, " a black Y is sometimes found on the throat " {see " The Wildfowl Family," by L. C. Sanford, p. 167). I can therefore see no valid reason why we should not expect to find a similar mark sometimes appearing in our own 8. m,oUissim,a. It seems to me that this Y-mark is simply a case of SM ALLEY: PACIFIC EIDER IN BRITISH WATERS. 75 " reversion " or what is known amongst breeders of pedigree stock as a "throw back" to some previous ancestor, the ancestor in this particular case being- probably some common type of Eider from which all present-day species originally sprang, and if this theory be correct we shall find the V-mark probably only in isolated cases. In conclusion I must return my very grateful thanks to Mr. Saunders, Dr. Sharpe, Mr. Stubbs, Dr. Hartert and Mr. Bonhote for rendering me every assistance in their power ; and I trust our joint labours have not been in vain. 76 NESTING HABITS OBSERVED ABROAD OF SOME RARE BRITISH BIRDS. BY F. C. SELOUS. Part III. (Continued from imge 51.) White-tailed Eagle. Haliaetus albicilla (L.). On February 8tli, 1895, whilst hunting wild goats on the Maimun Dagh, Asia Minor, I saw an Eagle, disturbed by some wood cutters, fly off a nest built on the decayed top of a large stone pine far below me, and with my glasses I thought I could see something white in the centre of the nest. On the evening of the same day I went down to examine the tree, and again put the bird off the nest, which had e\ddently been used for many years, as it was a huge structure, quite eight or nine feet in height, and six feet or so in diameter. I got up to the base of this nest without much difficulty, but could not get round it. Two days later I returned with some Turkish peasants, who chopped a passage up the side of the nest, and brought me down the one egg it contained, which was white, but small, I thought, for the egg of a White-tailed Eagle. Moreover, the tail of the bird, which flew off the nest, although whitish did not seem to me to be piu-e white, and at the time I did not feel quite sure as to its identity. Seven years later, however, early in February, 1902, I revisited the Maimun Dagh and took one egg from the same Eagle's nest oir February 8th, and a second on February 16th. At this date the entire tail of each bird appeared to be snow white, and there can be no doubt that they were White-tailed Eagles. On February 16th, as my Turkish companions and I were approaching the tree on which the nest was placed, we put one of the birds off. We then sat down to take a F. C. SELOUS : NESTING HABITS. 77 rest before getting up to the nest. Presently we saw one of the Eagles approaching, carrying something in its claws. It had evidently come to feed its mate, and was almost on the nest before it saw us, when dropping the bird it was holding it flew off again in a great hurry. Its prey proved to be a Coot, which had been caught amongst the reeds and coarse grass which grow round the edge of the large shallow salt pan which extends for many miles over the plain at the foot of the Maimun Dagh. Nest of the White-tailed Eagle on the borders of a salt lagoon in Asia Minor. There are no fish in this shallow salt lagoon, which is two hundred miles inland from Smyrna, so that this pair of White-tailed Eagles must live entirely on Coots, Ducks and other birds. Before coming to the Maimun Dagh in February, 1902, I had already taken several White-tailed Eagles' nests on the slopes of the wooded moiuitains above Lake Latmos, 78 BRITISH BIRDS. a few miles to the south of the spot where the Meander River enters the sea. In this district the White-tailed Eagle is a very common bird. My friend Mr. Hodder, who accompanied me on this trip, and who has lived for many years in Asia Minor, had taken a nest containing two much incubated eggs of this species on the previous Christmas Day. On January 20th, 1902, Mr. Hodder and I took three nests on the same mountain, and only a mile or so One from the other, and on February 1st and 2nd four more nests in the same district. Each of these nests contamed two eggs, some of which were fresh, whilst others were considerably incubated. There are no precipitous cliifs in this district over- looking the sea, and the White-tailed Eagle has therefore taken to nesting in trees. All the nests we found were placed on the tops of large stone pines, and some of them must have been used, and constantly added to, for many years. One was quite twelve feet in height, and must have contained a good waggon-load of sticks. Great White Heron. Ardea alba L. On the 18th of April, 1906, I visited, in company with Mr. J. C. Musters, a certain very large reed-covered swamp in Central Hungary, where we knew that a limited number of Great White Herons annually nested. In the course of the morning we found one nest con- taining three eggs, from which the sitting bird flew when my friend's boat was within a few yards of it. In the afternoon we foimd a second nest, quite 300 yards away from the first. This nest also contained three eggs, from which the sitting bird did not fly until my boat was quite close to it. The eggs in both these nests were very much incubated, and must have been laid at the end of March. The nests, built of reeds, were large, solid structures, placed on bent down growing reeds, at a height of about six feet above r. the water C. SELOUS : NESTING HABITS. 79 They were exactly like the nests of Purple Herons I have taken in Spain and Hungary. The eggs in both nests of Great White Herons were very light in colour, as light in fact as the eggs of Buff-backed Herons. ,;, , i --^^-^ :. i-HSP^i A Nesting-place of the Great White Heron in Central Hungary. The Hungarian fishermen who took us into the reed-bed in their small flat-bottomed boats told us that the Great White Herons never nested in colonies, but that the nests were always some distance one from another. It is, however, I think, quite possible that, in countries where these birds are still numerous and unmolested, they may breed in colonies like other species of Herons. 80 BRITISH BIRDS. Baillon's Crake. Porzana hailloni (Vieill.). I found a number of nests of Baillon's Crake in Hungary in 1899 and 1902, and also in the south of Spain in 1900. The following note of the nesting habits of this species is copied from the journal I kept in 1899 : — " I went with two men into the swamp after the Baillon's Crakes. The swamps in this district are more like flooded meadows, hundreds of acres in extent, with water about a foot in depth on a hard bottom, and grass and water plants, with here and there a kind of fine rush growing up to a height of one, two or three feet above the water. "The two nests of Baillon's Crakes which we found during the morning were in little tufts of this rush-like grass, very small, and their bases just resting on the water, but the cup of the nest quite dry. These nests were so well hidden that they were quite invisible without a very close scrutiny. In one nest there were eight eggs, in the other nine. In the afternoon we found a third nest, with four eggs. This nest was beautifully hidden in a little tuft of fine rushes. It was composed of green grass-like rush stalks, and was not more than from three to four inches in diameter." The nests of Baillon's Crake which I found in reedy pools and swamps in the south of Spain, not far from Seville, were not so well concealed as those I had pre- viously found in Hungary. In several cases the thin reeds amongst which the nests were placed had been bent over above the floating nest, at once attracting one's attention to it from a considerable distance. In Hungary I took nests of Baillon's Crake with full clutches of eggs during the last week in May, whilst in Spain I found this species nesting about a month earlier. (To be continued.) 81 ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BIRDS SINCE 1899.^ BY H. F. WITHERBY and N. F. TICEHURST. Part II. (Continued from page 56.) DARTFORD WARBLER Sylvia undata (Bodd.). S. page 55. Norfolk. —One identified by Mr. A. Napier on the sea-bank at Vv^ells, 15tli December, 1905. " Always a rai-e bird in Norfolk " (J. H. Gurney, Zoologist. 1906, p. 137). Mr. Saunders states that it nests in Norfolk, but on the cover of part VIII. of his Manual, he mentions that exception had been taken to this statement by two great authorities on the birds of Norfolk. He hoped to prove the correctness of the assertion before the work was finished, but no further informa- tion is given Shropshire. — Two pairs nesting near Ludlow in 1903 (H. E. Forrest, t.c, 1903, p. 349). Staffordshire. — Evidence given of its having probably nested near Cannock Chase about 1870 (F. C. R. Jourdain, t.c, 1903, p. 424). This bird has been " apparently extending its range both westward and northward of late years " (S. page 55). GOLDEN-CRESTED WRENBegiihiscristatusKoch. S.page57. Outer Hebrides. — Breeding at Stornoway, in 1906 (N. B. Kinnear (Ann. Scot. Nat. Ri.st., 1907, p. 18). The Goldcrest was not previously known to nest in the Outer Hebrides. FIRE-CRESTED WREN Begulus ignicapillus [C. L. Brehm). S. page 59. Wales — Bwlch, BreconsMre. — ^A male and female were shot * Correspondents who have kindly noted omissions and errors in tliis record, will find tliem incorporated, with other additions, at the conclusion of this series of articles. 82 BRITISH BIRDS. on February 27th, 1899 (E. Cambridge Phillips, Knowledge, 1899, p. 84). There is only one previous record of its occurrence in Wales. In December, 1905, and the earlier part of 1906, two were recorded from Kent, one from Surrey, and one from Dorset. YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER PhylLoscopus superciliosus (Gm.). S. page 61. Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A male shot on September 25th, 1905, and six seen between September 19tli and 25th, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1906, pp. 21 and 237, and 1907, p. 74). Outer Hebrides, Skerry vore Lt. — One captured September 21st, 1906 (J. Tomison, t.c, 1907, p. 25). SciLLY, Tresco. — A male knocked down with a stick on October 1st, 1905 (J. Clark and F. R. Rodd, Zoologist, 1906, p. 245). Nine authentic occurrences of this Siberian Warbler had been previously recorded in England, one in Scotland, and one in Ireland. GREENISH WILLOW- WARBLER Phylloscopus viridanus Blyth. S. page 65. Sutherlaxdshire, SulesJcerry Lighthouse. — A male struck the lantern of this lighthouse, which is on a rocky islet some 40 miles west of Hoy, Orkney, and the same distance N.E. of Cape Wrath, on September 5tli, 1902, and was sent to Mr. W. Eagle Clarke in the flesh (H. Saunders, Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XIII., p. 12). This is only the second occurrence of this Asiatic Warbler in the British Isles. CHIFFCHAFF Phylloscopus rufus (Bechst.) S. page 67. Shetlands, Utist. — 'A good number from April 15th to 26th, 1904 " (T. E. Saxby, Zoologist, 1904, p. 230). Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A male shot, October 10th, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 74). Outer Hebrides, i?an-a. — One shot November 18th. and one November 20th, 1899 (W. L. MacGillivray, t.c, 1900, p. 121). The Chiffchaff has previously never been recorded as occurring in the Shetlands, and very doubtfully in the Outer Hebrides. WILLOW- WREN Phylloscopus trochilus (L.). S. page 69. Shetlands. — Two nests found and other birds observed building in May, 1901 (C. A. Sturrock, t.c, 1901, pp. 194-6.) The Willow -Wren has not previously been recorded as breeding either in the Orkneys or Shetlands. ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 83 WOOD- WEEN Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Bechst.). S. page 71. Isle of Man. — Heard in May, 1901, in Rhenass Glen ; in May, 1905, at Ballamoar, and a number at Ballacowle (P. G. Ralfe, Birds I.O.M., p. 26). Previously unrecorded in the Isle of Man. ICTERINE WARBLER Hypolais iderina (Vieill.). S. page 75. Norfolk, Cromer.— One shot on September 5th, 1899 (E. C. Arnold, Zool., 1899, p. 475). Blakeney. — One shot September 18th, 1903, and one seen (?) September 26th, 1905 (J. H. Gurney, t.c, 1904, p. 209, and 1906, p. 134). nolkham.—One seen by A. Napier, September 20th, 1903 (id., 1904, p. 212). Kentish Knock (Lightship). — One seen September 22nd, 1903 (W. E. Clarke, Ibis, 1904, p. 136). Sussex. — A male shot at Peasmarsh, near Rye, on June 26th, 1905 (J. B. Nichols, Zool, 1905, p. 349). Isle of Wight. — A female taken at St. Catherine's Light- house, on September 29th, 1905 (H. F. Witherby, Bull. B.O.C , XVI., p. 23). Although common on the Continent, this Warbler apparently seldom comes to our shores. Mr. Saunders admitted only eight authentic occurrences. Amongst those recorded above several examples were seen but not obtained and it is unsafe to admit these as thoroughly authentic examples owing to the similai'ity of this species to the Melodious Warbler. MELODIOUS WARBLER Hypolais polyglotta (Vieill.). S. page 77. Sussex.— A male shot at Ninfield, 10th May, 1900 (W. R. Butterfield, Ihis, 1900, p. 569). Devon.— In May, 1897, the Rev. M. A, Mathew heard near Lyme Regis, two warblers which he concluded were Icterines {cf. S. page 77). In May, 1898, in the same place, he heard a number of the same Warblers (3 one day and 12 on another day). Two or three were seen at close quarters, and Mr. Mathew came to the conclusiou that they were Melodious Warblers, that the birds nested, and that this species '" may now be regarded to have established itself as a summer migrant to this extreme south-east corner of Devon " {Zool., 1898, p. 265). Ireland. — One shot on September 23rd, 1905, at the Old Head Lighthouse, Kinsale, co. Cork (R. M. Barrington, Irish N., 1906,' p. 157). This species does not range so far north on the Continent as the Icterine. It has in several cases been suspected as breeding in this country, and the birds have been heard and seen, but 84 BRITISH BIRDS. previous to the two birds above- mentioued, only one specimen had been actually obtained. "RE ED- WARE LEE Acrocephalm streperus (Vieill.). S. page 79. Pair Isle (Shetlands). — A male was shot on September 23rd, 1906. The Reed Warbler has never before been authenticated as occurring in Scotland (W. E. Clarke and N. B. Kinnear, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1906, p. 236). MARSH WARBLER Acrocephalus palustris (Bechst.). S. page 80. Kent. — Nest and eggs found on June 23rd, 1905 (C. Ingram. Bull. B.O.C.,XV.,-p. 96). Sussex — Nest and eggs found, on July 2ud, 1903 (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.O., XIV., p. 23). Wiltshire. — Nest and eggs found in an osier bed near Stapieford, on the Wylye, 18th June, 1900 (H. S. Hall, ZooL, 1900, p. 555). [Surrey. — One seen almost daily from 24th April till 8th May, J 907, at Penn Ponds, by E. K. Ford (t.c, 1907, pp. 98-99). The early date when this bird was first noticed throws doubt on the accuracy of the record.] [Norfolk. — Nest and eggs, supposed to be of this species, found on May 24th, 1906, near Fakenham (J H. Grurney, t.c, 1907, p. 128), but the position of the nest (on the side of a tussock in a bog) and the eai'ly date, make the correct identifica- tion improbable ] These are extensions of the known breeding range of this bird, but still very little is known of its status in the British Isles. This is no doubt due to the difficulty of distinguishing the bird from the Reed-Warbler. In the Zoologist for 1906 (pp. 401-409) Mr. Warde Fowler, who has watched the Marsh VVarbler year after year in Oxfordshire, gives a valuable sum- mary of his notes on its habits. He says that they arrive generally in the beginning of June; for nesting they like a large space of flat alluvial ground with bits of cover, such as thick, tall plants, here and there; the nest is always three or four feet from the ground, and may be distinguished from that of the Reed- Warbler bv being less deep and solid, and by having obvious "basket handles." Interesting details are given of the eggs, young birds, song and coloration. GREAT REED-WARBLER Acrocephalus turdoides (Meyer). S. page 83. Sussex. — One shot near St. Leonards on Sept. 25th, 1903 (M. J. Nicoll, Bull. B.O.C., XIV., pp. 18 and 25) ; a male shot at Bexhill on May 1st, 1905 (J. B. Nichols, Zool, 1905, p. 268). ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 85 Hants. — One obtained at Christcliurcli on May 10th, 1900 {Birds of Hants, p. 30). Norfolk:. — One seen at fifteen yards by Rev. C. M Bird on May 1st, 1906, at Horning (J. H. Gnrney,'Zool., 1907, p. 132). Surrey. — "There is an undoubted example in the Charter- house collection, which was shot by Mr. .7. P. Stafford in the spring of 1858, at Ockford Pond, G-odalming, the authenticity of which there seems no reason to doubt, " (J. A. Bucknill, Birds of Surrey, p. 41.) [SciLLY. —A bird, supposed to be of this species, was shot by David Smith, on the Long Pool at Tresco, but though he had it in his hand, it succeeded in escaping. " His description of the bird left no reasonable doubt as to its identity " (James Clark and F. K. Kodd, Zool, 1906, p. 246).] Very few of these birds have visited England (only some seven have been previously recorded) although they nest at Calais, and plentifully in Holland. AQUATIC WAEBLEE Acrocephalus aquaticus (Grm.). S. page 87. Hampshire, Christcliurcli. — One shot by Hart in September, 1876 (Birds of Hants, p. 30) ; Farlington Marsh — -a male caught by a dog, September 20th, 1897 (J Pratt, Knowledge, 1897, p. 290) : Isle of Wight — a voung female killed at St. Catherine's Lighthouse. September 29th, 1 905 (H. F. Witherby, BnU. B.O.G., XVL, p. 23). Sussex, Brighton. — One seen, September 7th, 1897 (J. Pratt, Knowledqe, 1897, p 290) ; Winchelsea - a male and female shot, August 8th and 11th, 1902 (J. L. Bonhote, Bull. B.O.C., XIIL, p. 13) ; Bye — Adult (^ shot, and several more seen, August 18tli, 1905"(M. J. Nicoll, Bull. B.O.C., XVI., p. 22). Norfolk, Blalcetiey. — An adult sliot, September 9th, 1902 (J. H. Gurney, Zool, 1903, p. 133) ; Wells— One, September 19th, 1903, seen (?), (id., 1904, p. 210) ; Cley— One, September 15th, 1904 (id., 1905, p. 96). Ireland. — A voung male taken at the Bull Rock Lighthouse, CO. Cork, September 20th, 1903 (E. M. Barrington, Irish N., 1903, p. 300). Mr, Saunders admitted five authentic cases of the occurrence of this bird in England and none for Ireland. The Aquatic is much like the Sedge Warbler in general appearance ; but the broad buff line down the centre of the crown distinguishes it at once when seen at close quarters. It seems probable that the bird visits our coasts in small numbers every year in the autumn. ( To be continued.) 86 ) THE SARDINIAN WARBLER IN SUSSEX: A NEW BRITISH BIRD. BY THOMAS PARKIN, m.a., f.z.s., m.b.o.u. On the evening of Tuesday, June 4th, of this year (1907), a Sardinian Warbler, 8ylvia Tnelanocei^hala (Gmel.) was brought to me in the flesh, for identification, by Mr. G. Bristow, taxidermist, of Silchester Road, St. Leonards- on-Sea. It had been killed the day before in a bramble Sardinian Waeblee f Si/lvia melanocephala (Gm.)). Male shot June 3rd, 1907, near Hastings. bush, in the neighbourhood of Hastings, and proved on dissection to be a male. T. PARKIN: SARDINIAN WARBLER IN SUSSEX. 87 The bird was exhibited on June 19th before the British Ornithologists' Club, on my behalf, by Mr. C. B. Ticehurst, and from the remarks then made, it appears that this is the first really authentic occurrence of this species recorded in the British Islands, though Mr. Howard Saunders in his " Manual of British Birds " [2nd ed., p. 46 (1899)] states that "Mr. W. D 'Urban saw what was apparently a bird of this species in his garden at Exmouth, on April 16th, 1890," and, in continuation, Mr. Saunders writes : *' There is not the least improbability of this bird occurring in the British Isles, since it is common in the South of France and the Peninsula." Mr. H. E. Dresser, in his " Manual of Palsearctic Birds," gives the habitat of this species as " The Mediterranean area, from Portugal, Spain, and South of Prance to Asia Minor and Palestine, wintering in North Africa " ; and in his " Birds of Europe " he states that this species is common in the South of France and Portugal, extremely nmnerous in Spain, that in Italy it is found in Liguria, southwards into Sicily, but had not up to that time been noticed in Piedmont ; it has been recorded in Malta, where it is likely that it sometimes breeds ; it is also resident and tolerably numerous in Greece, and has been observed near Trieste, and is found along the banks of the Danube in Bessarabia, and several specimens have also been obtained near Constantinople. Mr. Dresser adds that it breeds in the Uman district of Southern Russia, where, however, it is a very rare species, and that it occurs in Asia Minor, is common in North Africa, as it is also in Algeria and the Atlas in winter ; and we further learn that it is numerous in Eastern Morocco, has been met with in Timis, and that it inhabits the Canary Islands. I can personally speak as to the abundance of this species in Southern Spain (Andalucia) and Algeria, and that it is not micommon in the Canary Islands ; I, however, never met with it in Tunis, though I made many excursions in the regency. Gatke mentions one occurrence in 88 BRITISH BIRDS. Heligoland, on the authority of Reymers, who obtained one "many years ago" [cf. "Birds of Heligoland," p. 278). In its habits the Sardinian Warbler apjDears to be one of the most active and restless of its kind, though shy and retiring by nature, a fact especially noticeable in the females. The bird has been well described as a miniature Blackcap, and from its likeness to Sylvia atricapilla, wanderers to this country might easily escape observation, though as far as the adult male is concerned, the slaty- blue appearance of the bird, together with its white throat, and smaller size, should at once distinguish it from the Blackcap. OTES BREEDING OF THE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL IN WILTSHIRE. Having seen some Yellow Wagtails {MotaciUa raii) earlier in the year, in a water meadow by the Kennet, near Marlborough, I went again to look for them at the end of last May. In a corner of the meadow close to the river I came upon a pair of birds which at first I took to be Yellow Wagtails, but on closer examination they proved to be the Blue-headed Wagtail {MotaciUa jiava). They were feeding young ones, and became very excited when I aj)proached the nest. I did not, however, discover the nest till June 4th, on which date the young, five in number, were about eight or nine days old. The nest was made of a little moss and dead grass, lined with horse and cow hair, and was placed in a slight hollow among long grass and burdock at the foot of a stem of the latter. I was able to put the identity of the old birds beyond all doubt by comparing them through a fieldglass with a pair of Yellow Wagtails in the same field. The male Blue- headed Wagtail had the forehead, crown and nape bluish- grey, a white streak over the eye, and a dark line through the eye, a faint light mark below the eye, and below that again a narrow grey line; the throat white; the back olive-brown ; the tail-coverts not so green as the back ; the central tail-feathers black, the outer ones white ; the flight feathers brown edged with a yellowish colour, and a light bar on the secondaries ; the underparts bright sulphur-yellow ; the beak and legs black. The female was olive on the forehead, crown, nape, cheeks and back, light yellow, almost white, on the throat, a white mark over the eye, and a patch on the cheek, the underparts bright yellow but a little paler than the male, which in other respects she resembled. The young, about a week after leaving the nest, had the forehead, crown, nape and back dull brown, much darker on the side of the head than on the top, a white line over the eye and a dark brown line through it, below this another light line, and below this a dark brown, almost black, line, surrounding the throat, 90 BRITISH BIRDS. which was buff^ and forming a conspicuous dark mark on the upper part of the breast, the underparts buff with a pinkish tinge, the wings and tail the same as in the adults but slightly browner, the legs pinkish brown, beak brown. A few days before they were able to fly, the young, when approached, would scramble out of the nest, and, running off, would hide among the long grass. The old birds were very tame, and ran about close by over the weeds on the surface of the river, which is at this part covered with a thick mat of ranunculus. Their call note is rather louder and sharper than that of the Yellow Wagtail, and is more often repeated. When the young were in the nest the old birds took them large insects and caterpillars about every three or four minutes. G. Dent. [Mr. Dent is to be congratulated not only on his powers of discrimination but upon the very thorough way in which he has carried out his observations. The details he gives are so full and accurate that his record of the breeding of the Blue-headed Wagtail in Wiltshire can be, in our opinion, unreservedly accepted. During the last few years it has become known that this bird is a regular spring visitor to the south-eastern corner of England, and that a few pairs remain to breed. We hope shortly to publish an article on the "Yellow Wagtails and their position in the British Avifauna," by Dr. N. F. Ticehurst, and our readers will then be in j)ossession of full details of recent discoveries concerning these interesting birds. —Eds.] CANADIAN CRANE IN IRELAND. In the " Irish Naturalist " for July, 1907 (p. 209), Mr. A. R. Nichols records that a specimen of the Canadian Crane {Grus canadensis) was shot on September 14th, 1905, near the sea-shore at Galley Head, near Clonakiltv, Co. Cork. The taxidermists who moimted the bird said that it was in a "very spent condition." It showed no signs of having been kept in confinement, and Mr. Nichols claims for it that it was a genuine wild bird. This view I cannot endorse. The probabilities are much greater in favour of its being an escape from captivity than a wanderer from America. The bird ranges across North America, from Alaska to NOTES. 91 Hudson's Bay, but east of this it is not fomid, or is, at all events, very rare. It migrates south to Mexico, Florida, and Cuba. With such a range it would be a most remarkable performance for the bird to wander to Ireland. With regard to the probability of its being an escape, I cannot do better than quote from a letter from the Duchess of Bedford, who has such a great experience of birds in captivity. Her Grace writes : — " Our Canadian Cranes are aU. pinioned, but I think it would be very unwise to assume that the one shot in Ireland was a genuine migrant. Many people keep one or two Cranes which are never heard of outside their own properties, not to speak of the birds whicli might escape from some of the more famous collections in France, Holland, etc. Some of our Manchurian Cranes, Flamingoes, Pelicans, etc., which have escaped from Woburn would show absolutely nO sign of captivity. They came with c^d wings only, were turned out in the jjark, and, after moulting, flew about the park for some time and then went off," The fact that the bird was shot as long ago as 1905 and has only just been recorded makes it practically impossible to trace whether anyone had lost such a bird at that time. H.F.W. NESTING OF THE AVOCET AND EEDSHANK IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. Mr. E.. I. PococK contributes an interesting article to the " Avicultural Magazine " (1907, p. 258) on the nesting of the Avocet (Beciirvirostra avocetta) in the waders' aviary of the London Zoological Gardens this spring. Three eggs were laid and they all hatched out, but two of the young were accidentally killed. The period of incubation was, as nearly as can be computed, twenty-four days, instead of seventeen as previously stated. When about a week old, the surviving cbick was seen " to make use of the lateral sweeping action to skim floating particles off the surface of the water," although the bill at the time had scarcely a perceptible trace of tilt. This is the tirst recorded instance of the Avocet breeding in captivity. In the same magazine (p. 274) it is recorded that a Redshank {Totamis caliclris) hatched a brood of three on Judo 28th in the same aviary. This is also a first instance of this species breeding in captivity. TT F W 92 BRITISH BIRDS. INCUBATION PERIOD OF THE STONE-CURLEW. The exact period of incubation of many birds is often not well recorded, and the following observations concerning- the Stone-Curlew {G^dicnemus scolopax) may be worth noting. May 23rcl — one egg laid early in the day. May 25th — second egg laid late in the day, and incubation commenced. June 20th — fii-st yomig one hatched in the morning ; and the second egg with a large hole, and the young one calling within the shell. June 21st— both young had left the nest. The period of incubation was thus in this instance from twenty-six to twenty-seven ^^^^' E. G. B. Mbade-Waldo. THE "DRUMMING" OF THE SNIPE. An interesting paper on the " drumming " or " bleating " of the Snipe was read by Mr. P. H. Bahr before the Zoological Society, and is published in the " Proceedings " of that Society for 1907 (pp. 12-35). After discussing the various theories which have been advanced to account for the sound, Mr. Bahr gives excellent proof that in the Common Snipe (Gallinago ccelestis), at all events, the " bleat " is produced by the two outer tail-feathers. As the bird makes the downward swoop, the two outer tail- feathers are held widely spread beyond the others — ^almost at right angles to the body — as may easily be seen with a pair of binoculars, but in addition to this Mr. Bahr states that he can distinctly see these feathers vibrating during the performance of the " bleat." By fixing these feathers to corks and whirling them through the air, Mr. Bahr demonstrated that the sound could be reproduced. There appear to be no special muscles to control the outer tail-feathers, but the muscles at the base of the feathers are suflficiently well developed to perform this function. Ill structure these feathers differ fi'om the rest of the tail- feathers. The shaft is firm, the outer web narrow with easily separable rami, the inner web extremely broad with long stiff rami firmly held together. It is this latter portion of the feather which produces the sound — the radii, branching from the rami, being firmly interlocked by means of the hamuli and ciUa, which are exceptionally well developed. It is, indeed, the great size of the hamuli which furnishes the "essential factor in producing the ' bleat,' in that they hold the stiff rami together like the strings of a harp." In the other tail-feathers the hamuli are fewer and not so well curved, nor so thick. It NOTES. 93 appears that towards the time of moulting the cilia become worn away and the feathers lose much of their "bleating" power. Mr. Bahr gives June 25th as a late date to hear the " drum- ming," but I may mention that I have just heard and watched Snipe "bleating" to-day (July 7th) in Hampshire. In the Jack Snipe {Galliuago gallinula) the outer tail-feathers have not this specialized structure, and the author, failing to reproduce the sound, suspects that its production must be accounted for by some other mechanism. ![Sf either do the feathers of the Great Snipe (GalUnago major) produce any sound, and here, too, the rami are soft and easily separable, and the sound produced by the bird, which is of a " snapping" nature, seems to be vocal. In other Snipe, in which the " bleat" is of varying intensity and pitch, some of the tail-feathers seem to be responsible foV the sound. H.F.W. "FOUE BIRDS IN A LONG-TAILED TIT'S NEST." With further reference to this subject [antea, page 62), though Mr. Lechner's arg-ument appears reasonable it is not absolute proof, as the two extra birds may not have been parents. Last year, for instance, I saw Hedge Sparrows feeding young Thrushes, and this season a Hedge Sparrow was helping a Chiffchaff to feed its young ones. Chas. E. Pearson. [Other correspondents have given us iiistances of young birds being fed by old ones other than their parents. We have yet to obtain absolute proof that large clutches of Long-tailed Tits' eggs are produced by more than one hen. — Eds.] MIGRATING BIRDS RETURNING TO THE SAME PLACE. With reference to Mr. V. Wilson's note on this subject, I may say that last year I had a curious and perhaps unique clutch of three Cuckoos' eggs in a Meadow Pipit's nest (see "Zoologist," 1906, p. 276), which were evidently the produce of threp different Cuckoos. This year, in the same locality. Cuckoos' eggs of the same three types have been found in Meadow Pipits' nests, which I have no doubt at all were laid by the same birds. Hereabouts the Sedge- Warbler is the favourite foster-parent, and in each of the years 1895, 1896, and 1897 I found, within 94 BRITISH BIRDS. an area of a square quarter-mile, a large, oval, light-coloured Cuckoo's egg in a Sedge- Warbler's nest, and in this case the bird must have returned to the same haunt for three successive seasons. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Julian G. Tuc'k. MEADOW-PIPITS NESTING IN HOLES. On the 16th of May last, on a small marine island about one mile off the west coast of Ireland, I found two nests of the Meadow-Pipit (Anthus pratensis) containing eggs, in holes in the ground. The nests were placed at such a distance from the entrances of the holes as to ensm*e cover from view, and from rain above, i.e., each nest was provided with a roof. The island, uninhabited by man, was used as a grazing ground for sheep, and the grass was so shoi't as to afford no cover for a nest. My inference is that the birds finding the spot otherwise suitable for nesting purposes, adapted themselves to the circumstances, and took the best cover available. In order that there might be no doubt as to the owners of the nests, I referred one of them, with its eggs, to the Natural History Museum, where they were identified as those of the Meadow-Pipit. H. Treveltan (Major). LIST OF BOOKS. Notes on the Birds of Rutland, by C. Reginald Haines. Illustrated. (Porter.) 7s. 6d. net. The Birds of Kent, by W. J. Davis. Map and one illustration. (Dartford : J. & W. Davis.) 6s. net. The Birds of the British Isles, by Charles Stonham. Parts V. and VI. Illustrated. (Grant Richards.) 7s. 6d. each. Annual Report and Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Chib, 1906-7. This excellent report contains references to birds in the Zoological Section by J. R. B. Masefield, and in Bird Notes for 1906 by W. Wells Bladen. The following observations may be noted: — A Little Owl (Athene noctua) shot in October, 1906; a suspected Blue-headed Wagtail seen near Cheadle ; and a Golden Oriole identified at Stone in June, 1906. We take this opportunity of asking Honorary Secretaries of local Natural History Societies and , Field Clubs to send us copies of their reports and transactions as published. REVIEW5 The Birds of Kent. B7 William J. Davis. Map and one illustration. J. & W. Davis, Dartford. 1907. 6s. net. The county of Kent is of such importance ornithologically. tliat it is a subject for wonder and regret that no authoritative history of its avifauna has hitherto been published. Several small works there are, that have appeared at long intervals, dealing with specified areas, but taken together they do not cover more than half the area of the county. It was therefore with feelings of eager anticipation that we turned to this volume, the first that purports to deal with the birds of the whole county. Our hopes were, however, soon turned to disappointment, for we found that it consisted almost entirely of the author's previously issued " Birds of the Dart- ford District," with copious extracts from Prentis' " Birds of Eainham," and Dowker's " Birds of East Kent." A few quota- tions fi'om the " Field " and one or two from the " Zoologist" are added, but no systematic attempt has been made to cull the mass of material that is to be found in the pages of these and other publications. Several of the local faunas, too, do not appear to have been consulted, and the county museum collections have hai'dly been mentioned. In any book dealing with the Birds of Kent we should expect such species as the Golden Oriole, Dartford Warbler and Kentish Plover to be treated of fairly exhaustively. Turning to the first- named we find that the author mentions two birds that were seen near Dartford, and the rest of the account consists of two short quotations, one from the "Field" and the other from Dowker. The account of the Dai'tford Warbler is substantially the same as that in the " Birds of the Dartford District," and though taking up more than the average amount of space is singularly meagre in information as to this bird's past history and present status in the county. The remarks about the Kentish Plover consist solely of parts of an article in "Country Life" by Mr. Farren, whose observations were founded upon only a day or two's experience, and though accurate are hardly satisfying as a history of such an essentially Kentish species. liegarding breeding records of other birds, to take one family alone — the Ducks — we find no mention made of the breeding of the Shoveller, Glarganey, Shieldrake, and Tufted Duck, all well established and authenticated at the present day. Again, the important subject of migration is not touched upon. Further details of the author's omissions would only prove wearisome, and, uiifortunately, these are not his only short- 96 BRITISH BIRDS. comings. Incidentally we note tbat Sabine's Snipe, and Larun capistratvs are retained as good species ; we read that " The Kittiwake is partly migratory in winter, leaving then for the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions," and the Common Tern " leaves our shores in early autumn for the Faleearctic region as far as Central Siberia.'^ Both of these are surprising statements enough, but are only samples of similar ones that occur over and over again. Mr. Byron's personal observations of the Birds of Thanet, which form an appendix at the end of the book, are evidently those of a painstaking field-naturalist, and will, no doubt, prove vei'y useful to anyone essaying the task of writing the History of the Birds of Kent, for as such the present volume can hardly be taken as a serious attempt. We hear, however, that another volume on this subject is in preparation, and we hope that we may be able to extend to it a better welcome. N.F.T. History of the Collections contained in the Natural History .Departments of the British Museum. Part III., Birds. By R. Bowdler Sharpe. Issued by direction of the Trustees. This wonderfully full and painstaking history of the growth of our National collection of birds and birds' eggs — the finest in the world — must necessarily be of great interest to all ornithologists. Dr. Sharpe divides his account into three parts. The first consists of a "general sketch," in which he tells how the collection originated and how it gradually grew, and how the conditions of storing and exhibiting the collection were improved from the time of the purchase of Colonel Montagu's collection m 1816 to the present day. During Dr. Sbarpe's own term of office, from 1872, the collection has grown in wonderful fashion. At that date Dr. Sharpe reckons the total number of specimens at 35,000, while to-day it is not less than 400,00u, a growth which betokens a whole-hearted zeal on the part of the officials of this department. In the second portion of the book we have a chronological account of the chief accessions, while the third part is devoted to an alphabetical list of the principal donors and others from whom specimens have been i-eceived. This latter portion of the book is perhaps the most interesting, since it shows not only how splendidly the collection has been enriched by such ornithologists as F. D. Godman, Allan O. Hume, R. C. Wardlaw Ramsay, P. L. Selater, Henry Seebohm, the author himself, and others, but also gives in fact a short biography of every British ornithologist of any note. BRITISnDIRDS EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S, M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S, M.B.O.U. Contents of Number 4. September 2, 1907. On the Nesting of a Pair of Herons on Dungeness Beach, by N. F. Ticehurst, M.A., F.K.c.s.ENG. ... ... ... Page 97 Nestling Birds, and Some of the Problems they present, by W. P. Py craft, A.L.S., F.z.s., M.B.O.U. (Part I.) ... 102 Nesting Habits observed abroad of some Eare British Birds, by F. C. Selous (Part IV.) — continued from page ^Q 107 On the More Important Additions to our Knowledge of British Bh-ds since 1899, by H. F. Witherby and N. F. Ticehurst (Part III.) — continued from page 'Ao ... ... 109 "Wind and Flight, by F. W. Headley, M.A., M B.O.U. (Part I.) ... 115 Notes : — Occurrence of the Fieldfare in August (F. W. Frohawk). The Nuthatch as a Nest -Builder (Philip H. Bahr). Brambling in June in Yorkshire (T. A. Coward). Southern Grrey Shrike in Norfolk. Number of Eggs laid bv the Cuckoo (F. Kerry). A Clutch of White Eggs of the Woodcock (A. Landsborough Tliomson). The Pacific Eider (Fred. Stubbs). The Tail-Feathers of the Grebes; etc., etc. 122 Keview : — Notes on the Birds of Eutland ... ... ... 128 Book of the Month 128 ON THE NESTING OF A PAIR OF HERONS ON DUNGENESS BEACH. BY N". F. TICEHURST, m.a., f.b.c.s.eng. The following- account of a nest of the Common Heron [Ardea cinerea L.) built in the middle of a small pool of water is worth recording-, as being a dejiarture from the usual nesting habits of this bird in the British Islands. The pool is one of a number of small ones adjacent to the larger ones in the centre of Dimgeness beach, in Kent, 98 BRITISH BIRDS. which are the home of a flourishing- and well-known colony of Black-headed Gulls. It lies a little out of the way of the ordinary visitor to the Gull pits, and the watcher himself seldom visits it. On May 27th, this year, he took me to inspect the nest, liaving seen it for the first time himself only a day or two before. As we aj^proached, two birds flew away from the shingle near the margin of the pool, and a subsequent closer view of them convinced me that they were quite young birds of the year. I found the pit to be about a hundred yards long by thirty broad, roughly oval in outline, considerably depressed ])elow the surrounding beach, and containing only a small area of open water at the south end. On the north, east, and half of the west sides it was choked up with treacherous floating bog, supporting a dense growth of bulrushes and reeds, the old brown stems of which were about five feet liigh, while amongst them were new green ones of half that height. The bog also formed a margin six or eight yards wide at the south-west end, but the reed growth was here scanty. In the open water, about two yards distant from this margin, the nest was situated, supported by and completely covering a clump of vegetation of the same character as the surrounding bog. It was built entirely of the long, dark brown stems of the common dock, many of them up to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and projecting a foot or more from the main wall of the nest. Its diameter, viewed at a distance of six feet, appeared to be fully three feet, and its height from the surface of the water two and a half feet. The hollow in the centre was about six inches deep, and was lined with the finer twigs of the same plant. The old birds have been seen by the watcher (who is a thoroughly reliable man) in the neighbourhood of these pits for several summers past, but knowing that Herons usually build in trees, he had never thought to look for a nest in the pits before. N. F. TICEHURST : NESTING OF HERONS. 99 On the next day I I3ut up the two young- birds from the pit itself, one of them rising, as I to]3l3ed the bank, from the actual nest, and since then I have heard that they were constantly there, the last occasion being on June 15th. There cannot, I think, therefore, be any reasonable doubt that they are the two young that were reared in it this year. 1 have looked up every available account of the Heron's 'Nest of Common Heron (Ardea ciiterea L). Dungeness, Kent, 27th May, 1907. nesting habits in this country, but have failed to find an exactly parallel case, at any rate of late years. A number of abnormal nesting sites are of course well known. In the north of Scotland where tall trees are not available they are known to nest in quite low bushes,^ and * In tliis connection we received a short time back a letter from Mr. G. Edelstcn, describing some Herons' nests in Sisye built in stunted birch trees, and only about five feet from the ground. All the trees in the neighbourhood were small, and the ground was not precipitous, the nests being easily approachable. — Eds. 100 BRITISH BIRDS. they have even been known to nest on the ground at the edge of a cHff (in Hoy^) or on the bare hillside (in Irelandt) amongst heather or bracken. Instances of their breeding on cliifs are fairly numerous. Dr. Pattent states that he has found a few nests on the rugged cliffs of the Dingle Peninsula, and Mr. Harvie Brown found three or four pairs on the Black Craig, near Stromness.'^ The colony on Ardnamurchan Point is well known to all writers on British Birds. t In Holland at the present day, we have evidence that at least in one locality, nesting in reed-beds is the Common Herons' usual custom. || But for instances in this country we must go back to the beginnmg of the last century. Writing of the Norfolk Heronries in 1866, Stevenson§ says : "At that time" {i.e., that of Sir Thomas Browne), "and, indeed, until within the last forty or fifty years, Herons did not build exclusively in lofty trees, seeking the vicinity of man's dwellings, and gathering together in colonies like the rooks, but were scattered in pairs over the Fens and Broads, where their nests were placed, some- times on a lofty alder in a carr, sometimes on the dwarf sallow and alder bushes in the marsh, or were hidden, like those of the Bittern, amongst the reeds and sedges. " In many such localities the nature of the soil must in itself have afforded sufiicient protection — the swamp presenting an impenetrable barrier against all human depredators ; but of late years the reclamation effected by artificial drainage would account, independently of our numerous gunners, for the abandonment by the Herons of their older haunts. Mr. Lubbock refers to these marsh breeders, and I have conversed with many residents in the Broad district who remember their nesting at Ranworth, Horsey, Irstead, and other places ; and even the Didlington * " A Fauna of the Orkney Islands." Harvie Brown and Buckley, p. 162. t Yarrell, B. B., lY., pp. 162-163. X "The Aquatic Birds of Great Britain," p. 15. ii E. B. Lodge. " Pictures of Bird Life," pp. 241-242. § " Birds of Norfolk," II., pp. 131-132. N. F. TICEHURST : NESTING OF HERONS. 101 Heronry is said to have been established some sixty years ago by a considerable colony, which formerly " {i.e., about the end of the eighteenth century) "had their nests on low sallow bushes or amongst the sedges on the borders of Feltwell and Hockwold Fens." We must therefore regard the instance that I have described above as a temporary relapse to an ancestral habit which has been abandoned by Herons in this country in consequence of human influence, but which yet survives elsewhere, in places where drainage has not robbed the birds of their original homes. It would be a grand thing if this one pair should increase in time to a large colony, nesting as their ancestors else- where did amongst the thick reeds and sedges of these Dungeness pits. With the efficient protection that is now afforded to all birds in this area by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the hearty co-operation of the local owners and sporting tenants, there is at least the hope that this happy result may be eventually realised. What may be regarded as a somewhat similar reversion to long-lost habits is the instance related by Mr. Bidwell at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, on May 15th last, of how a pair of Herons, in full possession of their powers of flight, built their nest on the base of the fountain near the palm-house in Kew Gardens. 102 NESTLING BIRDS, AND SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THEY PRESENT. BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., F.Z.S., m.b.o.u. Part I. It is rather surprising that, while so much has been written about British birds, so little has been said about their nestling stages. Judging from the meagre descriptions which even the best books give of nestling birds, we may assume that it has been taken for granted that birds, at this early stage, present no characters of suiiicient importance to warrant closer study. That such a conclusion is not justified by facts I hope to show in the course of the following pages. To adaptation to environment we may probably attribute the evolution of the two extreme types of nestlings to be met with to-day— the active, down-clad type, and the type which leaves the egg perfectly naked, and with sealed eyelids, and which, in consequence, is for some time absolutely helpless. Both these types, I need hardly remark, are to be met with among our British birds ; j^et no one seems to have realized what a rich field they present for investiga- tion. No one, for example, seems to have made any observations on the relative activity of such intermediate types as young Gulls and Guillemots — a matter of more importance than appears on the surface. Doubtless the investigation of this matter wovild yield results but slowly, and this is distinctly discouraging. Such an objection, however, will not appl}' to a W. p. PYCRAFT : NESTLING BIRDS. 108 number of other j)roblenis which are very far indeed from solution. As a case in point, we may take the coloration of the nestling", and the relation thereof to the bird's environment. Hardly anything of a systematic nature has yet been done in this matter which should yield most valuable data of first rate importance with regard to the general problems of evolution. The study of this coloration presents two more or less distinct aspects — the coloration of the down, or of the bare skin of the surface of the body ; and the coloration of the mouth and surrounding areas. In nestlings which are active at birth the coloration of the down presents its most primitive aspect. In the majority of cases, however, this aspect has been greatly changed, apparently in response to the demands of the environment, though as to how far this is the case remains for future investigations to decide. Those markings which take the form of longitudinal stripes are no doubt the most primitive, and such markings are to be found, among our British birds, only in the Grebes and Gamebirds. In the Grebes this scheme of black and white, as may be seen by a reference to the very beautiful photograph by Miss E. L. Tui-ner here reproduced, is continued on to the beak in the form of black and white mottlings ; and, further, the striping is less apparent in the newly-hatched bird than at a somewhat later stage. Though the nestlings of many of these birds are so easily observed, yet there appears to be no information published as to whether, and, if so, to what extent, this pattern affords protection to the living young. The number, colour, and distinctness of these stripes, in the types here mentioned, differ considerably, and it may be that, whatever their original purpose, they do not to-day play any very important part. At any rate, when a large series of nestlings belonging to different groups of birds, which are active at birth, is examined, there will be fomid ( 104 ) W. p. PYCRAFT : NESTLING BIRDS. 105 every g'radation between striped and whole-coloured young. The Gulls and Plovers show these intermediate grada- tions extremely well. In their downy state the young of these birds appear to be more or less irregularly mottled; but if these markings are more carefully studied, they will clearly be found to have been derived by the breaking up of strij^es. The Skuas have passed beyond the mottled into the whole-coloured stage, while other whole-coloured nestlings, such as. those of the Rails, show in certain lights distinct traces of the earlier striped plumage. Are these differences due to the needs of protection, or to the inevitable progress of a striped plumage through a mottled stage to one of uniform colour ? A comparison of a series of young Gulls and Terns and of Plovers, such as the Lapwing, Oyster-catcher, and Ringed Plover- — I use the term Plover in a wide sense — seems to show that protective coloration is still a factor at work. When the young remain for a long while helpless the down is always of the whole-coloured kind, and this, for many reasons, one would expect ; and especially so if the striped down-plumage is a protective device, for this would benefit active young which scatter when alarmed, whereas this same strijjed livery displayed in a mass would serve only to betray the wearers thereof. Further, the down of most nestlings of the helpless type is of a very degenerate character, and the loss of the original pigmentation has followed as a consequence of this degeneration. While immature birds are commonly duller in hue than their parents, there are certain cases wherein the downy nestling displays vivid colouring, which is in no way represented during later life. The young of the Great Crested Grebe, for example, has in the middle of the crown a brig'ht vermilion, heart- shaped patch of bare skin. Does this patch of colour serve any purpose, or is it merely a precociously-developed ornament ? And the same question may be asked of the curious, fleshy, scarlet papillse which adorn the face of 106 BRITISH BIRDS. the nestling Coot — papillae which appear to differ in no way structurally from those on the face of the Pheasant ? And since, by the way, the nestlings of the Coot and Waterhen are in all else so similar and live in similar environments, it is curious to remark how widely they differ in this matter of ornamentation. Again, it is curious that while in the adult Coot the ornamentation of the head is white, in the nestling it is red — the colour of the ornamentation of the adult Waterhen. {To be continued.) ( 107 ) NESTING HABITS OBSERVED ABROAD OF SOME RARE BRITISH BIRDS. BY F. C. SELOUS. Part IV. (Co7itinued from jyage 80.) Little Crake. Porzana 'parva (Scop.). 1 found this species nesting- in some numbers on the islands in the Yalencze Lake in Hung-arj at the end of May, both in 1899 and in 1902, and also in some swamps on the other side of the Danube in the latter year. In my diary I wrote, on May 29th, 1899, concerning- the first nests I ever saw of this species at the Valencze Lake as follows : — • " In the course of the day I took two Little Crakes' nests. One of these was built in an old nest of a Great Reed Warbler, about two feet above the water. The other was placed among- some thick dry reeds, and at about the same height above the water. This nest looked just like a very small Moorhen's nest, being- built of flat dry reed leaves. The cuj), however, was much smaller and deej)er than in a moorhen's nest." On May 30tli I made the following- notes concerning the nesting- habits of this species : — " Found three more Little Crakes' nests containing seven, six, and five eggs respectively. Two of these nests were built close down u]3on the ground amongst reeds, on little swampy islands, and not covered over in any way ; but the third, which was j)laced in exactly the same position as the other two, except that it was just on the edge of a lane of open water, was completely covered so as to be invisible from above. It was exactly like a larger form of a nest of Savi's Warbler, having- a beautifully formed deep cup, and being made of the same flat and dry brown reed leaves." 108 BRITISH BIRDS. The eggs of the Little Crake are, on the average, distmctly larger than those of Baillon's Crake, and have not the same shiny appearance as the latter. The Little Crake seldom lays more than seven eggs, whilst Baillon's Crake often lays nine. Purple Gallinule. Porpliyrio cceruleus. The eggs of this bird have not often, I believe, been taken by British egg collectors, and although the bird is only a doubtful "vasitor to this country, the following notes from my diary for 1900 may be accej)table : — " April 12th. Waded all day in a large reed bed (La Madre, in the south of Spain) . Found a Purple Gallinule's nest with four eggs, very much incubated — within a few days of being hatched out. Also found several other nests building, but not yet ready for use, which a]3parentl3' belonged to the same species. During the day we saw eight Purple Gallinules, which flew up out of the reeds close to us, and there must have been many more which did not rise. " Tlie nest which contained the four eggs, and the other nests which, though there were no eggs in them, belonged, we thought, to Purple Gallinules, were built about a foot above the water, in thick reeds, and were like large nests of the Moorhen, but were lined with the flowers of the reeds. Above the nests the reeds were broken and bent together, forming a kind of very light canopy over them." On May 24th of this same year (1900) we (Mr. J. C. Musters and I) visited the Lag-una Medina, not far from the town of Jerez de la Frontera, and found a Purple Gallinule's nest containing four perfectly fresh eggs. This nest was built in the centre of a large tussock of high reeds growing in water about three feet in depth. These reeds had no flowers which could have been used as a lining for the nest, nor were they of a kind which could have been bent over in order to form a canopy above the nest. 109 ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BIRDS SINCE 1899. BY H. F. WITHERBY and N". F. TICEHURST. Part III. (Continued from page 85.) ALPINE ACCENTOR Accento)- coUaris (Scop.). S. page 95. Hampshire. — One shot by W. Huniby in 1885 at Cliristchurch is ill the Hart Collection ( Birds of Hants, p. 34) . Surrey. — One in the Charterhouse Collection is said to have been killed whilst hopping about a heap of stones on the road- side at Milford in the winter of 1840 by a boy, and Mr. Bucknill sees no reason to doubt its authenticity (Birds of Stirretj, p. 830). Norfolk. — One seen and carefully observed with glasses for some time at very close range by A. H. Patterson on Gorleston pier, September 21st, 1894 (A. H. Patterson, .^ooL, 1900, p. 400). The above occurrences of this exceptional visitor are not noted by Mr. Saunders. Cornwall. — An adult male was shot at Looe on November nth, 1906 (J. Clark, Zool., 1907, p. 283). BEARDED TITMOUSE Panurus hiarmicus (L.) S. page 99. Norfolk. — In a valuable article on this species Mr. J. H. Gurney estimates that the total number of nests in the Broads had decreased gradually from 200 in 1838 to 33 in 1898 (Zool, 1900, p. 358). We have good reason to believe that since that date the birds have increased in number. Rutland. — Two males shot at Burley Ponds, January 18th, 1905. The first records for the county (C. R. Haines, Birds of Rutland, 1^. 27). Surrey. — Mr. Gr. Dalgleish informed Mr. Bucknill that he saw a party of five at Milford, near Godalming, and was con- fident of their identity (J. A. Bucknill, Zool., 1902, p. 226). Hertfordshire.— One seen at the end of January, 1905, by an observer well acquainted with the species in a reed-bed in the western part of the county. Only three previous records — 110 BRITISH BIRDS. the last in 1888 — are known for this county (W. Bickerton, Trans. Herts. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XIII., Part I., p. 52). SciLLY. — In some MS. notes drawn up in 1863, Rodd says that it has occurred once on St. Mary's Moors (J. Clark and F. R. Rodd, Zool, 1906, p. 246). LONG-TAILED TITMOJJ 8'E A credulacauclata(L.). S. page 101. Outer Hebrides. — A " company " was seen in 1903 in Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, in which islands the bird had not before been recorded (D. Mackenzie, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1904, p. 188). GREAT TITMOUSE Parus major (L.). S. page 103. Scotland, Caithness. — A pair seen at Wick, November, 1904 (t.c, 1904, p. 188). Shetlands.— One killed on October 16th, 1906, and single birds seen on the 17th and 21st at Unst (T. E. Saxby, t.c, 1907, p. 50). The Great Tit had not previously been recorded as occurring in Caithness, and only doubtfully in the Shetlands. CRESTED TITMOUSE Parus cristatus (L.). S. page 111. The bird observed by Baron von Hiigel in 1874 was at Plymouth and not at Bournemouth (Birds uf Hants, p. 40). Yorkshire. — The reported occurrence of one near Keighley, Yorks., said not to be authenticated, but another not mentioned by Mr. Saunders was taken at Thirsk " many years ago " (Birds of Yorks., p. 115). Norfolk. ^ — One, "unmistakably of this species," seen by A. Patterson in some firs near Yarmouth in the autumn of 1888 or 1889 (A. Patterson, Zool, 1900, p. 401). Has not yet been obtained in Norfolk. TREE-CREEPER Certhia familiar is (L.) S. page 117. Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A male was found exhausted on December 27th, 1906, and is pronounced by Mr. Clarke as belonging to the " continental " race, but which, he does not state. Two previous occurrences of the Creeper in Shetland are known (W. E. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 72). WALL-CREEPER Tichodroma muraria (L.), S. page 119. Sussex. — A female shot on December 26th, 1905, at Eccles- bourne, near Hastings (W. R. Butterfield, Bull. B.O.C., XVI., p. 44). Channel Islands. — One in Alderney, December 19th, 1899. " Brought for identification to Mr. E. D. Marquand, who informed me of the fact" (J. E. Harting, Handbooh Brit. B., Ed. II., p. 364). These are the fourth and fifth occurrences of this Alpine species. ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. Ill WHITE WAGTAIL Motacilla alba L. S. page 123. Much has been added to our knowledge of the White Wagtail as a bird of passage since 1899. The " Third Interim Report " (1900), of the B.A. Migration Committee contains a valuable summary of its passage up our coasts in spring en rotite for Scandinavia and Iceland, and back again in autumn. In spring it passes up the west coast in considerable numbers from Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, along the Welsh coast to the Sol way and Clyde areas ; throusfh the Isle of Man ; through the Hebrides (Mull, Barra, Monach, Lewis, Tiree, Coll, Flannans), and through Fair Isle and Shetlands (cf. B.A. Report, vide supra ; ZooL, 1902, p. 464, 1904, p. 86, 1905, pp. 226, 381, and 430 ; Ann. Scot. Nat. Hid., 1905, p. 181, 1907, pp. 19 and 137 ; Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XVIL, p. 124, \^ol. XX., p. lOl ; Birds of the Isle of Man, p. 41). In Ireland it is now known to pass regularly in the spring .through Connaught and co. Donegal, and has been taken in the Arau Isle, co. Gralway (R. J. Ussher in lift. ; cf. also Irish JV., 1902, p. 160). The return movement in autumn has not been so well recorded. It has been noted with some regularity in Shetland and Orkney, and was one of the commonest migrants in Fair Isle in September, 1905 and 1906. In Barra and Tiree it occurs with great regularity from the middle of August to mid- September, and it has been noted fairly regularly in the Flannan Isles and Argyllshire. It also occurs on the north Somerset coast, and is not an uncommon visitor to Scilly, but elsewhere the autumn records are exceedingly scanty and irregular {cf. B.A. Third Interim Report ; Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1901, pp. 5-12 and 76, 1902, p. 77, 1903, p. 144, 1904, p. 147, 1905, p. 206, 1906, pp. 19 and 145, 1907, pp. 25, 72. and 137 ; Zool, 1902, p. 464, 1904, p. 86, 1905, pp. 226 and 430, 1906, p. 217). On the east side of England, Scotland, and Ireland it is comparatively seldom noted. Indeed, on the east of Ireland there are only two records, one on May 21st, 1902, in co. Antrim, and one on September 4th, 1903, in co. Dublin, the only autumn Irish record (Irish N, 1902, p. 221, and 1903, p. 300). Similarly there have been very few recorded in the south-eastern quarter of England, e.g., Sussex, one seen May, 1902 ; one seen April 2nd, 1905 (M. J. Nicoll) ; May 9th, 1905 ; Essex, April 6th and I5th, 1906 ; Berkshire, May 8th and June 9th, 1906 ; Oxford, May21st,1904; Cambridge, April 25th, 1906; Surrey, April 17th, 1905, Mav 6th and 20th, July 3rd and September 2nd, 1906 (Bull. B.O.G., Vol. XVIL, p. 124, and XX., p. 101 ; Zoo/.,1905, p. 187 ; 1906, pp. 434, 445 ; 1907, p. 101). In Norfolk and Yorkshire it has been noted more often, especially in the spring. In East Lothian and Fife Mr. W. Evans noted it as a regular bird of passage in spring and autumn (Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1901, 112 BRITISH BIRDS. pp. 12-15), but north of Fife, on the eastern side of the Scottish mainland, the only definite record known to Mr. Clarke was at Inverness in April, and since then one has been noted at Peterhead on May 27th, 1904 (Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1904, p. 127). A pair were seen with young not long fledged in June, 1899, by the Tees side {Binis of Yorks, p. 124.). An old female and three or four young birds were seen by Mr. O. V. Aplin at Byfield reservoir, Northamptonshire, on July 19th, 1905, and supposed by him to have been bred there (Zoo/., 1905, p. 963). A nest and three eggs were found on May 31st, 1904, in Sussex (J. A. Walpole Bond, Fieh/, June 11th, 1904). Note. — As the Yellow Wagtails will shortly be fully dealt with in a separate article by N. F. Ticehurst, they are not here referred to. TREE-PIPIT Anthiis irivialis. S. page 131. Fair Isle, Shetland. — Noted as a bird of spring and autumn passage (W. E. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 72 \ SciLLY. — Observed occasionally in autumn and may be a regular autumn visitor. An adult male was found dead on St. Agnes in June, 1902 (James Clark and F. R. Rodd, ZooL, 1906, p. 247). RED-THROATED PIPIT Anthus cervimis (Pall). S. page 135. Ireland. — A male shot by Mr. F. Coburn in Achill, co. Mayo, on May 26th, 1895, was exhibited bv him at the B.O.C. on October 23rd, 1901 {Bull. B.O.C, XII., p. 15, ZooL, 1901, p. 264) ; a second, shot by Mr. H. E. Howard in co. Donegal on August 9th, 1898, was recorded by Mr. F. Coburn, but alter- wards referred to Avith doubt as to its authenticitv {Z^ol., 1901, p. 264, and 1902, p. 313, and Irish N., 1901, p. 23l). Sussex. — A female (young) obtained in a garden at Ninfield on November 26th, 1901, was exhibited at \he B.O.C. by Mr. Howard Saunders on behalf of Mr. L. A. Curtis Edwards [Bull. B.O.C, XIL, p. 35). Only four previous occurrences of this bird were known, and none of them in Ireland. TAWNY PIPIT Anthus campestris (L.). S. page 137. Sussex. — Four "were obtained by Mr. M. J Nicoll on September 22nd and 24th, 1903, at Rye Harbour, and the following year on August 14th and 17tli two more (adult male and female) were shot at the same place and recorded by the same observer, who also himself shot a further example (a young bird) near Bexhill on September 26th, 1904. Mr. Nicoll ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 113 has good reasons to suppose that the bird is a regular visitor to this part of Sussex {Bull. B.O.C., XIV., pp. 18 and 25, XV., p. 12, and Zool, 1904, p. 452, and 1906. p. 463). We believe others were obtained in 1905, and we should not be surprised to hear of its nesting. Norfolk. — An adult female netted on Yarmouth Denes, October 9th, 1897, is in Mr. Connop's collection (J. H. Gurney, Zool, 1898, p. 114; 1900, p. 402). Cornwall.— A male was captured at Bodmin on September 16th, 1899 (J. Clark, Zool., 1907, p. 283). EICHAED'S PIPIT Anthus richardi Vieill. [Cornwall. — One seen on the Sandhills, near Hayle, December 22nd, 1903 (H. E. Howard, Zool., 1904, p. 115).] [North Wales. — One supposed to have been shot on December 9th, 1840, at St. Asaph, bj Dr. J. W. Moses (H. E. Eorrest, Zool., 1901, p. 425).] SciLLY. — One shot in October, 1849, and three on September 19th, 1868, and a pair seen May 16th, 1903 (J. Clark and F. R. Kodd, Zool., 1906, p. 247). Kentish Knock, L. V. — A male in "first pjlumage" captured September 25th, 10U3 (W. E. Clarke, Ibis, 1904, p. 137). A good many occurrences of this eastern Pipit have been recorded, chiefly on the south coast of England. WATEE-PIPIT Anthus spipoletta (L.). S. page 141. Isle of Wight. — A young example shot at Freshwater in September, 1865, was identified by the late Rev. H. A. Macpherson {Birds of Hants, p. 46). SciLLY. — One obtained on May 17th, 1903 (J. Clark and F. R. Rodd, Zool, 1906, p. 247). [Oxford.— One seen Milcomb, March 22nd, 1903 (O. V. Aplin, Zool., 1905, p. 414).] Norfolk. — A female shot January 25th, 1905 (J. H. Gurney, Zool., 1906, p. 124). Kent. — One shot .Tanuaiy 13th, 1905, at Littlestone (M. J. Nicoll, Zool., 1906, p. 466). Sussex.— 1900, February 19th, one, Hollington; 1902, October 29th, one, Rye ; 1904, October 12th, three seen, Pevensey ; October 26th, one, Rye; November 12th, two seen, Pevensey; November 14th, two seen (one shot), Pevensey; November 17th, one, near Eastbourne ; November 21st, one seen, Pevensey ; November 23rd, one, Pevensey ; November 25th, one near 114 BRITISH BIRDS. Eastbourne; December 19th, one seen, Pevensey ; 1906, February 25th, four seen. Eye ; April 2nd, one seen, St. Leonard's ; October 6th, one seen, Kye ; 1906, spring, also seen (M. J. Nicoll, ZooL, 1906, pp. 463-467). Writing in 1899, Mr. Saunders referred to this Alpine species as an unusual visitor to England, and at that time only nine authenticated examples were known. It is quite evident from Mr. NicoU's observations (cf. supra) that the bird may now be regarded, like the Tawny Pij^it. as a fairly regular visitor to the south coast on migration. It was formerly confused with the Scandinavian form of the Rock-Pipit, and it is still doubtful whether two other specimens, a male and female killed at Portslade. near Brighton, in March, 1867, were of this species or not. They w^ere presented by E. T. Booth to J. Whitaker, and figure in the sale catalogue of his collection. Lot 63, May 22nd, 1890, as " AVater-Pipits " — cf. Mr. Aplin's remarks on the plate of the Scandinavian Rock-Pipits in Booth's Rough Notes, Zool, 1896, p. 302. (To he continued.) ( 115 ) WIND AND FLIGHT.* BY F. W. HEADLEY, m.a., m.b.o.u. Part I. Designers of flying machines are many ; students of the flight of birds are few, in spite of the fact that there is, in our own country at any rate, a great and growing interest in ornithology. This being so, I pro230se to say a very few words about the general subject of the flight of birds before I try to explain the various ways in whicli they utilise winds and currents of air. Air will support a body propelled horizontally through it if only this body moves quickly enough. Speed of movement is an absolute necessity. Any bicyclist knows that the faster he travels, the harder it is to cut his way through the air, even if he does not know that its. resistance increases as the square of his velocity. Sujiposing the figm-e 100 represents the resistance when he is going- at ten miles an hour, it is represented by 400 when he quickens to twenty. This holds of all moderate velocities. At very great speeds the resistance increases even more rapidly. Here, then, is the principle that makes flight possible, for if a flying machine is well built the resistance will come mainly in the form of supj^ort. No sooner had Mr. Maxim's ponderous aeroplane attained a velocity of thirty-six miles per hour than it rose in the air. A bird is built on such perfect lines that the air hinders but little his progress onward. He sets his body, or the plane of his body and expanded wings, at a small angle to the * The account I give of soaring in these articles is, I hope, definite and clear. It would certainly not be clear without a general accoiint of wind and flight. This must excuse my recoiaiting again some observations of which I have already published accounts. 116 BRITISH BIRDS. horizon, and the wind due to his own velocity acts at right angles to the plane, offering much support and very little resistance. Great velocity is in all cases essential. When a Rook flaps leisurely along, yet the pace at which the extremities of his wings move is very great. The next point to grasp is that the downward movement of the wings is able not only to lift the bird but to propel him. In rapid flight the wing is first raised high aloft. Fig. 1. — Lesser Black-biieked Gulls off Mogador. and then its movement is at once downward and forward, the front margin being all the while lower than the hinder. The force of the air impinging against the wing acts at right angles to it, and, the wings having the incline I have described, the bird is not only lifted but urged forward. In fact the parallelogram of forces is energetically at work. The force acting at right angles to the wing is resolved into two — one lifting, the other j)ropelling. On this resolution of one force into two all flight depends. F. W. HE ABLE Y : WIND AND FLIGHT. 117 The principle is the same when the wing- beats the air, and when the bird gliding- with outspread wings inclines his body slig-htly upward, so that the air may act on his whole outspread surface. The accompanying photograph (Fig. 1) shows the position of the wing at important phases of the stroke. Gliding. Gliding introduces us to another wonderful fact in the action of air in motion. We can understand this best by considering what hapj)ens when a boat is tacking, sailing- close to the wind, so that the air impinges on the sail at an acute angle. It strikes against the foremost part of the sail, and, being- prevented from continuing in its natural coiu-se, rushes along the sail — as shown by the arrows in the diagram — and thus, if the sail is a broad w w Fig. 2. — Diagram illustrating Gliding. s l, sail ; w, wind. one, its front margin does all the work. To apply this to gliding flight — it is the front margins of the wings that support the bird when he holds them outstretched, inclined only slightly to the horizontal. Consequently, the greater the extent of the front margin, the better able will he be to maintain his level or even to ascend. If he wishes to descend as he glides, he will partly flex his wings. 118 BRITISH BIRDS. Rising. Everyone is familiar with the fact that birds face the wind when they Tvish to rise, though the reason for this is not so generally known. A wind blowing in the bird's face would not help him to rise except for the fact that the wind increases in velocity with altitude — a fact that can be verified with an anemometer. I have fomid that when there is a wind of 770 feet per minute at a height of 2 feet from the ground, the anemometer will record a velocity of over 1000 feet at a height of 7| feet. We may for the sake of clearness divide the air into distinct successive streams, the second more rapid than the lowest, and each, as we ascend, more rapid than the one below it. Imagine a bird rising with wings held rigidly expanded through these successive streams. The wind will, of course, di-ive him backwards, but in each stream he will have only the velocity of the one below, from which he has just emerged. Consequently he will offer resistance to the stream, will have, in fact, inertia, and the force of the horizontal wind will be divided into two forces, one of which will lift him. True, he cannot trust to the wind alone, so he plies his wings vigorously. Even the Lark, past master as he is in the art of upw^ard flight, always lightens the work of his wings in this w^ay. Moreover, the wind can depress as well as lift. Were the bird to look doivn the wind as he rises, then the air striking upon his back w^ould tend to force him downwards. Big birds such as Cormorants have the utmost difficulty in rising without a wind to help them. Indeed, a Cormorant will sometimes fly some distance in a direction in which he, as far as one can judge, does not wish to go, simply in order to get the help of the wind in rising. He has had his meal, and that a heavy one, and his fellow banqueters may be seen drying their wings upon a rock. He also wishes to get to this rock, but he first flies some distance in the opposite direction, because, as it so happens, he has thus the wind in his face as he rises. After attaining some little elevation, he swings romid and makes for the rock. F. W. HEADLEY : WIND AND FLIGHT. 119 There is no doubt that all large birds have much more difficulty in rising than small ones have, and this is markedly the case with big heavy sea-birds such as the Cormorant and the Gannet. Helmholtz attributed this to the fact that if the size of a bird is increased, the bulk (and con- sequently the weight) must, according to mathematical principles, increase more rapidly than the supporting surface. Therefore, he argued, a really big flying bird is an impossibility. This was before the day when Mr. Maxim's flying machine, weighing over three tons, rose buoyantly in the air. But, no doubt, big birds do rise heavily, and they have an easily observable anatomical peculiarity which partly accounts for it. When a lark ascends, he gives his body a steep upward incline. If, then, his wings are not simply to drive him backward, but are to beat up and down, they must be capable of rotating very freely at the shoulder joint. A pigeon also has much freedom of rotation at this joint, as the accompanying (h-awmg from a photograph shows. If, on the other hand. Fig. 3. — Pigeon Rising. (Drawn from a Photograph.) you take a live Cormorant or Gannet (or one that has just been killed), you will find that it has very little power of 120 BRITISH BIRDS. rotation at the shoulder. If a Cormorant were to slope his body steeply upward, his wings would beat forward and backward instead of up and down. Flight against the Wind. Birds, and notably small birds, may be seen making headway against very strong winds ; but, of course, their pace is much less than it would be were the wind behind them, or if there were no wind at all. But they cannot fly against a regular gale. At New Romney, in 1894, I saw some Gulls flying dead against the furious blizzard, but they kejDt so near to the ground that their wings almost touched it, and even at that comparatively calm level, where friction took much of the sting out of the blast, they made but slow and laboured progress. Flight with the Wind. Homing pigeons make the best times when they fly with the wind behind them. Where a velocity of fifty miles an hour is recorded, it is always with the help of a " tailwind." But there is a general belief among observers that birds never fly with a regular gale behind them. Certainly, when they are feeding, they always face a high wind. Last year I was in Alderney, and, one day, when there blew what even an old sailor would call a stiff breeze, it was very interesting to watch the shore birds. They all, without exception, headed towards the wind as they walked on the sand or the rocks. A large flock of Oyster Catchers stood motionless, every single bird facing straight to the front like a regiment of soldiers. The horses and cows, on the contrary, all turned their heads away from the wind. No doubt, a bird very much dislikes having his plumage ruffled from behind by a gale. When the Ringed Plover and the Dunlins flew from one patch of sand to another (the patches were scattered among the rocks), they did not head towards what appeared to be their objective, if, in order to reach it, they would have had to fly with the wind behind them. They headed in a direction at right angles to the wind, and let it sweep them sideways F. W. HE ABLE Y : WIND AND FLIGHT. 121 to the patch to which they wished (or I imagined they wished) to go. Of this I saw many instances. Rooks very much enjoy a stiff breeze. You can see them over their rookery hanging in air, head towards the wind. Sometimes they turn and fly with it, but, as far as I have observed, they do not equal it in pace, and so they lose altitude. It impinges on their backs, and so tends to drive them downwards. If a bird flying with the wind only equals its velocity, he is part of the moving current, as a balloon is. The air does not resist, and consequently does not support him. If his pace is not equal to that of the wind, not only does it not support him, but it assists gravitation. It would also ruffle his plumage, a thing he much dislikes. It may be urged that, since he is part of the moving current, he has only to ply his wings vigorously, and he will, as a matter of course, outpace the wind, and so will have no difficulties. But he must first get started. He cannot rise facing in the direction in which the wind blows. He rises with the wind in his face, thus getting it to help him. When he has reached the altitude he wants, he must turn, and at first will have no pace to speak of. The wind will buffet him, and, striking on his back, send him downward. Moreover, and perhaps this is the greatest difficulty, wind conies in gusts. Though his own velocity may be superior to the wind's average velocity, yet a sudden gust may deprive him of this superiority, may inconvenience him, and cause him to lose altitude. When, during a high wind, a bird wishes to alight, he descends with the wind, then, when he nears the ground or his perch, he wheels round and faces it. The resistance of the air checks him and steadies him. A bird's mode of alighting is always a fine thing to see. The outspread wings, even the little bastard wings extended (a back stroke being thrown in if necessary), prevent all jar, and as he comes to earth he is, unlike man-made flying machines, under perfect control. (To be continued.) nOTES OCCURRENCE OF THE FIELDFAEE IN AUGUST. On August 14tli last Mi-. E. Offin hauded to me an example of the Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) which his brother shot the previous moruing (13tli) in his garden at Hockley, Essex. After taking its measurements and weight, I at once skinned it. It was a large male in partial moult, with aii expanse of 17| inches, length lOf inches, wing 6 inches, and Aveight 3^ ounces. Its gizzard contained the skins of six gooseberries and remains of skins of others, together with the pips and pulp. I found no insect remains or any other substance in it. The only tawny colouring on the .undersurface is a pectoral band, the thi'oat and foreneck being milky-white. y. W. Frohawk. THE NUTHATCH AS A NEST-BUILDER. A FEW observations I have been able to make on a nest of this species built in one of my nest-boxes may be of interest. The box in question is of the ordinary sort, that is, a hollowed pine trunk resting on a board, by which it is affixed to the tree. On April 14th last this Avas appropriated by a pair of Nuthatches. The nest was completed in four days. Now that the young ones have flown I am able to inspect the result of their labours. Not content with plastering up the entrance and the wall above it, they filled up the bottom of the box with mud, making a cup-shaped hollow, and even went so far as to plaster up a crack in one of the walls and the intei'stices on the outside where the trunk is fastened on to its support. They must have used fully three pounds of mud. On top of the saucer-shaped hollow a great quantity of silver birch bark was piled up. Of this I counted no less than one thousand eight hundred and twenty pieces. The nearest birch tree is two hundred and fifty yards away in a "bee-line" from the nest. Granted that only one piece was carried at a time, this would make a total journey of four hundred and fifty-five thousand yards, or two hundred and sixty miles. The nest, as I have stated before, was com- pleted in four days ; this would make an average journey of sixty-five miles a day. Taking into consideration the amount of labour required to collect and plaster that amount of mud in the same time, I think it must be granted that the Nuthatches were not idle. The remarkably clean state of the nest also surprised me ; not a single sheet of this fine bark is soiled, nor is the entrance besmeared in the least. Philip H Bahr Oxted. NOTES. 123 [This recalls to our mind an observatiou made by Mr. R. H. Eead (cf. Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XTX., p. 22) who counted nine hundred and fifty-two feathers in the nest of a Long-tailed Tit. They were all feathers of the domestic fowl, and must have been procured from the nearest farmyard, which was about a third of a mile distant. Granting that only one feather was carried at a time, and that both birds were occupied in the task, then each bird must have covered some three hundred and twenty miles on its jovirneys to and fro. — Eds.] BEAMBLING IN JUNE IN YORKSHIRE. Bramblings remained in many places in the spring of 1907 beyond the average date of their departure ; in Cheshire, for instance, they Avere with us until the end of April. About the middle of June, Mr. S. Ratcliffe, who lives at Luddenden-dene, near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, heard the note of a bird which he could not identify, in a birch wood near his house. He pointed out the bird to Mr. Waterworth, of Halifax, who recognised it as a Brambling, and on the 2ord took a number of Halifax and Hebden Bridge natui'alists to see it. On June 28th, by invitation, I accompanied Messrs. W. Greaves, Greenwood, and W. No well, to the wood, and both saw and heai-d the bird. The bird, a male in full breeding dress, gave us every opportunity for observation, remaining for some hours in one portion of the wood ; indeed, it seldom moved from one particular group of birches. The brown tips and margins of the feathers had been shed, so that the bird's head, neck, and back were glossy black, and the lesser wing- coverts formed a conspicuous chestnut-bu-ffi patch ; the white rump was only noticeable when the bird flew. The blue-black bill, so different from the yellow black-tipped bill of winter, was particularly noticeable. From about 2.30 p.m. until 6 p.m., when we left, the bii'd called at intervals of about ten seconds the loud long-drawn " ci-ee " of the breeding season. Every time it uttered this note it raised its head until its beak pointed upwards. This note, so like the monotonous cry of the Greenfinch, was the only sound we heard it make. Once or twice it flew for a short distance through the trees, and there was nothing in its flight to suggest that it had been in any way disabled, and so unable to leave the country with other Bramblings. Mr. Ratcliffe saw the bird on June 30th, but after that it was not, to my knowledge, seen nor heard. We failed to find any evidence that a pair had remained to nest. T. A. COWAKD. 124 BRITISH BIRDS. SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE {Lanhis meridionalis) IN NORFOLK. In Part III., Vol. VIII., of the " Trans. Norf . and Norw. Nat. Sec." (1907), just issued, Mr. J. H. Gui-ney gives a short description of a specimen of Lanms meridionalis in the collection of Mr. E. M. Conn op, which was shot at Drayton, near Norwich, in December, 1890. The author points out that the Southern Grey Shrike has only once previously been recorded as occurring in Great Britain. This record was of a specimen taken near Colchester in November, 1875, and was communicated by Dr. Bree to the " Field," November 13th, of that year. This specimen is not referred to by Mr. Saunders in his " Manual." The species is resident in the Spanish Peninsula and in the south-east of France. . , NUMBER OF EGGS LAID BY THE CUCKOO. This year I found five Cuckoo's eggs in five nests of Reed Warblers ; three on one day, and two on the next. The nests were in the reeds on a small stream, and all were within a short distance of each other — two hundred yards would cover the five nests. The eggs are evidently all laid by the same bird, as they are exactly alike in shape and colour, the latter being reddish. The number of Reed Warbler's eggs in the nests were two, three, three, one, and four respectively. Reed Warblers have bred here this year in thousands ; every little clump of reeds was full of them. Dovercourt. ^- I^erry. A CLUTCH OF WHITE EGGS OF THE WOODCOCK. In the middle of May last, a keeper on the estate of Glenbervie (Kincardineshire) flushed a Woodcock off a nest containing white eggs. As the bird had deserted, I did not see it when I visited the place on the 18th, but the nest was there, and con- tained four eggs of the usual size and shape (one measured 175 by 1"3 in.) ; but all were pure white, except for a faint reddish staiu in places, Tbis stain was evidently caused by the clayey soil and was easily rubbed off. The nest was among dead beech leaves, on a thinly-wooded slope. The eggs are now in the museum at Marischal College. A. Landsbobotjgh Thomson. [Mr. H. E. Dresser, to whom we submitted a photograph of the nest and eggs sent by Mr. Thomson, writes: "I know of another instance or a Woodcock's nest containing white eggs, but the occurrence is rare in the Woodcock, although most birds which usually lay coloured eggs occasionally lay pure white ones." — Eds.] NOTES. 125 THE PACIFIC EIDER (Somateria v-nigrum). Although the V-mark on Mr. Smalley's specimen of S. mollissima {vide svpra, p. 71) is rather indistinct, that on the Oldham Museum specimen is very clear. In a profile photo- graph now before me the visible arm of the V is practically as large and distinct as the prolongation of the black cap that boi'ders the lower edge of the culmen. In the case of our bird the error was excusable, although the knowledge (ZooL, 1905, p. 142) that it differed from Gray's and Salvadori's descriptions should certainly have aroused our suspicions. Mr. Smalley asks for information of Eiders possessing signs of this chevron. I should suggest that owners of skins also note the area of the green bordering the cap, and the shape of the bare spaces of the bill. If the green be found to reach the eye in any British Eider, the European specimen of Dresser's Eider (Saunders' Man., ed. II., p. 460) will need to be re- examined, for I have noticed considerable variation in the shape of the bill in S. mollissima. While being quite in accord with the major part of Mr. Smalley's remarks, I cannot refrain from pointing out that the combination of long tertials, yellow bill, and (occasional) black V, said by Sanford to mark the Northern Eider, is found in our specimen. Perhaps someone better endowed for the task than I may lind a vague race, distinguished by the above characters, with a range comprising the eastern coast of Green- land, and the extreme western coasts of Europe. We must remember that if we accept this theory of reversion in the Eiders, we shall have to bear it in mind every time a casual belonging to a genus with British representatives {Larus, for instance) reaches our shores. Oldham. ^^^^- Stubbs. THE TAIL-FEATHEES OP THE GREBES. Mk. W. p. Pycraft, to the July issue of the " Ibis," contributes a short paper on the tail-feathers of the Grebes. So far, these birds have always been described as tail-less, or as having the tail " obsolete." But no attempt seems to have been made to determine the extent of the degeneration which has taken jjlace in these feathers. Mr. Pycraft shows that, in the matter of number, there has been a marked reduction, not more than eight being apparently present. Structurally, they appear to be less reduced in Podicipes rollavdi, wherein a fairly perfect vane is still preserved. In the Dabchick {Tachijhaptes Jiuviatilis), however, and in the Red- necked Grebe (Podicipes griseigena), the vanes of the feathers 126 BRITISH BIRDS. are quite degenerate, being made up of a series of long, weak barbs, which have quite lost the power of interlocking. In the matter of position with regard to the vertebrae, these feathers show still further signs of degeneracy, since thej do not hold their normal relationships with regard to the pygostyle, but form, on the contrary, an irregular series arranged in a U-shaped fashion. More work remains to be done on this subject. Not only do we want to know exactly what obtains in all our British Grebes when adult, but also whether the tail-feathers of the young in their first plumage are relatively more perfectly developed than in the adults. This investigation is by no means an easy one, for, in most cases, some considerable d.ifficulty is found in distinguishing the caudal feathers from the general plumage of the body, while no I'eliable facts can be obtained as to the number and position of these feathers except from freshly killed or spirit specimens. Embryos would probably reveal some interesting facts in this connection. * ^ ^ Lesser Whitethkoat Nesting in Forfar. — Mr. T. F. Dewar records the nesting of a pair of this species, the eggs of which he identified, in his garden in the Burgh of Forfar, in June, 1907. The bird is very rai*e in the north of Scotland {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 185). ■X- ^ -Jf Lesser Whitethroat in Cornwall in Autumn. — Dr. J. Clark gives i-ecords showing this species is a casual autumn bird of passage in the north-east of Cornwall (ZooL, 1907, p 281). * -Jf -55- Garden Warbler in Shetland. — One found dead in a tank on June 9th last, at Lerwick (J. A. Harvie-Brown, J.?m. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 184). ^ ^ -x- Dartford Warbler in Cornw^all. — Dr. Clark says that it was unrecorded after the hard Avinter of 1886-7 until May, 1889, when one was seen at Hayle. In April, 1904, a nest was found near Penryn, and in 1905 one at Linkinhorne, and another at St. Buryan (ZooL, 1907, p. 282). ^ -K- -K- FiRECRESTS IN CORNWALL. — Firecrests have always favoured Cornwall, and Dr. Clark records the following : 1900, October, several at the Lizard ; November, two near Truro. 1901, Jan- uary, about a dozen near Tregothnan; November, one at Kea. 1904, December, two near Culval and one at Helston. 1905, NOTES. 127 Novembei', not at all uncommon from Malpas to King Harry Passage. 1906, November, seen near Bissoe {ZooL, 1907, p. 282). •X- -x- X Melodious Warbler in Cornwall. — An adult male was shot on May 12th, 1905, near Sandplace, Looe, and identified by Dr. Clark. It was shot by a farmer " so that people should not laugh at us when we said we had heard the Nightingale in Cornwall" {Zool., 1907, p. 282). ■>!• -K- * Late Stat of Swallows, House- and Sand-Martins in Hampshire. — Mr. Harry Beeston gives (Zool., 1907, pp. 227-234, 267-271, 303-306) some very full details of the late stay of some examples of these species near Havant in 1905 and 1906. He comes to the conclusion that the birds deliberately stayed on because of a plentiful supply of food, and he believes that if our winters were only a few degrees milder they would winter with us. But, as so few individuals lingered, this seems an unwise argument, and it is much more likely that they were prevented for some physical reason from imdertaking the long journey south, and that the abundance of food enabled them to live longer than is usual in these cases. Briefly, the observations are as follows :- -1905, November 18th, six Swallows and one Sand-Martin; 19th, five Swallows ; 20th, one; 21st to 23rd, two; 24th to December 8th, one. 1906, November 11th, three House- Martins ; 18th, five Swallows ; 25th, three Swallows, two House- and one Sand-Martin ; 27th, two Swallows ; 28th, five Swallows; November 29th to December 21st. one Swallow and two Sand- Martins were seen fairly regularly, except that the Swallow disappeared on December 12th and reappeared on the 21st, only to disappear finally on the next day. On the 29th only one Sand-Martin was left, and this survived until January 23rd, 1907, when it was seen for the last time. KTWW) Notes on the Birds of Builand. By C. Eecfinald Haines, M.A., F.S.A., etc. Illustrations and Map. Porter. 7s. Gd. net. Mr. Haines need have made no apology for his little book, for, as he writes in his preface, every county should have a separate history of its avifauna. Its small size, inland position, the sameness of its physical features, and the fact that few have taken any interest in its avifauna, go to make Rutland a poor county for birds. Only two hvindred species are here included, and some of these are recorded on slender evidence. Mr. Haines has had little help, but he has done his work well and conscientiously. Attention may be drawn to the following points : — The Stonechat appears to be a rare bird notwithstanding abundance of gorse; the note (p. 16) on the "Dartford Warbler" certainly does not refer to that bird ; the evidence for the occurrence of the Firecrest, in a letter by Mr. Mitchell (p. 18) appears strong; two Bearded Tits visited Burley Ponds on Januaiy 18th, 1905 ; trinomials are used in brackets and for some of the Tits only (!) ; tlie Willow Tit is not a subspecies of the Marsh Tit ; the Pied Flycatcher occurs in the breeding season, and there is strong -evidence of its having nested ; the Hawfinch is increasing, as elsewhere ; the Twite was definitely added to the list in March, 1905 ; on page 79 is a record of what might have been a specimen of Picii^ martins ; the inclusion of the Egyptian and Canada Geese and the Green-backed Gallinule as " British " birds we cannot agree to ; the Redshank appears to have first visited the county in 1890, and has bred there since 1893 ; Bonaparte's Gull is admitted on evidence not altogether -satisfactory. In conclusion, a word should be said about the eight illustra- tions, which we cannot consider satisfactory. Most of them are unsuitable to a county avifauna, which should be provided, in the first place, with illustrations to show the character of the •country and the haunts of the typical species, and, secondly, only with portraits of the typical species. Such illustrations as that of a Snipe being shot (p. 144) seem altogether out of place. We should rather, had it been necessary, have dispensed with all the illustrations and been provided with a better map. BOOK OF THE MONTH. The Birds of Yorkshire, by T. H. Nelson, m.b.o.u., W. Eagle Clarke, F.R.S.E., r.L.s., and F. Boyes. 2 vols. 899 pp. 164 plates. (Brown & Sons.) 8vo, 25s. net ; 4to, 42s. net. BRIimDIRDS EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., M.B.O.U. Contents of Number 5. October 1, 1907. Nestling Birds, and Some of the Problems thej present, by W. P. Pjcraft, A.L.S., F.Z.S., m.b.o.U. (Part lt.)—continv.ed from page 106 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Page 129 On the Yellow Wagtails and their Position in the British Avifauna, by N. F. Ticehurst, f.e.c.s., sr.B.o.ir. ... ... 133 Wind and Flight, by F. W. Headley, M.A., m.b.o.tt. (Part II.) — coniinued from page \2\ ... ... ... ... ... 143 On the Moi-e Important Additions to our Knowledge of British Birds since 1899, by H. F. Witherby and N. F. Ticehurst (Part IV.) — continued from page ll-i! ... ... 147 Notes : — Interbreeding of Ring-Ousel and Blackbird. Combined Nest of Whitethroat and Hedge- Sparrow (E. C. Arnold). Wood-Wren in East Ross-shire (C. B. Rickett). Late Nesting of the Bearded Tit (W. P. Pycraft). White Wagtail in East Ross-shire (C. B. Rickett). Richard's Pipit in Cornwall (C. B. Rickett). Nesting of the Lesser Redpoll in Kent (Percy F. Bunyard). Nesting Sites of the Common Heron (W. .J. Clarke), (Francis C. K. Jourdain). Nesting Habits of Great White Heron and Common Heron (R.B.Lodge). The Pacific Eider (W. J. Clarke). Red- shank Breeding in Warwickshire (A. H. Etches) ... ... 15S Reviews : — Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, Vol. XIII., Part I. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturahsts' Society, VoL VIIL, Part III. ... 160 NESTLING BIRDS, AND SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THEY PRESENT. BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., r.z.s., m.b.o.u. Part XL {Coniinued from page 106.) Another promising field which awaits the ornithologist seeking new pastures, will be found in the colouring of the inside of the mouth of nesthng birds. This colouring appears to be consj)icuous only in nestlings of the helpless type, especially in those which are reared in dimly-lighted 130 BRITISH BIRDS. places. As a rule, among British birds, the inside of the mouth is of a bright yellow, and this is sometimes relieved by black spots upon the tong-ue and palate. In the Hedge- Sparrow, for example, black spots are found upon the Fig. 1. — Moutli of Hedge-Sparrow, showing Spots on the "Spurs" of the Tongue. (From a Photograph by Miss E. L. Tubnek.) tongue. In the Bearded Tit, on the other hand, these spots are white on a yellow ground, and in this species, furthermore, as a reference to our figure shows, these spots are more numerous than in the Hedge-Sparrow, occurring on the palate in the form of a rosette, as well as on the tongue. In how many other of our native birds such markings are to be fomid there is, at present, no source of infor- mation save that of direct observation. The nestlino-s W. p. PYCRAFT : NESTLING BIRDS. 131 of the Pied Wagtail are among those species with unspotted mouths, but the colouring is very striking, being of a Fig. 2. — Nestlings of Bearded Tits, showing the Spots on the Tongue and Palate. (From a Photograph by Miss E. L. Tueneb.) luminous gamboge yellow, outlined by the pale yellow of the gape flanges. As above remarked, the conspicuous coloration of the inside of the mouth appears to be most strongly developed in those nestlings which are reared in dimly-lighted places, and it may well be that this colour has been developed to serve as a guide mark to the parents when feeding their yomig. Without such an aid, indeed, the food might as often be dropped outside the nestling's mouth as within it. The fact that such guide- marks are foiuid to-day in nestlings which are reared in 132 BRITISH BIRDS. the open air does not necessarily militate against this interpretation : for they may be regarded as survivals of an earlier phase when such marks were useful. Like many other characters now useless, they may have sur- vived because their suppression has not been necessary for the welfare of the species. The wide, highly-coloured membranous flanges that occur at the gape of all nestlings of the helpless type may also be regarded as adaptations to facilitate the work of feeding. If they also are indeed guide-marks, it would be interesting to discover whether they are larger in those birds whose mouths are not conspicuously coloured inside. But the want of information on this subject is deplorable, and it is to be hoped that those who have suitable opportunities will hasten to fill this gap in our knowledge. Notes concerning this coloration should always be made having regard to the nature of the nesting site and the relative amoimt of light which reaches the interior of the nest and its occupants. Whenever possible photographs should be taken. But this will be found a task which will tax even the most skilled photographer. Probably none but those who have attempted, or may attempt, this feat will appreciate the skill and labour which Miss E. L. Turner has expended on the photographs which illustrate this article, and I should like to take this opj)ortunity of expressing my thanks to her ; these pictures having been taken after an immense amount of trouble, in response to my apjjeal to Miss Turner for help. So far as I know they are, of their kind, unique. {To he continued.^) 133 ON THE YELLOW WAGTAILS, AND THEIR POSITION IN THE BRITISH AVIFAUNA. BY N. F. TICEHURST, f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u. In 1832 the late John Gould pointed out that the British Yellow Wagtail was a different species from that inhabiting- the nearest parts of the continent and at the same time clearly showed that, while the continental bird was of rare occurrence in this country, our common species was almost equally rare on the continent.^ The common Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla raii, Bonaparte) is a regular summer migrant to the British islands, wliich form its head-quarters throughout the breeding season. It arrives on our south coast during the last ten days of March, throughout April and during the first week of May, the males generally aj^pearing a full fortnight before the females. Its breeding range extends from the southern counties of England as far west as Somerset, northward to Inverness and Aberdeen, throughout which area it is generally distributed in suitable localities. In Devon and Cornwall it occurs chiefly as a sj)ring and autumn migrant, though in the former county it breeds in limited numbers. In Wales it is local as a breeding sjDecies, while to the north of Scotland it can only be regarded as a rare visitor. It is said to have occurred in the Shetlands, and an adult male was obtained on Fair Isle, 8th May, 1906, and in Ireland it is extremely local, breeding in one or two localities only. In most parts of the continent it occurs only as a straggler during the periods of migration, but in France it is found in summer as a breeding species to the west of * " Proc. Zool. Soc," 1832, p. 129. 134 BRITISH BIRDS. Dieppe, and occurs regularly as a mig*rant tliroug'h Portugal and the western half of the Spanish Peninsula. In winter it is found over a large part of the continent of Africa and has even reached the Transvaal, but it is of most frequent occurrence along the west coast. The nesting habits of this bird are given more or less fully in all the text books, and are so well known to British ornithologists that there is no need to recapi- tulate them here. On the continent of Europe our common species is replaced by one or other of the numerous forms of the Blue-headed Wagtail, the males of which all differ from the males of the Yellow Wagtail in having the head of a lighter or darker shade of bluish-grey instead of greenish- yellow, and having a white streak above the eye (absent in some of the forms) instead of a broad streak of canary- yellow. The females and young birds are less easily dis- tinguished. These various forms are only separable from one another by the differences in shade of the colour of the head and the j)i*esence or absence of the white eye- stripe. Of these forms the following five have occurred in this country : 1. Blue-headed Wagtail. MotaciUa flava flava L. The Blue-headed Wagtail is found over the greater part of Europe, ranging from as far north as central Scandi- navia and northern Siberia, to the shores of the Mediter- ranean. The adult male has a bluish-slate crown, a white stripe above the eye, and nearly always an ill-delined white streak through the ear-coverts, which are darker than the crown. The female can be distinguished from that of M. raii by the slightly bluer tint of the crown and the purer whiteness of the eye-stripe and chin. The young birds in autumn are much less easy to identify with certainty, especially in the field. In the latter part of August, and from thence on till the beginning of October, when they are to be found on our coasts, the autumn moult is taking place, and being a gradual process, a good deal of variation is to be met with according to the ages of the individuals and the consequent different degree to N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 135 which the moiilt has progressed. The Wag-tails as a whole, too, seem prone to a certain amount of individual variation, particularly in the distribution and intensity of colour of the lighter ]3arts of their plumage. It is difficult, there- fore, to lay down hard and fast distinctions between the young of the two species at this season, but from the examination of a good series the following points may be enumerated as being pretty constant throughout : — In 31. rati the throat and upper breast are a warm pinkish buff, and may have some of the darker feathers of the first plumage still showing along the sides and below if the moult is not complete. Below the base of the mandible the colour is often inclined to be paler, but is never white. In M. flava flava, the throat in the majority of sjiecimens is white, but it may be mixed with a few yellowish feathers. On the breast the white shades gradually into pinkish Ijuff, with a good many yellow or ashy-brown feathers inter- mingled, and so on the belly into a purer yellow, which varies in intensity enormously in individuals of both species. The eye-stripes are pinkish buff or huffish white in all the M. rail I have examined, while in the other species they are never of this colour, but vary from yellowish white to almost pure white. These characters, besides being the most constant, are useful ones in the field, as when the observer has once got them firmly fixed in his head he can be almost certain of picking out, with the help of a good glass, the young Blue- headed Wagtails in a mixed flock. The tints of the back show a great deal of variation within small limits, and are dependent on the stage to which the moult has advanced. On the whole, the head and back of M. rail are inclined to a warmer tint of brown than those of M. f. flava — almost a clove-brown on the heads of some specimens, and with a tinge of yellow if the bird is only just beginning to moult. In M. flava flava the tint is decidedly colder and a more greenish-brown, and the green of the rump seems to be more decided in most specimens. The Blue-headed Wagtail has now been recorded from most of the southern and eastern counties of England, several times from Scotland, and from Derby, Cumberland and the Shetlands, but its occurrence in Ireland is doubtful. 136 BRITISH BIRDS. As would be expected by its geogTaphical range, it lias occurred more frequently in the British Isles than any other of the following- forms, and I shall g-ive later a more detailed account of its status in this countr}'. 2. Stkes' Wagtail. Motacilla flava heema Sykes. This form represents the above in western and central Siberia, and winters in Afghanistan and India. It occasionally occurs in western Europe and the countries bordering the Mediterranean during migration. It differs from M. jiava flava in having a pearl-grey head and a white face and ear-coverts, with a j)earl-gre3^ band through the eye. A male of this race was obtained at Eottingdean, Sussex, on April 20th, 1898, and is now in the Tring Museum. It was recorded in the "Zoologist"'^ by Mr. Butterfield. The male bird that was obtained with the first Sussex nest of the Blue-headed Wagtail on 31st May, 1901, was said by Mr. Dresser to " come nearest to M. ?)eema,"t but it could not to my mind be described as ha'vdng white cheeks, and was without doubt, I consider, a somewhat worn specimen of M. flava flava. So that the only typical specimen of M.f. heema that has yet occm-red in this country is the one in the Tring Museum. 3. Grey-headed Wagtail. Motacilla flava borealis Sund. This is the race which breeds in northern Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia. It occurs on migration throughout southern Eiu'ope, and winters in north-east Africa, India, Ceylon, and Burma. The head and nape are a dark slaty- blue ; the lores and feathers romid the eye and ear-coverts darker, almost black ; the sides of the neck are slaty-blue, the cheeks and chin white, and the eye-stripe is absent. Of this form, as might have been expected by its distribution, a number of specimens have now been obtained in the British Isles. Two birds that occurred on the Pentland Skerries have been assigned to it by Mr. Harvie- Brown,:]: the first being obtained on May 19th, 1888, while the second was seen by the same man who shot the first, on May 3rd of the following year. * " Zoologist," 1902, p. 232. f T.c, 1901, p. 389. t " ^ Vertebrate Fauna of the Orkney Islands," p. 108. N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 137 111 the spring of 1901 an adult male was captured in a lark net at Halifax, and was exhibited by Mr. W. E. de Wintoii at the British Ornithologists' Club on May 20th, 1903.^ On May 13th, 1903, two adult males were shot at Willing'don, in Sussex ; they were recorded in the *' Zoologist," and exhibited at the British Ornithologists' Club by Mr. Butterfield on the 20th May of the same year.f Another adult male was shot near Winchelsea, Sussex, on May 2nd, 1904, and was exhibited by Mr. M. J. Nicoll at the British Ornithologists' Club on May 18th. J: Lastly, a pair were obtained, with their nest and eggs, by Mr. Bristow in Roinney Marsh, near the Kent and Sussex border, on 20th June, 1906. Mr. M. J. Nicoll had seen the birds near the spot where they were afterwards obtained, but he failed to locate the nest. The birds and eggs were subsequently purchased by Mr. P. F. Bunyard, who exhibited them at the British Ornithologists' Club on November 21st of the same year.§ 4. Black-headed Wagtail. Motacilla Jlava onelanocephala Licht. This bird is found in south-eastern Europe in summer, and in north-east Africa, Arabia and south Persia in winter. The adult male has the entire head black and the whole of the underside, from the base of the bill, a brilliant yellow. An adult male was shot at Willingdon, in Sussex, on May 13th, 1903, and recorded in the "Zoologist " for that year.|| The specimen was exhibited by Mr. Butterfield at the British Ornithologists' Club, on May 20th, 1903.t So far this is the only specimen of this form that has occurred in this country. 5. Ashy-headed Wagtail. Motacilla JJava cinereocapilla Savi. The basin of the Mediterranean is inhabited by this race, the adult male of which has the head and nape, * " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xiii., p. 68. t T.c, Vol. XIII., p. 69 ; " Zoologist," 1903, p. 420. J " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xiv., p. 81. § T.c, Vol. xix., p. 23. II " Zoologist," 1903, p. 420. 1[ " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xiii., p. 69. 138 BRITISH BIRDS. hind-neck and sides of neck dark slatj-grev; the lores, feathers round the eje and ear-coverts jet-black, and the cheeks and entire throat white. The eye-stripe is absent. The first example of this form obtained in England is the one figured by Gould and mentioned in a footnote in Yarrell.'^ It was shot near Penzance and was in Mr. Rodd's collection. It is said to differ from the typical M. flava cinereocajnUa by having- a short wdiite sujjerciliary streak behind the ear only. A second specimen was obtained at Shering-ham in Norfolk " about May, 1842." It was originally recorded by Messrs. Fisher and Gurney in the "Zoologist" as the Grey- headed Wagtail, M. negleda, but on further examination by Mr. Giu-ney it has been assigned to the present form.f Returning once more to the Blue-headed Wagtail (ilf . jiava flava), a critical examination of the records reveals the fact that it has occurred more frequently in Sussex than in all of the other counties of England and Scotland taken together. Its visits to the south-eastern corner of England indeed are now so frequent and regular that, as I pointed out at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club on November 19th, 1902, this sjjecies must now be regarded as a regular spring visitor in small numbers to that area. It arrives from 20th April to 1st May, and a few pairs remain to breed. In autumn the return flight, consisting chiefl}' of young birds, moves along the coast about the third week of August, in company with the pied and common Yellow Wagtails. + It seems highly improbable that Sussex alone should be so favoured by this species, and I am strongly of opinion that it is very generally overlooked. The females and young birds of the 3^ear require to be very thoroughly known before one can be certain of recognizing them in the field, but when once the characteristics are known careful observation with a good glass is only necessary for * " Birds of Great Eritan,"Pt. XXII.; "British Birds," Yol. I., pp. 559— 560. t " Handbook of British Birds," Ed. ii., p. 364; 'Zoologist," 1846, p. 1310; Gurnej, " Trans. Xorf. Nat. Soc," 1876, p. 226. + "Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xiii., p. 20 N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 139 their identification. My own observations and those of Mr, Michael J. Nicoll, carried on chiefly in Sussex, extend only a short distance into Kent, but from what we have seen we consider that the Blue-headed Wagtail is at least as common a bird along the south coast of Kent as it is in Sussex. The bird has been observed several times near the north coast of Kent by Dr. A. G. Butler, and altogether there are a fairly large number of records for this county, so that it is highly probable that it is of as frequent occurrence in Kent as in the neighbouring county. I note, in a recent article in the "Zoologist" (1907, p. 92), that it occurred at least twice last year in Surrey, and it would be well worth the while of county ornithologists to work out in greater detail the distribu- tion of the Blue-headed Wagtail in this country. I should not be surprised to hear that it is an annual visitor in small numbers to the eastern and southern maritime counties, not only on migration, but as a breeding bird. Up to a few years ago, the records of the nesting of this species in England were very few. In Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk," Vol. L, p. 165, a nest, which is supposed to have belonged to this species, is mentioned as having been taken at Herringfleet, in Suffolk, in 1842. In the " Zoologist," pp. 2348 and 2406 will be found the accounts of two nests found in 1869, and another in 1870, near Gateshead-on- Tyne. In his "British Birds' Eggs," Dr. A. G. Butler describes what appears to have been a nest and eggs of this species sent to him from north Kent in 1885. There is also a certain amount of evidence that it has bred at least once of late years in the Broad district of Norfolk. Turning now to Sussex, Booth says,'^ that though he had never had the fortune to meet with a nest, he was well acquainted with certain spots between Brighton and Shoreham, where a pair or two of these birds could be found at almost any time during May, and that he had frequently noticed males in the vicinity of two or three * " Borrer's Birds of Sussex," p. 96 ; "A Catalogue of Bii-ds in the Dylie- Road Museum, Brighton," p. 102. 140 BRITISH BIRDS. sheep ponds on the Downs, at seasons when it was most probable that the females were sitting close at hand. Subsequent experience goes to prove that Booth was probably perfectly correct in his surmise. It was not, however, until May 31st, 1901, that the first authenticated nest was found in Sussex. On this date Mr. Bristow took a nest, with four eggs, near Winchelsea."^ Three of the eggs were unfortunately broken, but the Nesting-place of the Blue-beaded Wagtail at Winchelsea, Sussex. (Photoirrapli by N. F. Ticehurst.) fourth egg and the nest are now in the collection of Caj)t. Boyd Alexander at Cranbrook. I recorded the nesting of two pairs in 1903 at the same sj)ot near Winchelsea. One of these nests was taken and was exhibited by myself at the British Ornithologists' Club. It contained five eggs and is the first Sussex nest with the full complement.t Since that year, a pair or two of these birds has appeared almost annually near Winchelsea, but it is to be feared that the publicity given to their first discovery has prevented them again rearing a brood. t "Bulletin B.O.C., " Zoologist," 1901, p. 389. Vol. XIII., p. 78; "Zoologist," 1903, p 420. N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 141 Fortunately, investigation has j)rovecl that Winchelsea is not the only spot in Sussex favoured by this species, and at the present time four other localities are known to me, where single pairs have successfully reared their young within the last few years ; so that now the Blue-headed Wagtail must be looked upon as a regular breeding species in small numbers in Sussex. Whether it has always been so is uncertain, but in view of Booth's remarks referred to above, it would seem that this is probable, and that it has hitherto been to a great extent overlooked. If it be not so, the bird must be gradually extending its breeding range, and we may possibly look Nest and Young of the Blue-headed Wagtail, Sussex, June 4th, 1905. (Photograph by N. F. Ticehurst.) forward to the time when it may become almost as common on our Sussex marshlands as our own Yellow Wagtail. In food and nesting habits the Blue-headed Wagtail 142 BRITISH BIRDS. differs in no way from our common bird, and where it occurs, lives in perfect harmony with it, nesting in the same fields. The accompanying- illustration is reproduced from the first photograph ever taken of a nest of this species in England. The nest was found by Mr. M. J. Nicoll, Mr. C. B. Ticehurst and myself in a Sussex marsh, on June 4th, 1905. It was exceptionally well hidden in a field of very long grass and the birds were so wary that we spent three and a quarter hours watching them before we found the nest. It contained four young birds and an addled Qgg, which with the nest did not differ materially from those of the Yellow Wagtails nesting in the same field ; both the parents were seen feeding and tending the young. The young birds left the nest between June 5th and 10th, and an attempt made by Mr. Mcoll to obtain photographs of the parent birds was frustated by heavy rain, which fell almost continuously between those dates. The nest and addled egg are now in my collection. In the nomenclature of the different forms of Motacilla flava I have followed that used by Dr. Hartert in his " Die Yogel der palaarktischen Fauna," as being the most recent revision of the genus, but in the case of our common Yellow Wagtail I have retained it as a separate species under a binomial. It seems only reasonable to do this, at any rate for the present, since I have shown that in the south of England the two birds are found breeding together, even in the same field, and so they can hardly be described as geographical races of one and the same species. [Since the above was written, two pairs to my own knowledge have this year nested, one in one of the known localities in Sussex, the other, which I watched feeding their young on June 16th last, at a new locality in Kent ; and further, we read {supra, p. 89) of an undoubted nest and young having been found in Wiltshire. Mr. F. C. R. Jourdain has called my attention to a record in Mr. E. Cambridge Phillips' "Birds of Breconshire," 1899, p. 50, of a nest found in that county by Ca23t. Sandeman. — N.F.T.] ( 143 ) WIND AND FLIGHT. BY F. W. HEADLEY, m.a., m.b.o.u. Part II. {Continued from page 121.) Advance without Movement of the Wings. A Gull sometimes advances at right angles to the wind without beating his wings at all. Having attained some slight altitude he will partly flex his wings and advance rapidly, at the same time descending, till he almost touches the ground or the sea. He will then turn and face the wind, which will lift him till he attains his former altitude. The wind increasing in velocity as he ascends, aids him as it aids the lark to rise, only the lark beats his wings instead of trusting to the wind entirely. Gulls that are following a steamer may be seen advancing in this way when the wind is blowing at right angles to the ship's course. W n Fig. 4. — The upper line represents tlie course of the GruU's flight ; W, the wind. Often they get help from an up-current. In their 144 BRITISH BIRDS. downward glide they make their way to the region where the upward deflection of the wind begins, a little to the windward of the vessel. This lifts them rapidly and easily. But sometimes there is no up-current in question. Occasionally I have seen them advancing in this way over a level plain. Then they have to trust solely to a horizontal wind having different velocities at different levels. Utilisation of Up-currents. As a rule when Gulls advance with wing-s held rio-id, they are availing themselves of an up-current. Everyone must have noticed how they will often keep pace with a steamer, hanging over the stern, the only wing move- ments discernible being such slight adjustments as are required for the maintenance of balance. The Albatros is an adept at the same method of progress. Some time ago there was a letter in "Nature," the writer of Avhich maintained that he had made a great discovery. The Albatros kept all the while beating his wings, but the human eye was unable to discern the movement, so rapid was it, the movement of these wings stretching twelve feet and more from tip to tip. This remarkable theory owed its birth to a photograph taken by the wi'iter of the letter. In this photograph the wings of the Albatros were undoubtedly raised high above his back. The fact was that, the up-current happening to fail for a moment, the Albatros had given a vigorous stroke with his wings. The camera had recorded this, but the photographer had looked down at the moment he was pressing the button, and so had failed to see it. When a Gull advances in this way, there is always a wind coming from ahead. When it strikes the vessel it is deflected upward, a fact which can be detected by tying a handkerchief to a stick, or by letting fly small pieces of ]3aper. It is this up- current that at once lifts the Gull and propels him. The bird inclines his body so that the general slope of its various surfaces is slightly downward. Hence the wind F. W. HEADLEY : WIND AND FLIGHT. 145 di'ives him onward. It must do so as the accompanying diagram (Fig. 5) will show. Fig. 5. — B D, tke bird. W, the -wind acting in the direction F M. The force represented by F M is resolved into F E, F S. In Algeria I once witnessed a splendid jDerformance by two eagles. They advanced for a good mile and a half in the teeth of the wind without a motion of their wings, as far as I could judge neither losing nor gaining- altitude. They then returned, flying with vigorous strokes. After this, their wings held rigid as before, they travelled once more over the same mile and a half, but at a higher altitude. The wind was blowing over some high hills, which gave it an upward incline, of which even a hand- kerchief tied to the end of my umbrella gave evidence. In Alderney I saw a Gull advancing tvith the wind and without a motion of his wings. The wind, blowing at a small angle against steep cliffs, had a marked uj)tilt. This advance with the wind is a thing' not often seen. The position of the bird is the same as when he advances against it. Probably a more decidedly ujDward current is wanted when it blows from behind, otherwise all the feathers would be disarranged. Gulls often emj)loy another method when there is a wind blowing at right angles, or nearly so, to a steamer at sea. They face the wind which has an upward incline due to its striking the side of the vessel, and hang- in the 146 BRITISH BIRDS. air with their two wings pointing respectively towards the bow and stern. Thus they advance sideways, the point of one wing leading. Instead of a moving ship a cliff may supply the up-current required. The Gull flies to the bottom of the cliff, is lifted high above it, then he turns and faces the breeze and goes on his way, one of his wings pointing towards his destination. He descends slowly as he goes. Sometimes Gulls utilize a very local up-current with remarkable cleverness. Behind a steamer, as it travels, the air rushes down to fill the space just vacated by the vessel. This down-rush of air strikes the water, rebounds and forms an up-current. Gulls, following the vessel, having obtained a certain altitude, will sometimes glide rapidly forward, descending all the while till they nearly touch the water, but their downward-onward glide canies them into the up-current which I have just mentioned and they are at once lifted as if they were nothing but feathers. Thus they regain their altitude and again glide forward and downward. The wings are held rigidly expanded all the while, but occasionally the system works imperfectly, and a stroke with the wings has to be put in. Gulls and other birds often perform their evolutions in the air in a spirit of pure sport. Sometimes when the wind blows directly against a cliff. Gulls will fly to the base, get lifted high aloft by the up-draught, then descend to the same place and get another lift. (To he continued.) ( 147 ) ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BIRDS SINCE 1899. BY H. F. WITHERBY and N. F. TICEHURST. Part IY. (Continued frum page 114.) GREAT GREY SHRIKE Lanias excuhitor L. S. page 147. Scotland, Tay Basin and Slrathmore. — Mr. Harvie-Brown gives many occurrences, and sajs : " I think I have quoted enough to justify the statement that it has occurred in every month of the year except January " (J.A.H.-B., A Fauna of the Tay Basin and Strathmore, pp. 102, 103). West Boss. — Mr. Osgood H. Mackenzie informed Mr. Harvie-Brown that on 12th January, 1904, he had seen a specimen at close quarters, and that later on the same, or another, was obtained (Fauna of N.W. Highlands and Slcye). Barra (Outer Hebrides). — One, April 12th,"l900 (Atm. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1901, p. 77). Hull.— One, January 20th, 1907 (^c, 1907, p. 115). Shetland, Unst.— One, October 15th to 20th, 1903; one, October 24th, 1906 (t.c., 1904, p. 53; 1907, p. 137). Fair Isle.— Once observed (t.c, 1906, p. 20). Ireland.— Female shot, co. Meath, March 23rd, 1906 (Irish Nat., 1906, p. 156). This species very rarely occurs in the British Isles in spring or in summer. The bird had not before been recorded in West Ross and, according to Mr. Saunders, records wei*e wantino- from the Hebrides, while it is apparently rarely seen in the Shetlands. To Ireland it is a casual visitor. The form with only one wing-bar (L. major) is not admitted as distinct by Dr. Hartert, and is placed with L. excuhitor (Vog. pal. Fauna, p. 418 ; see also Nov. ZooL, XII [., pp. 386-405). LESSER GREY SHRIKE Lanius minor J. F. Gm. S. page 149. Hampshire. — A male in Hart's collection was procured on June 2nd, 1900, near Bournemouth (Birds of Hants, p. 50). Sussex. — A young bird, shot October 14th, 1905, at Bosham, near Chichester (A. F. Griffith, Bull. B.O.C., XVI, p. 37). [ScRREY. — A pair seen near Dorking in June, 1886 (J. A. Bucknill, Birds of Surrey, p. 87).] Norfolk. — A young bird was shot on October 11th, 1902, at Docking (G. E. Lodge, ZooL, 1902, p. 433). Yorkshire. — A voung bird was shot on September 20th, 1905, near Whitby (T. Stephenson, Nat., 1906, p. 70). Bedfordshire. — One found dead on January 25th, 1907, and 148 BRITISH BIRDS. identified by Mr. Gardner, of Oxford Street (Rouse Orlebar, Field, 2, II., 1907). Only six occurrences of this bird are recorded by Mr. Saunders. RED-BACKED SHRIKE Lanius collurio L. S. page 151. Fair Isle (Shetlands). — Several appeared on passage late in May and in early June, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, Aim. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 73). The Red-l3acked Shrike is rare north of the Forth and has only twice before been recorded in the Shetlands. WOODCHAT Lanius pomeranus Sparr. S. page 153. Yorkshire. — A male was seen on May 9th, 1903, at Speeton (C. O. Danford, JVat., 1903, p. 262). Although it rarely reaches so far north as Yorkshire, the Woodchat is rather more frequent in its visits to south-eastern England, and about six have been recorded from that quarter during the last eight years. WAXWING Ampelis garrulus L. S. page 155. Outer Hebrides. — One was obtained at Stornoway on November 19th, 1901, and another specimen said by D. Mac- kenzie to have been killed twenty- five years before (J. A. Harvie-Brown, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist, 1902, p. 52.) Shetland. — One found dead at Unst, November, 1903 (T. E. Saxby, ^.c, 1901, p. 156). Ireland. — One was shot on December 4th, 1901, near Londonderry (D. C. Campbell, Irish Nat., 1902, p. 22). During October, November and December, 1903, there was a remark- able visitation of these birds to Ireland (cos. Armagh, Antrim, Down, Kildare, Derry), over twenty being killed and many more seen (cf. Irish Nat., 1904, p. 45 ; ZooL, 1903, p. 456 ; Ibis, 1904, p. 307). England. — In the winter of 1903-4 about sixty Avere killed in East Anglia, and this was " perhaps the largest visitation since 1866-7" (J. G. Tuck, Zool, 1904, p. 115), and stragglers were obtained in Lincolnshire, Sussex and Kent. Mr. Saunders had no evidence of the occurrence of Waxwings in the Outer Hebrides, while in Orkney and Shetland it is rare. PIED FLYCATCHER Muscicapa atricapilla L. S. page 159. In addition to the counties mentioned by Mr. Saunders, this species appears to breed in small numbers in Rutland and Lincolnshire {Birds of Butkmd, p. 45; Nat., 1906, p. 42). Its migration route through the southern counties we hope will be worked out by the Migration Committee of the British Ornithologists' Club. It occurs annually in Norfolk, but south of that the records are scanty. It is numerous as a breeding bird in Carnarvon, Merioneth and other parts of Wales, yet it ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 149 appears to be an extremely rare visitor to Cornwall (c/. Zool., 1907, p. 283), Devon and Somerset (cf. ZooL, 1900, p. 237), and how the Welsh birds reach their breeding-quarters is as yet unknown. RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER Muscicapa parva Bechst. S. page 161. Norfolk. — In 1900 one was sliot at Wells and is in the collection of Mr. P. C. Musters ; on September 22nd, 1904, one is recorded by "Richards" (J. H. Gurney, ZooL, 1905, p. 97). Another was identified by Mr. E. C. Arnold " near the sea " on September 20th, 1905 {id.J.c, 1906, p. 133); two young birds were obtained on September 18th, and one on September 20th, 1906 {id., Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 51 ; Zool, 1907, p. 135). Nine examples have now been recorded for Norfolk. Yorkshire. — A male was reported as seen near Hull on May 20th, 1907 (B. Haworth-Booth, Field, 1907, May 25th), and a pair was described as frequenting a hedge near Beverley on June 4th, 1907 (H. R. Jackson, Nat., 1907, p. 291). Cheshire. — A male observed during six days at the end of June, 1903, at Paynton, Cheshire (E. Tristram, Field, 18, vii., 1903). May and June are unusual months for this bird's occurrence. Fair Isle (Shetlands). — Several were seen and two shot, September 20th and 21st, 1906 (W. E. Clarke and N. B. Kinnear, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1906, p. 236), and one was obtained on October 4th, 1906 (t.c, 1907, p. 51). The Red-breasted Flycatcher had only once previously been recorded from any part of Scotland. [Channel Islands. — At the meeting of the British Ornitho- logists' Club held on June 18th, 1902, Mr. E. Bidwell read a letter from Mr. R. VV". Llewellyn, of Britonferry, describing a visit to the Casquets Lighthouse, Alderney, on May 14th, 1902. Early on that morning a great rush of birds had taken place, and two or three hundred dead ones had been picked up in the gallery outside the lantern. Mr. Llewellyn considered, from Seebohm's description and the plate in Lilford's "' Birds of the British Islands, " that they were all Red-breasted Flycatchers. Considerable doubt was thrown on the identification, and as through an unfortunate accident none of these birds was preserved, the value of the record must ever remain doubtful (Vide Bvll. B.O.C., XIL, p. 83; Ibis, 1902, p. 673; 1903, p. 265).] MARTIN Chelidon urhica (L.). S. page 165. A clutch of eggs, all of which were marked with small red spots, was found on June 29th, 1907, near Newbury (Hy. S., Field, 20, VII., 1907). 150 BRITISH BIRDS. GREENFINCn Liqvrinus cMoris (L.). S. page 169. Outer Hebrides. — Breeds at Stornoway and probably has done so for some time (N. B. Kinnear, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 19). The Greenfinch was not previously known as a breeding species in the Outer Hebrides. HA-WFINCH Goccothraustes vulgaris Pall. S. page 171. Mr. Saunders wrote in 1899 that the Hawfinch had been " steadily increasing in numbers during the last fifty years."' The bii'd has undoubtedly continued to increase since Mr. Saunders wrote, and it is moreover extending its breeding range, especially in a northward and westward direction. This fact is a most important one, and it is to be regretted that there appears to be little accurate information available to trace the increase satisfactorily, although in those regions, euch as Scotland, where the bird is still rare, its movements have been well recorded. Without more exact data it is impossible to discover the reasons for the increase. The late Prof. Newton remarked in 1906 " eighty years ago or thereabouts. Hawfinches were accounted scarce visitors to England, and it was only a few years after that they were found to breed here. We do not know now what it is that tempts them, but it must be connected with new woodland growth, and it is instructive" (Irish Nat., 1906, p. 136). Mr, H. E. Howard has ascribed the increase of the Hawfinch to the increase of the human population and to the corres- ponding increase of market gardens, ai'guing that this pi'ovides food in June and July when these birds most need it, as in autumn and winter there are plenty of berries of various kinds (Zool., 1901, p. 465). This seems to be a plausible idea, and is boi-ne out to a certain extent by the observations of others, but, Avithout further facts, any reason assigned to account for the increase of the Hawfinch must be theoretical. Wetherefoi'e beg the readers of British Birds to make careful observations, both of the numbers of this bird in their districts, as well as the nature of their food, and forward the results to the Editors, in order that a more exact " census " of the Hawfinch may be taken. England. — The increase in England has been chiefly noted in the north and west, where the bird was uncommon, but it is undoubtedly increasing also in those counties where it was formerly common. In certain parts of Hampshire there has been a notable increase ; for instance, in the cultivated parts of the New Forest district (H.F.W.), and in other parts of the county (cf. Birds of Hants, p. 61, and Zool., 1901, p. 465). " In Shropshire the Hawfinch was looked upon as a rare bird in the sixties, but by the year 1900 it had become numerous throughout ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 151 the couuty, especially in the southern part. I have known seven nests with eggs in a tall hawthorn hedge within a length of two hundred yards. Over thirty Hawfinches were lately shot in one garden (where they came after the green peas), without making any perceptible difference in the numbers locally " (H. E. Foi'rest hi Utt.). In Cheshire, where it was first recorded in 1860, it is now plentiful in some districts where a few years ago it was unknown (Coward and Oldham, Birds of Cheshire, p. 75). A marked increase is recorded in north-west Lindsey, Lincolnshire (M. Peacock, JVcr/., 1906, p. 44). In Yorkshire it " has vastly increased of late years and extended its range northward now resident in many places where it used to be merely a winter visitant." " Since 1897 there has been a large colony in Cleveland, where some twenty or thirty pairs breed" {Birds of Yorhshire," pp. 165 and 168). In vai'ious parts of Durham, where it used to be only a rare visitor, it is now resident and breeding (J. W. Fawcett, Nat., 1900, p. 113). In CwmfterZawcZ, where it has nested once or twice before, it was recorded as nesting this year at Netherby (T. Harrison, Field, 13, VII., 1907). In Northumberland, where it is extremely rare and had not previously been recorded as breeding, a pair was found nesting near Chipchase. first in 1901, and again in 1902, 5 and 6 (A. Chapman, Bird-Life of the Borders, p. 144). Wales. — In Breconshire where it was first discovered nesting in 1890, it has bred again and appears to be increasing and extending westward (E. A. Swainson, Zool., 1902, p. 465, and E. Cambridge Phillips, Field, 7, ix., 1907). In north-west Wales it is " slowly spreading westward but is as yet rare in Merioneth; unknown on the west coast, in Anglesey or Carnarvon, except near Llandudno" (H. E. Forrest, Zool., 1903, p. 178). Mr. Forrest writes to us, under date September 16tli, 1907 : — " In North Wales the Hawfinch appears to have been unknown until comparatively recent years, for none of the older writers mention it as occurring there. At the present time it is common in 3Iontgoiueryshire and parts of Flint and Denbiffh- shire, and is gradually increasing and extending its range westwards, though it has not yet reached the west coast. Full details will be found in my forthcoming ' Fauna of North Wales.' " Scotland. — Although a young bird was caught near Edinburgh in 1894 (cf W. E. Clarke, A7in. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1894, p. 195), the breeding of the Hawfinch in Scotland had not been proved until in 1903 a nest near Newport, in the east of Fifeshire, was reported by Mr. W. Berry (t.c, 1904, p. 11). Although no more nests have been found in Scotland, the following occurrences of the bird have been noted: — 1903, April 6th .02, p. 56). Linota hornemannii Holboll. Five specimens of tliis species were obtained on Fair Isle in September and October, 1905 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1906, p. 17). Two are recorded in Mr. Saunders' "Manual," while two more obtained at Spui'n in 1883 and 1893 are placed under this species by the authors of the " Birds of Yorkshire " (p. 189). Linota hornemannii exilipes (Coues). One obtained at Easingtou, Yorkshire, in the winter of 1893-4 and two others obtained in the same district on December 30th, 1898, were assisjued by Mr. Cordeaux to this form [Birds of Yorkshire, Vol. I., p. 188). As Mr. Saunders remarks, the whole question of the Mealy Redpolls is " incrusted by a voluminous literature in which hardly two authors agree as regards specific value." Dr. Hartert, in the latest review of the genus {Vdg. j^al. Fauna, p. 77 et seq.), regards holboelUi and rostrata as subspecies of L. linaria, and the other Greenland Redpoll, L. hornemannii, as a separate species with the circumpolar exilipes as a subspecies of it. Now that more attention is being bestowed by British ornithologists on the study of geograpliical races, the occurrence of these forms in the British Islands will be, no doubt, moi'e often noted and our knowledge of their migrations increased. LESSER REDPOLL Linota rufescens (Vieillot). S. page 191. Somerset. — Records of its nesting in the northern parts of the county on the central levels and near the south-western boundary (F. L. Blathwayt, ZooL, 1902, p. 67 ; H. Meyrick, ^ c, 1903, p. 457). Sussex. — A nest and egg were taken near Midhurst, 4th May, 1901 (A. Byatt, Bidl. B.O.C., XII., p. 15). Young bu-ds were seen being fed by their parents on August 22nd, 1907, at Maresfield, and a nest like that of this species was found near by (R. Morns, Zool., 1907, p. 352). A nest was found with four eggs, 15th May, 1895, at Brightlmg, Sussex (N.F.T.). Kent. — In addition to the i-ecords mentioned supra, p. 155, it was numerous and breeding near Canterbury in May, 1897 (N.F.T.); becoming a common breeding species in the Darenth Valley, 1905 {fide J. R. Hale) ; breeds somewhat sparingly in north Kent (A. G. Butler, Br. Birds' Eggs, 1886) ; nest and three eggs found 8th May, 1896, at Leigh, near Tonbridge (fide C. B. Ticehurst) ; has increased wonderfully during the last 184 BRITISH BIRDS. few years round Bromley, and knows of twenty or thirty nesting pairs (J. Walpole Bond, Field, 5, x., 1907). Berks. — Abundant as a nesting species in 1905 (F. W. Proctor, BuU. B.OC, XV., p. 88). Nest found iu 1906 (Graham W. Kerr, Zool, 1906, p. 231). Surrey. — Nest and eggs taken on 20th May, 1894, near Epsom (J. A. Bucknill, Zuol., 1901, p. 250). Nest and two eggs found on Wimbledon Common, 29th June, 1902 (M. J. Nicoll, t.c, 1902, p. 313). Pair seen feeding young at Liugfield, 19th July, 1887 (J. A. Bucknill, t.c , 1902. p. 227). Nested near Gocialming at the end of May, 1906 (L B. Mouritz, t.c, 1907, p. 100). Middlesex. — A pair nested at Staines in 1903 (Graham W. Kerr, t.c, 1906, p. 230). Nest and five eggs found near Pinner, 28th June, 1902 (R. H. Read, t.c, 1903, p. 26). Cheshire. — A fairly common breeding species (S. G. Cummings, t.c, 1903, p. 105). Oxford. — Two pairs breeding near Oxford in Mav, 1898 (F. L. Blathwayt, t.c , 1903, p. 26). Rutland. — Breeds sparingly in the Uppingham district, and not uncommonly near Stamford (C. R. Haines, Birds of Rutland, p. 58.) Outer Hebrides. — A nest and eggs taken at Barra ai-e now in the Royal Scottish Museum (J. A. Harvie-Brown, Jnn. S.N.H., 1902, p. 146). TWITE Li7iofa Jtavirostris (L.). S. page 193. A somewhat lengthy correspondence in the " Zoologist " (1905 and 1906) on the distribution of the Twite in the nesting season resulted in no new facts being disclosed, but Mr. Saunders' opinion — that it is local, and more abundant in the west than the east— was confirmed, while it appears to be almost unknown as a breeding species in Wales (c/. also J. H. Salter, ZooL, 1902, p. 6). A nest and eggs were taken at Westward Ho! on May 3rd, 1904 (C. E. Pearson, BtiU. B.O.C., XIV., 91), and a nest, supposed to be of this species, was taken in Surrey on June 24th, 1894 (J. A. Bucknill, Zool, 1001, 250). {To be continued.) nOTES EAEE BIRDS IN SUSSEX, KENT, AND ESSEX. I HAVE been much interested in Mr. H. Saunders' and Messrs. Witberby and Ticehurst's papers in British Birds on "Additions since 1899 " to the British Bird List. I should like to supplement them with the following records of rare birds in my own collection. Black-eared Wheatear Saxicola caterime. A male of this western form of the Black-eared Chat was shot at Winchelsea on May 2nd, 1907, and sent to Mr. Bristow. It was seen in the flesh by Mr. W. R. Butterfield, and is the third specimen of this species recorded in this country. Cetti's Warbler Cettia cettii. A female of this species, the second which has been obtained in this country (cf. British Birds, p. 9), was shot at Whatlington, Sussex, on September 1st, 1906, and sent to Mr. Bi-istow, of St. Leonards, to set up. It was seen in the flesh by Mr. L. C. Edwards, and is now in my collection. Blue-headed Wagtail Motacilla fiava flava. A very fine old male of this species was shot at Winchelsea on April I9th, 1905. Grey-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava horealis. A male of this northern race was shot at Winchelsea, on May 29th, 1907. I saw it in the flesh at Mr. Bristow's and have it now in my collection. WooDCHAT Shrike Lanius pomeraiucs. I have also received a male of this species which was shot at HadloAv, near Tonbridge, Kent, on July 4th, 1907. Nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes macrorhyncus. A fine male of the thick-billed (west European) form of the Nutcracker was shot at Broadoak, Brede, Sussex, on February 12th, 1907. Hybrid Turtle Dove. I have also a cui-ious Turtle Dove, a female, which was sent me in May last. It was shot with an ordinary male wild Turtle Dove in the first week of May, 1907, at Stanway, near Colchester, Essex. I believe it to be a hybrid between T. turtur and T. risorius. I am informed that from June to August, 1906, there was an African Turtle Dove, T. risorms, flying about with common Turtle Doves at this place, and it disappeared with the 186 BRITISH BIRDS. wild bh-ds. The hybrid is a hen and had eggs well developed, and shows no sign of captivity. I have to record my thanks to Dr. R. B. Sharpe and Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-G-rant for kindly identifying these birds for me. J. B. JSTlCHOLS. MAESH-WARBLER NESTING IN SURREY. On the 14th of June last I quite unexpectedly discovered the Marsh- Warbler (Acrocephalus pahcstris) breeding at Thorpe, in Surrey, in which county it has not previously been I'ecorded as nesting. Until three years ago 1 lived quite close to the spot where I found the nest, and certainly up to that time the bird had never occurred in the neighbourhood. I am afraid that the birds will not become established, as already part of the plantation they frequent has been cleared. The nest was placed in the fork of a small osier, well hidden among a mass of tall grass, nettles, and other rank herbage, and was about three feet from the ground. The osier-bed faces on the river, but the nest was some distance back from the stream, and on quite dry ground. Reed- and Sedge-Warblers were breeding on the same spot. I discovered the nest by hearing the bird slip away in the undergrowth, and, although I waited a long while, she did not return, nor Avas the male seen anywhere in the vicinity. The nest, which contained four bold and finely marked eggs, was made entirely of gi-asses, finer grass being used for the lining. It seemed to be more substantially built than the nests of the Reed -Warblers found in the same place. On the 25th June I again visited the osier bed. and found a fresh nest placed about two and a half feet from the ground in a clump of tall grass, four or five stems being woven into the sides, and, as in the first case, it was composed entirely of grasses and contained four eggs. On the 13th July Mr. Mouritz accompanied me to the plantation, but, unfortunately, the second nest seemed to have been disturbed, and we could find no trace of the birds anywhere in the neighbourhood. G-raham W. Kerr. THE TONGUE-SPOTS OF THE NESTLING GRASSHOPPER- WARBLER. With reference to Mr. W. P. Pycraft's article on the colouring of the inside of the mouth of nestling birds, I have noticed tha.t the nestlings of the Grasshopper- Warbler (Locustella nnevia) have three distinct dark-coloured spots placed at right angles to each other on the base of the tongue. J. S. T. Walton. [Notes like this by Mr. Walton will, we hope, frequently appear in these columns, for the number of such recoi'ds is astonishingly small. — Eds.] NOTES. 187 GREAT AND BLUE TITS COVERING UP THEIR EGGS. Last year for the first time I jjut up five or six nesting boxes in my garden. During the spi-ing all but one of these were inhabited by Great and Blue Tits. The boxes were so made that I could very easily lift off the top to inspect the nest and eggs. This I did fairly frequently, and was much struck with the apparently untidy condition of the nests, which for days were without a " cup " and contained no eggs that I could see. I was much surprised one day at finding a bird sitting on one of these nests, which on examination proved to contain a full clutch of eggs. I concluded that she must have been covering up her eggs as they were laid. This year I have watched the nests more closely, and have proved that the bird invariably keeps the eggs completely covered Avith a piece of moss or rabbit's fur ''usually the latter) between her visits to the nest for the purpose of laying. I have observed this in all my nests — four of the Great Tit and two of the Blue Tit. After the full clutch of eggs is laid and the bird is sitting, the eggs are no longer covered when the nest is left. The egg- covering is then, I believe, used for the sides of the nest, and gives it its very deep cup-shaped appearance. I am not aware that this interesting habit of these Tits has ever beeu recorded before. Of course it is possible that it may be only a comparatively uncommon habit, and it may be only by chance that in all the nests I have been able to watch closely the eggs have been thus covered. I hope that other ornitholo- gists will be able to confirm my observations. It would be also interesting to know whether the Coal-Tit and Marsh-Tit behave in the same way. A few birds (such as the Hedge-Sparrow) occasionally cover their eggs before commencing to sit, and such well-known instances as the Ducks and Grebes need hardly be mentioned. But of all birds the Tits would seem to profit the least by this habit. Norman H. Joy. OCCURRENCES OF THE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL AT LYNMOUTH, NORTH DEVONSHIRE. On September 7th, 1901, I saw two birds in our garden at Lynmouth which seemed to be of a species I had not seen before. My brother and myself saw them on several occasions later in the year, and having examined them through field- glasses, made them out to be Mota cilia flava.hut to our surprise in every case the white streak over the eye, described by writers as a distinguishing mark of this species, was either almost or entirely obsolete. During I90I we saw these birds after September 7th, on the 14th and 24th, and on October 3rd, 5th, 188 BRITISH BIRDS. and 24tli. In 1902 thev were seen frequently, and in 1903, when I saw one on December 16th within a few feet of where I was standing 1 came to the conclusion that here at least the species was non-migratory. In the following year, 1904, 1 have the strongest belief that they nested at Lynmouth, for we saw a pair of them on March Idth on the top of the sea wall of our esplanade, and again in the same place on April 8th ; and frequently from that date to May 19th, when only one, the male, was seen. Afterwards both birds were seen carrying food in their beaks up the clitr, and on July 30th the pair were there with their young ones. The wall of the esplanade is about three feet high, and about the same breadth, flat on the top, then comes a footpath and a road, at the back of which is a nearly perpendicular clift" about 300 feet high, which is a great place for birds as it is very little disturbed. Other dates on which we saw them in that year were October 9th, November 25th and 27th, and December 28th, and had we looked 1 expect we could have seen them every day in the year. In 1905 the dates were January 22nd, Febriiary frequently, March 23rd, and June 4th (a young cock). In 1906 1 did not see this bird till November 20th, and this year (1907) for the first time on September 12th, and again on the 13th. Both last year and this, however, there have been very late cold springs. The following is a description of the birds : — Adult c? . — Size of AE. raii ; crown and nape, bluish-grey, darker in some examples ; lores and ear-coverts paler, but in no case with a distinctly pale line over the eye ; back, greenish-yellow ; wing-coverts, greenish- brown edged with a paler colour ; chin and upper breast, white ; underparts, deep yellow ; tail-feathers, blackish brown, sometimes almost black, except the two outer pairs, which are white with a faint tinge of yellow, and with black edges to the inner webs ; beak and feet, dark greyish brown, not black as described in most books. Adult ? . — Duller, Avith less pronounced colours. Young. — Back greyer, Avith much less yellow on the under- ])arts ; less marked difference in the colour of the tail- feathers, and paler beak and claws. T. H. Briggs. LESSER GREY SHRIKE IN KENT. An immature example of Lanius minor, only partially through the autumn moult, was shot at Brookland, October 7th, 1907. For former records cf. antea, p. 147. N. F. Ticehurst. HAWFINCH BREEDING IN NORTHUMBERLAND. Anent the iuteresting notes on this bird in the October NOTES. 189 number of "British Birds, and the references to its breeding in Nortliuuiberland, I may add though I have not seen any nests myself, yet I have excellent authority for stating that more than one pair are in the habit of breeding within seven miles from here (Stocksfield-on-Tyne). Also old birds with young have been seen in the neighbourhood of Chollerfield, North Tvne. J. S. T. Walton. SNOW-FINCH IN KENT. The spell of cold weather that swept across Europe at the end of last year resulted in one of the most remarkable daylight migi'ations that has ever been witnessed in the south of England. Amongst other birds procured at this time was a specimen of the Snow-Finch (il/o?i^i!y"/-m(/i!7Za«{y//?t.s), the second that has been obtained in this country {ef. H. Saunders, supra, p. 13). It was shot from a flock of four or five similar-looking birds (whether of the same species or not, I do not know) at Paddock Wood, in Kent, on December 28th, 1906. I examined the bird in the flesh, and still in a quite fresh condition, on January 2nd. A second was, I believe, procured at the same time, but as I have no personal knowledge of it I do not venture to record it. N. F. TiCEHURST. ROLLER IN SUSSEX. On July 31st, 1907, a gamekeeper in St. Leonard's Forest observed one of these bii'ds, a fine male, flying in the forest near Colgate. So conspicuous a bird can hardly escape notice, nor the desire of man to capture it, and the specimen in Cjuestion met with the usual fate. I saw it in the flesh on August 2nd, and it has now been added to my collection. Formerly the Roller was a regular though scarce summer visitor to this part of England, but now its appearance is distinctly rare. As far as I can ascertain this is the only example that has been killed during the past ten years in West Sussex. The throat and crop) contained several small beetles. J. G. MiLLAIS. EARLY NESTING OF THE SHAG IN ORKNEY. This year the Green Cormorants or Shags (Phalacrocorax gracuhis) started nesting remarkably early in Orkney. They commenced building their nests in January, and the first eggs were found on February 24th on the. Island of Sules Skerry. The weather during these months was very stormy but not cold, and perhaps this latter fact had something to do with their early nesting, which is much earlier than has ever been known in Orkney before. H. W. Robinson. 190 BRITISH BIRDS. GLOSSY IBISES IN ORKNEY. On September 24tli last, a flock of about twenty Glossy Ibises {Plegddis falcinellus) appeared at Sandwick, a small township about four miles inland, and about eight miles from Stromness, Orkney, where they frequented some marshy ground. The man who made the discovery did not think of shooting them at first, and so for three days they remained in peace, but on the 27th this idea seemed to strike him, and from this date until October 1st he shot two or three each day as they were feeding in a burn, until he had accounted for no less than ten. Tbey were very wary, and rose high in the air when disturbed. Most of them were sent, I believe, to Mr. Mallock, of Perth, and it would be interesting to know whether they were old or young birds. I do not think there are a dozen records of this bird having visited Scotland, and the occurrence of a flock of them in Orkney is most unusual, as I believe the species has only occurred twice before in these islands, viz., a young bird near Stromness on September 19th, 1903, which I mentioned in the 'Field," etc., at the time, and another near Kirkwall as long ago as September, 1857. It Avill be noticed that the three occurrences wei'e all in September, during the autumn migration. H. W. EOBINSON. PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE IN MIDDLESEX. At noon on Monday, September 23rd, when sitting with Mr. Henry M. Hill on the lawn in front of his residence, Downage, Hendon, I saw a Pallas's Sand-Grouse (Syrrhaptes parado'Us) flving towards us. It was alone and, at an altitude of not more than sixty feet, passed directly over our heads, giving me a splendid opportunity of carefully observing and identifying it. It flew rapidly over the house, taking a course due north. I have never previously had the pleasure of seeing this bird alive, but have had ample opportunities of studying, amongst others, the specimens which were obtained in Stafford- shire, in 1863, by the late Mr. Samuel Yates of Eccleshall. W. Wells Bladen. PARTRIDGE CARRYING A YOUNG ONE. On August 28th last, on the downs near Corfe Castle, I put up a covey of Partridges a little more than half grown. In the rear came the mother (unless it was the lather) camying one of her familv, presumably a weakly one, in her claws. I was able to see tliis clearly, as I was quite near when they rose. F. W. Headley. NOTES. 191 REDSHANK BREEDING IN WARWICKSHIRE. In the editorial note folloAvinor the remarks of Mr. A. H. Etches on this subject (antea, p. 159), the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain observes that, to his knowledge, the Redshank has not been recorded as previously breeding in Warwickshire. This reminds me that on May 20th, 1905, I found a nest of the Redshank with four eggs, well concealed in coarse grass, in Sutton Park. I had on several occasions in previous years met with them during the breeding season in the Trent Valley, near Armitage, but was not aware that as a nesting species they had not been recorded in Warwickshii-e. I visited the nest again on May 22nd, and also on several occasions afterwards. On my last visit I found the nest empty, and saw iio trace of the birds, which made me rather suspicious that someone had taken the eggs, but one of the park keej^ers, to whom I showed the nest, was quite confident that they had been hatched, and another of the keepers, who appeared well acquainted with the birds, assured me that he had seen three at least of the young birds, but at some considerable distance from the nest. William Da.vies. During the years 1895-1898 I was in the habit of paying one or two visits every week during May, June and July, to the swampy ground lying behind the rifle butts at Rugby. I always saw a pair of Redshanks on every visit, never more than one pair, and I never succeeded in locating the nest, but that there was a nest I have little doubt from the behaviour of the birds and the time of year. The Redshank here in the extreme north of Lancashire, and on the Westmorland borders, are showing a marked tendency to come further from the marshes on the coast-line, and are now found breeding on certain low-lying cultivated moss- lands where they were unknown to breed some two or three years ago. I am inclined to believe that they are adopting these tactics to avoid the constant persecution to which they are subjected on the unpreserved and public marshes during the nesting season. Fred. Smalley. REPORT ON THE FOOD OP BLACK-HEADED GULL. At the request of the Cumberland County Council Messrs. D. L. Thorpe and L. E. Hope undertook to investigate the nature of the food of the Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not this species was to be regarded as harmful from an economic point of view. 192 BKITISH BIRDS. To this end they issued a number of circulars, containing a series of questions, Avith a view to ascertaining the opinions of Naturalists, Anglers, Fishermen, Farmers and G-amekeepers, and, as a result, received sixty-two replies. Naturally, wide differences of opinion as to the harmf ulness, or otherwise, of this bird have been brought together by this means, but the result, as a whole, is emphatically in favour of the bird. But the evidence which Messrs. Thorpe and Hope have accumulated, as a result of the examination of the stomachs of one hundred birds, is far more important, since most of those who returned schedules had never actually made a similar examinatioD, but founded their remarks on observations in the field only. This post-mortem work has shown that, in the area under investigation at any rate, the Black-headed Gull lives largely Tipon earthworms, these making up no less than 42 per cent, of the food examined. Of the 100 birds, 41 per cent, had been feeding on the larvae of insects harmful to grass and root crops, such as wire-worms, and the larvae of the " Daddy-long-legs." Although, as the replies sent in show, not a few people were convinced that the Black-headed Gull lived largely upon fish and was to be reckoned a most undesirable bird in the neighbour- hood of fish- hatcheries, it has now been conclusively shown that fish form but a fraction of this bird's diet. Only 9 per cent, of the birds examined contained traces of fish of any kind, and in this report mollusca and shell-fish appear to be included under the common term "fish." But not the least extraordinary part of this report is the decision to which the authors have come : since they suggest, in spite of the fact that the Black-headed Gull is to be regarded as an allv of the farmer, and is innocent of all harm whatsoever to the fishing interests, that no " harm would be done to the species by relaxation for a term of years of the protection now given it"! The prisoner at the bar having been honourably acquitted is to be j^enalized lest in future . he may deserve punishment! Economic ornithology has been very little i>ractised in England, and it is a matter which should be taken up in a very thorough way by the Board of Agriculture, or some other properly constituted authority. For years past this has been done in the United States and, as a consequence, a vast amount of valuable facts, upon which absolute reliance can be placed, has been accumulated. Throughout the United States Gulls are almost everywhere protected, and the same is true of Canadian Provinces ; in Manitoba alone are Gulls exempted from protection. W. P. P. NOTES. 193 Red-backed Shrike nesting in Yorkshire. — This species is a rare lurd in Yorkshire, and has seldom nested in the county. Mr. Oxley Grabhani records that a pair nested this year in the Pickering- district and brought off their young (Naturalist, 1907, p. 325). ^ ^ ^ WooDCHAT IN Oxfordshire. — Mr. C. B. Chambers saw and watched near Fifield, Milton-under-Wychwood, from May 20th to 23rd, 1905, a Woodchat {Lanius 2>omera7ins) (O. V. Aplin, Zool, 1907, p. 323). •X- -Jf -x- Nesting of the Lesser Tern in North Uist, Outer Hebrides. — Mr. P. F. Eunyard has recorded in the "Field" (September 21st, 1907) the finding of the eggs of a Lesser Tern, Sterna miyiuta, on the north side of North Uist. At a distance the birds were mistaken, curiously enough, for Roseate Terns, but we cannot agree with the Editor of the aljove-mentioned journal that this casts any doubt on the record, since tliere could haA'e been no mistake about the eggs which were found, and when the birds were seen at close quarters they were at once recognized as Lesser Terns. Mr. Bunyard is entirely wrong m supposing that the bird had not been previously recorded as breeding in the Outer Hebrides, since Mr. W. L. MacGillivray found a small nesting colony in Barra in 1902 {Ann. 8.N.H., 1902, p. 237), but, according to Mr. N. B. Kinnear, they have not breed there since 1903 (/.c, 1907, p. 85). A colony, well- known to a good many ornithologists, breeds in another of the outer islands and has done so since 1885 or 1886 (rf. J. A. Harvie-Biown, t.c, 1903, p. 16). Mr. Bunyard's record is, howevei", of considerable importance, liecause, as we believe, Nortli Uist is the most north-westerly point at which the Lesser Tern has been found breeding. ■X- -x- -x- Weight of Birds' Eggs. — Mr. Nevin H. Foster gives measurements and weights of the eggs of a number of species as supplementary to his pi-evious observations on the subject {Irish Nat., 1907, pp. 315-319). REVEW5 The Birds of YorTcshire. hy T. H. Nelson, M.B.O.U., with the co-operation of W. Eagle Clarke, F.R.S.E., and F. Boyes. 2 Vols. Illustrated. Brown & Sons. 25s. net. Since Yorkshire is the largest county of England, and possesses a great diversity of physical features, and has, moreover, a long coast-line favourably situated as a landing place for migrants, it is not surprising that it should possess a richer avifauna than any other county. The total of Yorkshire birds as given in this work is 325, as against 315 species computed as having occurred in Norfolk. Long ago the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union promised a history of the birds of its county, and the work begun by Messrs. W. E. Clarke, and W. D. Roebuck, has at last been completed by Mr. T. H. Nelson, with the assistance of Mr. F. Boyes, and many other Yorkshire ornithologists. On the whole the two volumes before us are worthy of the importance of the subject, but it is a very great pity that so fine a work should be marred by blemishes altogether avoidable. Some of these are of the most surprising nature. All through the book the authority for the scientific name of a species is placed within brackets, whether the generic name adopted was employed by the original describer or not ! We understand from the preface that the authors have had the assistance of Mr. T. Sheppard for proof reading, and it is extraordinary that this gross mistake, and many minor misprints should have escaped the detection of so many eyes. Some of the misprints have been corrected in an errat'i slip which itself contains an erroi- — Liberian being printed for Siberian Meadow Bunting. The volumes contain no map — an unaccountable omission. A history of the birds of a county is, in our opinion, incomplete without a map, and it should contain, besides, illustrations showing different types of country frequented by typical species. These volumes ai-e crowded with illustrations, excellent of their kind, but nine-tenths are entirely unsuited to the needs of a work such as this. We find innumerable photographs of the nests of every common bird, but we look almost in vain for illustrations of bird-haunts, of which Yorkshire can hoast so many of such varied character. We cannot lay to the charge of the authors the absurdity of these illustrations, for they are certainly well aware of the requirements of a county avifauna in this respect, and we can only regret that it was found necessary for a committee, seemingly out of sympathy with the subject, to meddle with what was an ornithologist's affair. It must not be supposed that these blemishes, to which we REVIEWS. 195 have felt it our duty to refer, seriously affect the authors' work. This lias been well done. The history of each species is a thoroughly exhaustive and conscientious piece of work, and the important task of sifting the records of rarities has been done with caution and sound judgment. The notes under each species connected with its migrations are also e.xtremely useful, but the subject of migration as a whole, as observed in Yorkshire, has been shirked, and we are only given an extract from Mr. Eagle Clarke's British Association "Digest." The work contains much information hitherto unpublished, and amongst the records referring to species already dealt with, before the publication of this work, in the series of articles now appearing in these pages on the "Additions since 1899," the following may be mentioned, while others will be incorporated in their correct places in future instalments of the above- mentioned articles. White s Thrush has occurred five times in Yorkshire, and not four, as stated antea, p. 53 ; the Bock Thrush is admitted on the evidence of one seen at Whitby in 1852, a record probably rejected by Mr. Saunders; the authenticity of the specimen of the White-spotted Bluethroat obtained at Scarborough in April, 1876, is fully established ; a Bed-spotted Bluethroat was identified at close range at Easington on September lOtli, 1901 ; a valuable account is given of the range of the Nightingale in Yorkshire, from which it appears that it is not so rare in the lowlands as stated antea, p. 55, except in the western side of the county where it is unknown. The authors are not always up to date : there are now four records for the Orphean Warbler, not two, as stated on page 69, and at least double the number of Barred Warhlers stated on page 75 as having occurred in the British Isles, and about fourteen of the Icierine Warbler instead of eight. The record of one of the latter seen in September, 1897, near Easington, Holderness, by Messrs. Clarke and Laidlaw appears to be new ; four Black- bellied Dippers (seldom satisfactorily identified) are recorded ; the Coal-Tit, although recognized as an insular form of the continental species, is yet called Parus ater ; the Crested Tit, mentioned by Mr. Saunders (III. Man., 2nd. Ed., p. Ill), as having been shot near Keighley, is here considered not authentic: on page 124 is an apparently good record of the nesting of a pair of White Wagtails at Cleveland, in 1899 ; there are several records of occurrences of Blue-headed Wagtails. In conclusion we may offer our hearty congratulations to the authors for having completed a most valuable and highly necessary work. A few small criticisms on the production of the book may be useful. It is nicely printed and the letterpress is upon suitable paper, but the illustrations are printed upon heavily "loaded" paper, which as is well known crumbles away in a few years, and had the illustrations been of more 196 BRITISH BIRDS. scientific value this would have been a drawback. We may also complain of the ed^es of the volumes being cut, and so closely, that rebinding (the present covers are poor) will be a difficulty. A Special Photographic Number of British Birds will be issued shortly. It will be an entirely separate publication, and will take the form of a book of some 60 to 70 pages of letter- press, with 32 full- page plates. The subject will be the Home Life of some Marsh-Breeding Birds, photographed and described by Miss E. L. Turner and Mr. P. H. Bahr. The selected illustrations are not only excellent as photographs but they have also been chosen with a view to their illusti'ating the various jjoints brought out in the narrative with regard to the nesting habits and young of the birds dealt with. It is hoped that the book (which will be obtainable at the office of British Birds, or at any bookseller, for 2s. 6d.), will be strongly supported by the readers of British Birds, and will be made widely known to their friends. BOOKS OF THE MONTH. Birds of Great Britain and Ireland. Order Passeres. Complete in two vols. By A. G. Butler, m.h.o.u., F.r..s.. f.z.s., etc. Illustrated by H. Gronvold and F. W. Frohawk. Vol. I. 210 pp. (Caxton Pub. Co.) £4 4s. net. A Bird Collector s Medley., by E. C. Arnold. 144 pp. Illustrated. (West, Newman.) lUs. Wild Life on a Norfolk Estuary, by A. H. Patterson, with a prefatory note by Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford. 352 pp. Blustrated. (Methuen.) 10s. 6d. net. Notes on the Birds of Kent, by R. J. Balston, f.z.s., m.b.o.u., Rev. C. W. Shepherd, m.a., f.z s., m.b.o.u., and E. Bartlett, f.z.s. Illustrated. (Porter.) Vandylc Pkot BrihisK Birvls e>t^<.'e/'>^^'-J'^-''ii^ ^^^ ^yi^JS. id'3S-QLcl (%t. 20. /9P7. BRITBnDIRDS EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S, M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S, M.B.O.U. Contents of Ntjmbeb 7. December 2, 1907. A Memoir of Howard Saunders, by Abel Chapman ... ... Page 197 Some Observations on the Breeding Habits of the Eed-neckcd Phalarope, by P. H. Bahr, B.A., m.b.o.u. ... ... ... 202 On Birds Represented in tlie British Isles by Peculiar Forms, by Ernst Hartert, ph.d. ... ... ... ... .. 208 The Semi-Palmated Sandpiper (Ereunetes pusiUusJ in Kent, by N. F. Ticehurst 223 Notes: — Economic Ornithology (W.P.P.). The Tongue- marts in Young Birds (W.P.P.). The Soaring of Birds (W. W. Lowe). Woodchat in Kent (H. C. Alexander). Icterine Warbler in Norfolk (E. C. Arnold). Titmice and otlier Birds Covering ujj their Eggs (Francis C. R. Jourdain, E. G-. B. Meade- Waldo, and others). The First British Example of the White-spotted Bluethroat (T. H. Nelson). G-rouse- Disease. The Movement of the Beak in Snipe. American Pectoral Sandpipers in Sussex (N. F. Ticehurst and E. C. Arnold). The Breeding Habits of the Pectoral Saudjjiper. Bonaparte's Sandpiper in Kent (N. F. Ticehurst). Red-breasted Snipe in Kent (N. F. Ticehurst). The Food of the Black-headed Gull (T. Harrison). Nesting of the Lesser Tern in the Outer Hebrides (The Duchess of Bedford), etc., etc. ... ... 224 Letter :— " The Birds of Yorkshire " (William Eagle Clarke) ... 233 Reviews : — Notes on the Birds of Kent. A Bird Collector's Medley. Wild Life on a Norfolk Estuary 234 HOWARD SAUNDERS. In the death of Howard Saunders ornithology has lost one of the keenest intellects and most devoted workers — and these number not a few — that have adorned our branch of science ; while many of us have lost in him a personal friend of the truest and best. My acquaintance with Howard Saunders dates back to 1872 when, on my return from a year spent in the Spanish Peninsula, he wrote asking for a list of the birds met with therein. Even that first letter illustrated the peculiar faculty he possessed of 198 BRITISH BIRDS. going straight to his point ; it was a bare list of names he wanted — no notes. Those might come after, if re- quired to amplify the record. For five-and-thirty years the friendship so begmi grew and ripened, and not a year but carries pleasant memories — memories of his infinite good nature, of sound, clear yiews, counsel and advice, of self-sacrifice where needed ; in a word, of true friendship. Howard Saunders was, before everything, a man of the world in the best sense. He realized the age in which he lived, and, after that, two attributes in him always struck me as remarkable — I refer to method and memorj^. These qualities are no mere natural inheritance as some may suppose. The aptitude, of course, in greater or less degree, is innate. The finished j)roduct, such as his, has been acquired solely by mental and personal effort and no small perseverance ; without that, it is not too much to say that his life's work €Ould never have attained that high level we all recognize and admire. Howard Saunders was a worker : he performed prodigies, yet without " fussiness " or display. In his hundreds of letters to me those stereotyped jjhrases " in haste " or " written against time " find no place. To possess time enough for all its manifold uses means method. Those who saw in j)i*ogress the MS. of, say, his " Manual " — those acres of paper covered with pasted slips, dotted with notes, corrections, contradictions and excisions ; illegible with transpositions, interpolations, questions and references — a maddening labyrinth of detail — will yet remember how, in the midst of it all, he could always spare an hour for a friend, given ungrudgingly and without a suspicion of interrupted trains of thought. Again, as to memory : to such perfection had that faculty been brought that his brain became literally a compendium of precise science, a living encyclopaedia, and that by no means confined to ornithology. Hardly a subject, scientific or other, but had its allotted pigeon- hole within that spacious storage. Thus, at a recent HOWARD SAUNDERS. 199 meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club the question of the doijiestication of the African elephant was raised. Authorities ancient and modern were learnedly adduced on either side till Saunders clinched the matter by quoting Polybius, chapter and verse, with the Carthaginian general's report, ascribing his defeat by the Romans to the Indian elephants employed by them and which were larger than his own Lybian elephants. Nowadays there are no Lybian elephants, and those elephants that survive in Africa exceed in size the Indian species. Such instances might be multiplied indefinite!}'. It is to such qualities, coupled with a whole-hearted enthusiasm, that we are indebted for that splendid series of works that he has left behind him. To me, who have often had to refer to them, his exposition of the distribution of Laridce and Larinoe {Proceedings Linnoean Society, etc.) is nothing less than masterly ; and no less so his "Catalogue" of the Gavire. Then, to quote but a few, there is the fourth edition of "Yarrell," his own "Manual" in two editions, and his twice-repeated editorship of the "Ibis," in addition to the time and close attention devoted to the many scientific societies of which he was a member — and always a working member. But it is not for me to recapitulate his manifold activities. Of field-sports, as such, our late friend was never really enamoured. He enjoyed a ramble on moor or marsh, but always with an eye as keen for any other interesting bird as for the game. In September, 1889, when staying with me for the meetings of the British Association at Newcastle, we had some such days. Once, on coming over a ferny ridge, we surprised a Blackcock that distinctly gave a low " chuckle " as it flew. Saunders, who had just revised my " Bird-life of the Borders," turned on me : " Why, you said that bird never utters a sound except in spring ! " Well, I never heard one do so before, and only twice or thrice since, in eighteen years ! In 1897, we went to Norway, together with the late Mrs. Saunders and their two daughters, and a pleasanter trip I never enjoyed. We 200 BRITISH BIRDS. found a pendent nest of the Long-tailed Tit swinging- from a lichen-clad birch. His trained eye at once discriminated the continental form of the sitting owner (the true Acredula caudata of Linnaeus) by its whiter head, barely visible within the entrance ; and also pointed out that the long tail protruded from the hole above the said head. Steaming along the Norsk coast, Saunders, ever keen on the Laridoe, surveyed all that passed in view, but the muttered verdict was usually, " Canvs again." On landing, among the first birds seen was a Green Woodpecker, which he examined with wraj)t attention and then excitedly ex- claimed, "Certainly, canus ; distinctly canus !^' "Oh, father," protested his daughters, "are all the birds in Norway canus V Into the sacred precincts of home-life one may not intrude ; yet it may be permissible to add that such, in his case, was ideal and a joy to have shared. Through long practice, both at home and amid the denser jungles of southern lands, he had acquired remark- able quickness in identifying small species in the open, even though but half-seen among foliage or reed-growth. While staying here in spring, I attempted to surprise him by showing him Pied Flycatchers breeding, but long before I'eaching the place he had already " spotted " the inconspicuous female. Rarely was he mistaken ; but one morning he was confident he had recognized (by its darker legs) a Chiffchaff — a species I had not heard here. I should mention that during his later years, Saunders was a little handicapped by deficient hearing — not conversationally so, but in such cases as this. A second observation confirmed the previous opinion, but next day he insisted on the bird being secured, when it proved to be a Willow- Wren with peculiarly dark legs. These are small matters, but may serve to illustrate his ways and methods. It may be interesting to recall that only a year ago, though already suffering from his fatal malady and also engaged upon the preparation of a third edition of his "Manual " (a work he had set his heart upon completing HOWARD SAUNDERS. 201 but which it was painfully evident would never be accom- plished), he undertook to revise a new edition of my "Bird-life." It may surprise those who have not had personal experience of the labour involved in such publi- cations, that this book underwent no less than five revises on '^slips'' before reaching- the final "paged" form. Yet, ill as he was, every one of these six stages my old friend insisted on supervising- ! Being, moreover, printed in successive sections, it resulted that a single morning's post often brought him three or four different batches of proof from as many different parts of the book, not consecutive — a nice tangle ! His criticisms usually came back by return of post — trenchant, perspicuous and delightfully on the spot. He never spared the rod. Living three hundred miles ajDart, it was impossible for me to be in such close personal touch as were many of his colleagues and collaborators in London, and a memoir far worthier of its subject might have been penned by one of these. Though utterly unqualified to do it even a measure of justice, yet I cannot refuse the Editors' request to pay this humble tribute to my dear old friend's unrivalled qualities, alike of heart and head. Abel Chapman. [Some prints of the portrait accomjjanying this Memoir have been specially prepared in a large size suitable for framing. Full particulars will be found on page 3 of the wrapper.] C 202 ) SOME OBSERVATIONS OX THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. BY P. H. BAHE, B.A., M.B.O.U. The published descriptions of the singular habits of the Red-necked Phalarope {Plialaroj)us hyperhoreus) being- somewhat meagre and inadequate^ I thought that a few observations which I was able to make this summer might be acceptable to the readers of British Birds. Thanks to the kind j)ermission of the authorities, I was allowed to stay in a certain place in Scotland, where, under very efficient protection, these birds are, I am glad to say, still plentiful. As is well known, the numbers of this species to be found in a particular locality vary considerably from year to year. So it was that this year many of their favourite haunts were untenanted where on a former occasion I had counted many couples. I am not far wrong when I sa}^ that scarcely a third of the usual number remained to breed. Perhaps the arctic conditions prevailing forced them to seek "pastures new," and, moreover, had such an influence on those remaining that they were A'ery late in beginning to nest. On May 28th, during the course of a j)erfect hurricane, we observed the first arrivals. On June 2nd one jjair already seemed to have settled its affairs. On the 3rd, 4th and 5th we saw four female Phalaropes and onlj-- one male. These amazons were fighting continuously amongst themselves and Avere causing the solitary male much anxiety. From this it would appear that the female, being the stronger and more venturesome, is the first to arrive, and is followed later by the male. On the 5th of June we watched the phenomena of polygamy, and of attempted polyandry in this sj)ecies. p. H. BAHR : RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 20;^ At one end of the loch the former condition held sway, two energetic and quarrelsome females having- attached themselves to one miserable-looking- male, and it was ludicrous to behold the awe in which he held them. Once in particular he nearly swam between my legs in his efforts to avoid their attentions. Till our departure on the 27th .-,,;«»'« Fia. 1.— "Two males were continuously circling round the head of female." these three birds were constantly to be seen together. At the other end of the loch two males were seen con- tinuously circling round the head of a female, as I have attempted to show in Fig. I. This "marriage flight" we 204 BRITISH BIRDS. constantly observed later and I shall refer to it again. On settling- on the water the unwelcome suitor was re- pulsed. The two birds would face each other with lowered beaks and ruffled plumage, just like two " fighting-cocks " (Fig. 2). Fio. 2 — " With lowered beaks and ruffled plumage, just like two fighting cocks." From this time onwards, till June 26th, we hunted daily for nests without success. Each pair we found had its own bomidaries, any intrusion on the part of neighbours being vigorously resented, but all were engaged in courting, and had not begun the more serious business of nest- building. There is such an infinity of grace in its every movement that we never tired of watching this gem of a bird. Whilst engaged in feeding, a happy couple twittering contentedly to each other would hurry along paddling through the mud, and swim the puddles amongst such marshy spots as Fig. 3. " They appeared to find abundance of food on every leaf.' are loved by the bog-bean and marsh-marigold. Moving their heads quickly from side to side in their characteristic way they appeared to find abundance of food on every leaf (Fig. 3). Quite an original method is employed, while feeding in shallow water. In doing so they p. H. BAHR : RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 205 " pirouette " round and round, as if endeavouring to stir up animalculse from the bottom (Fig. 4). Bathing was a favourite enjoyment. This they per- formed by bobbing up and down in the water, for all the Fig. 4.— " They 'pirouette ' round and round, as if endeaA'ouring to stir up animalcula? from the bottom." world like miniature " jacks in the box " (Fig. 5) . Having splashed themselves sufficiently they retired to land to preen themselves, an action quite in keeping with their invariably neat appearance. On the evening before our departure we resolved to make an extra effort, and once more we hunted the marshes, but in vain. The birds showed no anxiety what- ever, and all appeared intent on courting, in which I Fia. 5. — '■ Bobbing up and down in the water." believe the male takes a more prominent part than he is credited with. I frequently observed the male performing evolutions, which I have previously described as the "marriage flight." Zigzagging from side to side with amazing rapidity he would hover with dangling legs over the head of the female, who, circling placidly in the water, appeared to take no notice of his attentions. Then settling beside her he would peck and chase her as if endeavouring to make her take to flight. Failing in 206 BRITISH BIRDS. this he would dash off once more across the marsh uttering a warbling- sort of song" much like that of the Ringed Plover. Then he would settle in a reedy spot, such as would be chosen for the nesting site, and would call vigorously, looking always in the direction of the female, as if expecting her to follow. I observed several pairs behaving in this manner, and such was their fervour that the males continued this performance even in the midst of one of the worst storms we experienced. Often the female would resent these attentions, and a pitched battle would ensue. As a last resource we dragged the boat across to another arm of the loch, and explored an island inhabited by some fifty pairs of Arctic Terns and a few pairs of Common and Black-headed Gulls. To our surprise we also dis- covered two pairs of Phalaroj)es. The male of one pair showed signs of great anxiety and flew round uttering shrill cries. We were not long in finding the cause, for staggering amongst the grass, and looking like gigantic spiders, were four fluffy young-, evidenth' newly-hatched. The extreme attachment which the male exhibited for the young- would hardly be credited. He uttered the most heartrending- cries, shuffled through the grass and, in fact, tried every device to lure us awa}'. The young- were so weak that Avhen j)laced in a slight hollow they were unable to crawl out and run away. The camera was focussed on the young at a distance of a few feet, and left without any covering whatsoever, and I took my stand behind it, merely wrapping- up my head in the focussing- cloth. The extreme tameness of the male may be judged by the fact that I obtained five photographs of him in as many minutes. When I changed the plate he would just run away a few yards and then hurry back as fast as he could directly I sat down again. The most pathetic part of the scene came when the piping of the young, which were evidently benumbed with exposure, became almost too feeble to be audible, then in his fervour the male nestled a clutch of Tern's eggs close p. H. BAHR : RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 207 by, but only on looking them with his bill did he find that they were inanimate objects and then rush off to find his charges. One would have thought that he would have learned by experience, but he repeated this per- formance time after time, and I greatly regretted the fact that I had not enough plates to take him thus employed. The female showed no traces of anxiety at all but held herself aloof, swimming and feeding quite unconcernedly in the loch beyond. The young showed no desire on this, or on the following day, to take to the water, in fact it would appear that they were not yet fitted for it, for on the next day we found three of their number drowned in a shallow puddle. Fig. 6 is from a photograph, and shows the male bird V'V.. ^ifm' M\ Fig. 6. — The male endeavouring to entice away the joung. endeavouring to entice the remaining young one out of the range of the camera. Althougli other observers have noted much variation in the time at which this species breeds, yet I think it must be admitted that this was an extreme case, since no other j)air in the vicinity had as yet begun to lay. 208 ) ON BIRDS REPRESENTED IN THE BRITISH ISLES BY PECULIAR FORMS. BY EENST HARTERT, Ph.D. As late as 1892, A. R. Wallace accepted only three birds as peculiar to the British Isles {Island Life, second ed., p. 840) ; the same number was admitted by Howard Saunders in 1899 (^III. Manual of Brit. Birds, second ed.). The former author quoted " Parus ater, suh.sp. britannicus,'^ " Acredula caudata, suh.sp. rosea,'^ and " Lagopus scoticus" while Mr. Saunders only distinguished by special names " Motacilla lugubris, Motacilla raii, Lagopus scoticus," not even separating' the Long-tailed Titmouse. Mr. Dresser, in his "Manual of Palsearctic Birds," 1902, added to the three allowed by Mr. Saunders, " Acredula rosea " (though he partially united it with the continental em'opcea — cf. "Vog. pal. Fauna," I., p. 384 — and consequently gave it too wide a range) and " Parus hritaymicus.^'' This was undoubtedly a step forward, but recent investigations have shown that over twenty British breeding birds are separable from their continental allies. In the following article I have given short notes on twenty-one forms more or less strictly peculiar to the British Islands. It may be that the characters of one or two of these will not be found constant enough to recognize them as different, but all the others are easily separable, and must undoubtedly be considered as geographical representatives of continental forms. There can hardly be any doubt that one or two more will be found to differ, when carefully compared, so that the E. HARTERT : BRITISH PECULIAR FORMS. 209 number of birds peculiar to the British Isles caiinot fall short of twenty. Looking- at this small list the following* facts are notice- able : — 1. All, with the exception of three, belong- to the "Passeres." 2. Only three can be called migrants, and even those {i.e. the two Wagtails and the Robin) are partly resident, especially the Robin. 3. There is a tendency for these British races to be duller or darker in colour, and smaller than their con- tinental representatives. 1. — Garrulus glandarius rupitergum Hart. British Jay. Garrulus glandarius rufitergum Hartert, "Yog. pal. Fauiia," I., p. 30 (1903 — Great Britain and Ireland; typical loc. : Tring). British specimens of the Jay differ from continental ones — especially from a series of more eastern examples — by their more uniform vinous upper side, there being no, or hardly any, greyish or slaty wash on the back. The difference is "slight" and can only be seen when a series is compared. [The continental G. glandarius glandarius seems to visit the British Isles only sporadically.] 2.— LOXIA CURVIROSTRA ANGLICA Hart. English Crossbill. Loxia curvirostra awf/^ica Hartert, "Yog. pal. Faiuia," I., ' p. 119 (1904). When I separated the English Crossbill, m 1904, I had examined large numbers and found them to differ from 210 BRITISH BIKUS. continental Crossbills in having- a duller coloration in both sexes, while the bill was, as a rule, less elongated and less pointed, and often slig'htly higher. It has been pointed out to me since that so few Crossbills breed regularly in England that it is not likely that they form a special race ; moreover, I must admit that I have hardly seen British examples shot near the nest. On the other hand, the differences which I have pointed out are obvious when comjDaring our series in the Tring Museum, and they are evidently not due to stages of plumage. Crossbills are essentially nomadic, but I do not think they are true migrants anywhere, and I must hold that the flocks of Crossbills observed in England are hatched in England or Scotland, and not for a moment do I believe that they are migrants from Scandinavia or Central Europe. I have, however, received Crossbills from Scotland, which are not L. c. scotica, but L. c. anglicn. Therefore it is quite possible that both these races breed in Scotland. It is to be hoped that our Scottish ornithologists will make obsei'vations and clear up these questions as to whether both forms breed in Scotland, whether side by side or in different districts, in the lowlands or the highlands, etc. I shall be pleased to examine series from various places. At present we must admit in Europe and the Mediterranean countries : — Loxia 2>ityopsittacus : Northern Europe. Loxia curvirostra curvirostra : Xorth and Central Europe generally ; Northern Asia. Loxia curvirostra hispana: Spain; nothing exact is known about the distribution. Loxia curvirostra halearica : Balearic Islands. Loxia curvirostra anglica: England (and Scotland). Loxia curvirostra scotica : Scotland. Loxia curvirostra guillemardi : Cyprus ; a very distinct form. Loxia curvirostra poliogyna : Tunis and Algiers. Loxia leucoptera hifasciata and, exceptionally, L. leucoptera leucoptera (Viig. 2^cd. Fauna, I., p. l"2o). E. HARTERT : BRITISH PECULIAR EORMS. 211 a. — LoxiA cuRviROSTEA scoTicA Hart. Scottish Mountain Crossbill. Loxia curvirostra scotica Hartert, " Vog. pal. Fauna," L, p. 120 (1904). In Scotland occurs a form of Crossbill which stands between the Parrot-Crossbill, L. pityopsittacus, and the Common Crossbill, L. curvirostra. Its bill is huge, but not as high as that of the Parrot-Crossbill ; the wings of the males measure 100-104 mm. Such birds I have seen in the collections of Col. Peilden and Messrs. Harvie-Brown (type East Ross-shire, 26, xii, 1870), and Millais, and in the Edinburgh Museum. They are very striking, and are a most interesting form, which appears to be rare. I hope that Scottish ornithologists will collect more material, which I want badly. I have elsewhere explained my reasons for looking upon this form as a subspecies of L. curvirostra {Vog. pal. Fauna, I., pp. 116, 117). 4. — Caeduelis cakduelis britannicus (Hart.). British Goldfinch. Acanthis carduelis hritannicus Hartert, "Vog. pal. Fauna" I., p. 68 (1903 — Great Britain; typical locality : Sussex). Differs from the continental form by its darker, more olive-brown upper surface, while the white nuchal patch is not well developed, the ear-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts are more or less tinged with brown, and the sides of the body are darker and more uniform brown. The red of the head is generally very bright. There is little wonder that the Goldfinch, which forms so many local races, should be represented by a special subspecies in the British Isles. 212 BRITISH BIRDS. 5. MOTACILLA FliAYA EAYI (Bp.j. Yellow Wagtail. Buclytes Rayi Bonaparte, " Geogr. and Comp. List of B. Europe and N. Amer.," p. 18 (1838 — based on Gould's B. Europe, II., PI. 145 — British Islands). As every ornithologist knows, the Yellow Wagtail which commonly breeds in England is easily distinguished from the forms of continental Europe b}^ its greenish crown, yellow forehead and superciliarj" line. Outside the British Isles this form evidently breeds in small numbers in the coast-regions of Western France. The alleged breeding in Portugal requires, I should say, confirmation. [It is well known that 31. flava flava has been found breeding in England, but these occurrences are apparently rare and irregular. As recorded by Mr. Butterfield in the " Zoologist," 1902, p. 232, a M. flava heema was shot on April 20th, 1898, near Rottingdean, in Sussex, but there is no reason whatever to imagine that the birds which have bred in England belong to this form which inhabits Western Siberia !] 6. MOTACILLA ALBA LUGTJBRIS Temm. Pied Wagtail. 2Iotacilla luguhris Temminck, " Man. d'Orn.," I., p. 253 (1820 — ex Pallas MS. The description suits our British bird well, but it seems that Temminck mixed up with it some Asiatic form sent to him by Pallas). The entirely black upper surface, as everyone knows, distinguishes this form from the White Wagtail, M. alba alba. Outside the British Isles the Pied Wagtail breeds, according to CoUett, sometimes in Norway near Stavanger and Bergen, and on the western coast of Holland, Belgium and France. [_M. alba alba breeds here and there in Great Britain and. E. HARTERT: BRITISH PECULIAR FORMS. 213 maybe, Ireland, but I do not know on whose authority Stejneg-er states (Smiths. Misc. Coll., 48, p. 480) that it is "the breeding bird of Ireland," a statement which is certainly quite wrong.] The Titmice are the most interesting British birds for students of geographical distribution, because all the forms of this family differ from their continental repre- sentatives, with the excei^tion of the Bearded Tit, Fanurus hiarmicus. 7. — Parus major newtoni Prazak. British Great Titmouse. Parus major newtoni Prazak, "Orn. Jahrb.," V., j). 23^ (1894— England). Easily distinguishable from Parus major major of con- tinental Eurojje (tyj)ical in Scandinavia, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, etc.) by its stout, powerful bill. The alleged differences in colour are not constant. 8. — Parus caeruleus obscurus Prazak. British Blue Titmouse. Parus caeruleus obscurus Prazak, "Orn. Jahrb.," Y., j^. 246 (1894— England). Differs from P. caeruleus caeruleus of continental Europe in being darker and more greenish — less bright and less yellowish — on the back ; size generally smaller, bill comparatively thicker ; the white tips to the inner secondaries are as a rule narrower and are cut off in a straight line. 9. — Parus ater britannicus Sharpe & Dress. British Coal-Titmouse. Parus hritannicus Sharpe and Dresser, "Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.," ser. 4, VIIL, p. 437 (1871— England). Differs from P. ater ater in having the back greyish 214 BRITISH BIRDS. olive-brown, instead of bluish-grey. It is never difficult to distinguish the British Coal-Tit if compared with the true North European P. ater ater. On the other hand P. ater vieirae Nicholson (Manch. Meni'. L., No. 13, p. 16) is not so easy to distinguish, but its back is lighter, its flanks are brighter. P. ater vieirae was based on a single example from Portugal, but it is probably spread over Spain ; apparently the flanks of the type of vieirae are abnormally rufous, for I have seen such aberrations from various countries. P. ater sardus from Sardinia is also more like hritaymicus, but its colours are not so dull. I hope soon to be able to discuss the south European Coal-Tits more exhaustively. 10.— Parus palusteis dresseri Stejn. British Marsh-Titmouse. Parus palustr is dresseri Stejneger, "Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus.," IX., p. 200 (1886— England). The nearest ally of the British Marsh-Tit is not the light-coloured Scandinavian P. pahistris ixdustris, but P. jpalustris longirostris from the Rhine, Belgium, Holland and France. The British form, however, difPers from the latter in its smaller size (wing (J 62 — 65 mm., very rarely 66, against 65 — 68 mm. in longirostris), darker and more olivaceous-brown upper surface. 11. — Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti Hellm. British Willow-Titmouse. Parus montanus Meinschmidti Hellmayr, " Orn. Jahrb.," 1900, p. 212 (England, near Finchley). See also Kleinschmidt, "Orn. Monatsber.," VI., p. 34 (1898); Hartert, "Zoologist," 1898, p. 116; Hartert, " Bull. B.O.C.," XIV., p. 79 ; Rothschild, anteci, p. 44. The British form of the Willow-Tits, or Marsh-Tits E. HARTERT : BRITISH PECULIAR FORMS. 215 with dull black crowns, differs very conspicuously from the Scandinavian Parus ah'icapillus horealis, as well as from the Alpine P. a. movianus, but it is closely allied to P. atricapillus rhenanus, from which it only differs in its smaller size and more brownish, darker upper surface. As Mr. Rothschild has fully explained the differences of P. a. kleitischmidti and P. palustris dresseri (antea, p. 44), I need not rej)eat them here. This bird is evidently stationary all the year round, and it is to be hoped that British ornithologists will pay more attention to it. Nest and egg's, with parent birds, have been taken near Tunbridge Wells and St. Leonards. 12. — Parus cristatus scotica (Prazakj."^ Scottish Crested Titmouse. Lojphophanes cristatus scotica Prazak, "Journ. f. Orn.," 1897, p. 347 (Scotland). Differs from Parus cristatus cristatus of north and east EurojDe, and from P. cristatus mitratus from Central Europe, by its much darker, more olive-brownish ujjper surface. * In a footnote to his ai'ticle on the "supposed new British Tit" (antea, p. 23), Dr. Sclater says: " Dr. Hartert writes the subspecific name (of the Scottish Crested Tit) as "scotica," but I cannot agree to use false concords. Latin having been universally adopted as the language of science, we are bound . . . to follow the ordinary rules of its grammar." To those who have followed the apparently endless controversies on nomencla.ture of the last twenty years this note is perfectly clear, but to uninitiated readers it will not be so. I must, in their interest, explain that / did not choose to ivrite the name as " scotica," but that its author spelt it thus. It is true that it has been the custom to bring the gender of specific and subspecifi.c names into concord with the generic name, even if the gender of the latter was originally different. From this rule I have so far deviated that I have preserved Ihe original spelling of every name, no matter whether the gender of names with adjectival endings agreed with that of the genus into which they ai-e now placed or not. The aim of all recent efforts in nomenclature is stability, and stability in nomenclature can only be effected if we allow no alterations in the spelling of names. If we agree to alter 216 BRITISH BIRDS. The wings are shorter — those of the few specmiens I have been able to measure bemg only 60-63 mm. Flanks very brown. This is the Scottish form^ which breeds in Strathspey. The few examples which have been observed in south and east England were apparently stragglers from the Continent. the gender of adjectival names, we have to alter it again and again, and different spellings are thus inevitable. As a rule, the knowledge of a schoolboy is sufficient to know the gender of geuei-ic names, but nevertheless ornithologists do not always agree. Every scholar will know that " Nucifraga" (meaning the Nutcracker) is masculine, yet ornithologists have always treated it as feminine. Halcyon is undoubtedly feminine (Halcyone was the faithful wife of Ceyx, and was transformed into a Kingfisher), yet in the " Catalogue of Birds " it has become masculine, and so it has been treated since in most writings. The Creek word " Ammomanes " is masculine, yet among ornithologists it is feminine. I maintain that there is altogether little sense in considering a specific name as an adjective of the generic name. " A name is only a name, and need not necessarily have any meaning." Stability in names is of greater importance than grammatical exactness. The custom of " correcting " names leads to inconsistency and oscillation. {Cf. Novitates Zoologicae, 1907, p. 338.) If we never alter the spelling of sj)ecific names we make a wide step towards stability. Nor am I the only person or the first author who refused to alter the gender of names. Dyar, in his great work on American Lepidoptera. has not altered it ; Staudinger, in his " Catalogue," has not always done it; Kothschild and Jordan, in their mono- graphic works on lepidoptera, have never done it ; and in many single instances authors have forgotten to do it ! Dr. Sclater says that " Latin has been universally adopted as the language of science." But surely nowadays hardly anybody writes m Latin ; and it is for scientific persons of far greater importance to understand German, French, and English than Latin. The only relict from the times when Latin was the language of science is that some authors still publish a Latin diagnosis when "describing" a new species. I myself have mostly done so, and given long Latin diagnoses, until the editor of a periodical altered my correct Latin into incorrect Latin. Many prolific species-mongers have never written a Latin diagnosis in their lives. There is a danger in Latin diagnoses. Many writers are so little accustomed to that language, and know so few words, that they give short and insufficient diagnoses. In E. HARTERT : BRITISH PECULIAR FORMS. 217 13. — Aegithalos caudatus rosea (Blytli). British Long-tailed Titmouse. Mecistura rosea Blyth, in White's "Selborne," p. Ill (1836— England). The British Long-tailed Tit differs at a g-lance from A. caudatus caudatus of N. and E. Europe in having a broad black band on the sides of the head, in having- shorter body-feathers, etc. It is, however, closely allied to A. caudatus europaea of southern and western Middle-Europe, of which it may be called an extreme form, differing- only in having- a shorter wing- and invariably a wide black stripe on the sides of the head, while A. c. europaea varies from a pure white head to a black-striped variety. A. c. rosea is the only form breeding- in Great Britain and Ireland, but it is probably not quite restricted to the British Isles, as specimens from the Pyrenees seem to me absolutely indistinguishable. The true A. caudatus caudatus straggles occasionally into Great Britain, but very rarely. such cases it Avould be far better if they wrote in the English, German, or French — languages, which ai-e and must be understood as well as Latin by anyone who claims to be a scientific orni- thologist. Our nomenclature even is not Latin any longer. Can one say that ugly hybrid names like rufiguster, leucocapiUus, etc., or the many dedication names in use (for example, haiisi, mobiusi, niohammed-ben-abdullah, grum-grzimailoi, tschitscherini), or names like timrit^li, urubitinga, chimacJiima, chiriri, chiripepe, ctirucui, chii, jacutinga, jacupeba, zabele, boraquira, guira-yacu, irupero, jacquacai, gtdrayacii, loreto-yacuensis, jaia, fanny, and so on, or the many awful names of P. L. S. Miiller, or the nonsense-names of some coleopterists and lepidopterists, are Latin? We are not nowadays following any pedantic rules imposed on natural science by philologists ; but we study Nature itself, unfettered by philology, and use "nomenclature" only as a means to have names for our objects. It is very regrettable that so many of these names have been made without knowledge of, or without regard to, grammar and classical feeling ; but we must not alter them, and have to adopt them, even if they shock our classical nerves, and they must remain as mementoes of the recklessness or stupidity of their creators. 218 BRITISH BIRDS. 14. — Regulus eegultjs anglorum Hart. British Goldcrest. Regulus regulus anglorum Hartert, "Bull. B.O.C.,"" XVI., p. 11 (1905). Differs from B. regulus regulus of continental Europe as follows : the upper surface is darker, more olivaceous, the under siu'face is slightly duller, the size, as a rule, less. Wing mostly from 51*5 to 54, exceptionally 55 and even 57 mm. [The north European form frequently crosses over to Great Britain in flocks in autumn and winter.] 15. SiTTA EUROPAEA BRITANNICA Hart. British Nuthatch. Sitta europaea britannica Hartert, "Nov. Zool," 1900, p. 526 (England : type from Tring). Differs from S. europaea europaea {terra typica : Sweden) in having the underside buff instead of white, from S. europaea caesia {terra typica : Germany^ in having the chestnut colour on the flanks lighter, the breast and abdomen more or less paler, often strikingly pale, the bill generally more slender and more pointed, and the culmen mostly higher arched and more sharj)ly ridged. 16. — Certhia familiaris brittanica Ridgw. British Tree-Creeper. Certhia brittanica (!) Ridgway " Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus.,"V., p. 113 (1882— England). Differs strikingly from C. familiaris familiaris {terra typica : Sweden) in its rufescent-brown upper surface, and from G. fatniliaris macrodactyla {terra typica. : Middle Ger- many) in having the rump more rufous, and, in freshly moulted specimens, the whole upper surface more rufescent; the bill is as a rule visibly longer. [It is remarkable that only this form occurs, at least during the breeding season, in the British Isles, and that Certhia brachyclaclyla is unknown. On the Continent most countries are inhabited by two different creepers : a form of C. familiaris and a form of C. brachydactyla.] E. HARTERT : BRITISH PECULIAR FORMS. 219 17. — Erithacus bubecula melophilus Hart. British Robin. Erithacus ruhecula melophilus Hartert, "Nov. Zool.,'' 1901, p. 317. Differs from E. ruhecula ruhecula (of Scandinavia, Germany, etc.) in having a much deeper brownish-red throat, and a darker, more rufous upper surface ; the sides of the body are darker, and the brown colouring more extended. The British Robin is easily distinguished from the " typical " north EurojDean Robin, but the form from Teneriife and Gran Canaria {Erithacus ruhecula superhus) is somewhat nearer, and so are others, which I hope to discuss fully before long. The deep red throat of the British Robin is so striking that even ladies without any ornithological knowledge whatever, have noticed the difference between British and continental Robins. When I first described this form I attached much importance to its domestic and garden-loving habits, nesting-sites, and song. My knowledge of Robins on the continent had been mostly derived from the eastern parts of Germany, where they are almost essentially forest-birds ; but it now seems to me that such habits vary locally much more than I had supposed, and that in this case, as in others, the habits have been altered on account of the different surroundings. Vaster forests and less population in the east, more gardens, houses, and much thicker population in the west, account for these differences in habits ; and in this as well as in other cases, such differences cannot serve to strengthen the systematic value of a subspecies. [Continental Robins not infrequently, and perhaps regularly, pass through Great Britain on migration.] 18. — Troglodytes troglodytes hirtexsis Seeb. St. Kilda Wren. Troglodytes hirtensis and Troglodytes parvulus hirtensis Seebohm, " Zoologist," 1884, p. 333 (St. Kilda). While Wrens from Great Britain and Ireland are. 220 BRITISH BIRDS. apparently, not separable from those of Central Europe and Northern Europe in general — I have not been able to study Troglodytes beyg&mis — those from St. Kilda have been separated, as above. There is no doubt that St. Kilda Wrens are larger than those from Great Britain, the wing being longer (about 55 mm.), and the feet a little stronger. The difficulty is, however, how to separate it from Troglodytes troglodytes horealis of the Faroe Islands. Unfortunately I have only been able to compare a very few specimens from St. Kilda, and, moreover, I suspect that all, with the exception of the type in the British Museum, have been for a time in spirits, and are therefore faded. If this is not the case the St. Kilda Wren is evidently paler on the under surface than T. t. horealis, while the dimensions are about the same, and probably the barring on the back and abdomen is stronger in T. t. hirtensis, but as these characteristics vary a great deal, it is desirable to examine a better series from St. Kilda. Even T. t. horealis from the Faroe Islands is most closely allied to T. t. troglodytes, and there is a specimen from Fair Isle, collected by Messrs. W. Eagle Clarke and Kinnear, which has the wing fully as long as the birds from the Faroe Islands, while other specimens from Fair Isle are not at all larger than those from Great Britain. The Iceland Wren is still larger than T. t. horealis, and I have recently separated it as T. t. islandicus. I may add that I see no necessity for the separation of the genera Troglodytes and Nannus, but if this separation is made the latter must be called iVaTiwws Billberg, 1828. 19. CiNCLUS CINCLUS BRITANNICUS Tsch. British Dipper. Cinclus cinclus hritannicus Tschusi, " Orn. Jahrb.,^' XIII., p. 69 (1902 — Beaufort Castle, Scotland, etc.). The British Dipper differs from Cinclus cinclus aquaticus of Germany at a glance by its deep, predominantly blackish upper sm-face and dark crown, from Cinclus E. HARTERT : BRITISH PECULIAR FORMS. 221 cinclus cinclufi of Scandinavia in the conspicuously rufous breast-band, which it shares with C. c. aquaticus. Cinclus cinclus aquaticus is nearest to C. c. 'pyrenaicus, but the hitter appears to be smaller, and will shortly be discussed by me more fully. Evidently C. c. hritannicus is the only form of Dipper breeding- in the British Isles. It is quite possible that the Scandinavian form visits our islands occasionally in winter, but many of the alleged occurrences of the latter appear to be based on erroneous identi- fication. 20. — Dendrocopus majoe anglicus Hart. British Great Spotted Woodpecker. Dendrocopus major anglicus Hartert, " Nov. Zool.," 1900, p. 528 (type : Horsham). When compared with D. major major from Scandinavia, the British Great Spotted Woodpecker differs very strikingly by its smaller size, much slenderer, less powerful bill, shorter wing, and generally more brownish under surface. Since I described D. m. anglicus I have seen examples from western Germany which come very close to the English form, and I am not yet sure if the latter is actually restricted to the British Isles ; should this not be the case it would not alter the fact, that it can never accurately, but only in a broad sense, be called " Dendrocopus major/' as it differs so considerably from the northern form. 21. — Dendrocopus minor comminutus subsp. nov. British Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Formae D. minor minor dictae similis, sed alls caudaque bre^doribus hand difficile distinguendus. Gastraeo ful- vescentiore. The British Lesser Spotted Woodpecker differs strikingly from the Scandinavian D. minor minor by its much shorter wings and tail. The under surface is always huffish. 222 BRITISH BIRDS. mostly rather dark, but its shades vary very much, and it is often soiled. It is strang-e that nobody has as yet emphasized the strikingly small size of this bird, as compared with typical minor. Wings of (J 85'5 to 88*5 mm., of $ 86 to 90 mm. (eighteen males and a few females measured). Swedish D. m. Tninor wings of (J 92 to 96'5 mm., ? equal but apparently often slightly larger. Type of D. m. comminutus : c? ad. Wingrave, Bucks., 22, iv, 1902. I hope to discuss some continental specimens which come near to I), m. comminutus on a future occasion. [Probably some will be tempted to fall into the error of using Macgillivray's name, " Ficus striolatus/' for this bird, but this is not correct. Macgillivray may possibly have described a British specimen ; he did, however, not name the British Lesser Spotted Woodpecker " Picus striolatus,^'' but re-named the Picus minor of Linnaeus, because the latter was " by no means the smallest of even the Pied Woodpeckers'' {Hist. Brit. B., III., p. 90), and gave as its distribution Europe, especially the northern parts, France, G-ermany, and some parts of England.] 22. — Lagopus lagopus scoticus (Lath.). Red Grouse. Tetrao scoticus Latham, " Gen. Syn.," Suppl. I., j). 290 (1787). The Red Grouse, indigenous only to the British Isles, s the representative of the Willow-Grouse {Lagoims lagopus lagopus) of northern Europe. As everybody knows, it differs from its continental ally in lacking the white primaries and other white portions in the summer plumage, and in having no entirely white winter plumage, the latter being not remarkably different from the summer plumage. ( 223 ) THE SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPEE {Ereimetes pusiUus) IN KENT. A New British and European Bird. On September 19th last I had the opportunity, throug-h the kindness of Mr. Bristow, of examining- a small wader which he had just received for preservation. He at first thought it was a Little Stint, but on taking- it up to skin he noticed the webbing- at the base of the toes and, as soon as he had finished stuffing- it, he broug-ht it up to me to identify. Having compared it with skins of the Little, Temminck's, and American Stints, and with descriptions, we made out that it was, without doubt, a specimen of the American Semi-]3almated Sandpij^er {Ereunetes pusUlus) . It was an immature bird in autumn pkimag'e, and had been shot two days previously by a shore-shooter at Jury Gap in Romney Marsh, not far from the Sussex and Kent boundary. Of the three Stints mentioned above, the present specimen is most like the Little Stint {Tringa minuta) in a similar stag-e of plumag-e, but is paler on the back, and the edges of the long- scapular feathers are of a paler sandy- white. It is also more easily distinguished from any of them by its comparatively larg-er and stouter bill and the characteristic webbing- between the bases of the three anterior toes. In Eastern North America this is a widely distributed species in the summer, migrating- south in the autumn through the West Indian Islands to the coasts of South America. So far as I have been able to ascertain this is the first occurrence of this bird in Europe. As with all additions to the British Avifauna it is highly desirable that this bird should have been submitted for examination to a meeting of the British Ornitholog-ists' Club, and the record first made j^ublic throug-h the official " Bulletin," and it is with g-reat regret that I have had to depart from this custom in the present instance. The gentleman, in whose possession the bird is at present, has declined to allow it to be exhibited, and in order that the record may not be lost it is here published. N. F. TiCEHURST. OTES ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY. Mr. F. V. Theobald, vice-principal of the S. E. Agricultural College, contributes to " Science Progress " for October a long article on the subject of " Economic Ornithology in Relation to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Forestry," which should be carefully read by all \\ho are interested in the very difficult problem of bird -protection. Though Mr. Theobald puzzles us more than once by contradictory statements, and though in effect he tells us that our actual kno\^'ledge of the problems of economic ornithology is miserably small, there are many extremely interesting points in his paper. He insists, for example, that but for Rooks, Jackdaws, Starlings, Plovers, and Gulls, the white grubs, wireworms, leather-jackets, etc., would increase in such enormous numbers that our pasture-lands aa ould be destroyed Avholesale. That no man has devised, or is hkely to devise, any method of dealing with these insect pests, whereby the services of these birds may be dispensed with. Such harm as these birds may do at certain times of the year is, in short, more than paid for by the benefits they confer at other times. A ruthless war has been urged by some against Titmice, yet Mr. Theobald contends that the good these birds do in devouring the mussel-scale, codling-moth, woolly-aphis, etc., is incalculable. The attacks of Blue Tits on the buds of the monarch plum are, he says, instigated by their desire to get at the mites, Eriophytes pruni, which hibernate therein. The bimches of unopened apple and pear blossom which these birds peck contain insect larvce, and the same reason, he suggests, prompts them in their attacks on the blossom of currants and plums. He contends tliat the present A\holesale destruction of the eggs of the Lapwing calls for legislative interference, as the bird is extremely useful to agriculturists, and in this we agree with him. On some estates, where the collection of these eggs is carried out with discretion, no harm is caused. But this is rarely done ; and the present system of exposing boiled eggs for sale renders such isolated regulations as may obtain nugatory. The Jay is to be protected because of the toll it levies on the eggs of small birds, such as Finches, and the Tluush-tribe. Some fifteen species are placed by Mr. Theobald on the " Black List." These are the Hooded Crow, Woodpigeon, NOTES. 225 Stock-Dove, Turtle-Dove, House-Sparrow, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, HaM'finch, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Blackbird, Mistle-Thrush, and Greater and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. On the other hand. Peregrines, Kestrels, Owls, Rooks, and Jays are to be protected, at any rate, with limitations. The author finally insists, with good reason, that our present system, or lack of system, in the matter of bird-j)rotection, is totally inadequate. There can be little doubt but that the whole subject of economic ornithology should be undertaken by a specially qualified staff, under the Board of Agriculture, as has long ago been done in America. Then, and not till then, shall we know to what extent our native birds affect our interests, and what measures may be taken to devise the increase of some or check the undue increase of others. W.P.P. THE TONGUE-MARKS IN YOUNG BIRDS. In the October number of the " Ibis " Mr. Collingwood Ingram gives a short, but interesting paper on the tongue- marks of nestling birds. He briefl}^ describes and figures the tongues of several British species, such as Acrocephalus phragmitis, A. streperus, and A. palustris, wherein the tongue is marked by a pair of small black dots placed near its base. In Locustella ncevia there is an additional spot on the tip of the tongue ; while in Alauda arhorea and A. arvensis there are three black spots, arranged in the form of a triangle, on the tongue, and a fourth near the tip of the lower jaw. While Mr. Ingram draws attention to the fact that in Sylvia cinerea, S. airicapilla, S. hortensis, and S. orphea the tongue is curiously marked by an indistinct, and more or less perfect, triangle of a dusky hue, he cautiously avoids drawing any inference therefrom. To us it suggests a very interesting phase in the evolution of the more distinct markings which have recently been described in our columns, and which Mr. Ingram also figures. In short, it would seem that this linear marking represents an earlier 2:)hase of colour-marking. The spots arose, in other words, by the concentration of the pigment to form spots ; and that in more recently evolved species even these have disappeared. Herein Ave have a parallel to the development of longitudinal stripes in the nestling plumage, which show a later disintegration into mottlings, and finally disappear, leaving the nestling down unmarked. W.P.P. THE SOARING OF BIRDS. I WAS surprised A\hen reading Mr. F. W. Headley's article on 226 BRITISH BIRDS. " The Soaring of Birds " that he states as a fact that no small birds ever soar. Surely this cannot be true with regard to the Swift {Cypselus apus). They appear to me to have the most marvellous powers of rising to great heights without any motion of the wings, and I have seen them constantly floating in the air for a considerable time without any motion of the wings. W. W. Lowe. WOODCHAT IN KENT. On May 23rd I saw a Woodchat (Lanius pomeranus) near Tunbridge Wells. The white bars on its wings were conspicuous as it flew, looking very similar to the bars on the wings of the Great Grey Shrike, with which bird I am familiar. But the chestnut on the head and nape T only saw when the bird was settled partially out of sight in a hawthorn bush. From thence it flew to an oak tree, and after this I was quite unable to see it ; presumably if flew from one side of the tree whilst I was at the other side. I spent about half an hour near the place but did not see it again. I hoped that as it was so late in the spring it would stay, but I frequently visited the place without seeing it, so I suppose it was on migration. It is possible that this was the same bird as that recorded in the last issue of British Birds (p. 185) as having been shot at Hadlovv. H. C. Alexander. ICTERINE WARBLER IN NORFOLK. On September 12th, 1907, an Icterine Warbler {Hypolais ictenna) was shot by Mr. J. V. Young, near Cley, Norfolk. The bird flew out of the scrub near the Blakeney sandhills, and Mr. Young was attracted by its very light appearance. It had possibly travelled with a Garden- Warbler which we put out about twenty yards further on. The wind at the time was N.E., but there was practically a dead calm, and there had been a heavy fog all night. The bird was exhibited by Mr. H. F. Witherby on my behalf at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, held on November 20th last. E. C. Arnold. TITMICE AND OTHER BIRDS COVERING UP THEIR EGGS. The habit of covering the eggs while laying is in progress and before incubation has begun is well-known in the case of NOTES. 227 the Great and Blue Tits to most field-naturalists. While recently working up my notes on the Paridce, however, I was interested to find that the same habit has also been observed in the case of our British Coal and Marsh-Tits. In the " Field " for 19th May, 1900 (p. 694), Colonel T. M. Ward mentions an instance of a Marsh-Tit breeding in a nesting-box, which covered up her eggs until the full clutch of seven was laid ; and in the same paj^er under the date of 19th December, 1903, will be found another note from " A. S." (Ravenglass, Cumberland), in which the writer states that he has observed the same habit in the case of Marsh, Great and Coal-Tits. Probably it is common to all the members of the genus Parus, as Dybowski noted it in the case of the Azure Tit in East Siberia ; and in the " Zoologist," 1877, p. 198, there is a passage \\hich seems to prove that the northern form of the Willow-Tit (P. atricapillus horealis) also covers its eggs. On the other hand, the Long-tailed Tits, as far as I have noticed, never cover their eggs. In Mr. R. J. Ussher's " Birds of Ireland " (p. 32) there is an interesting note of a Blue Tit covering up its young \\\i\\ nesting material to avoid observation. Francis C. R. Jourdain. I CAN confirm what Mr. Joy says as to Tits covering their eggs before incubation. All the Tits do so. The Nuthatch also invariably covers its eggs, and apparently also its young ones, but the materials used, viz., flakes of bark and leaves, are inclined to fall over them when they shuffle about. I have previously recorded this habit. The habit of leaving the eggs uncovered as soon as incubation commences is by no means confined to Tits, as the Common Partridge which carefully covei's up all her eggs to the number possibly of eighteen or twenty, leaves them uncovered the last day or so before commencing to sit ! Neither does she cover them when off to feed, thus exposing them when they are in the greatest need of protection. Ducks frequently leave their eggs uncovered just when they have completed their clutch, but carefully cover them when off to feed during incubation. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo. We have received a number of communications upon this subject, but our space is limited, and we hope our corres- pondents will deem sufficient the following extracts of the essential points in their letters : — Mr. A. Astley, of Ambleside, confirms the habit in the 228 BRITISH BIRDS. Great and Blue Tit, but adds : " My experience is that the Coal-Tit does not cover its eggs." Mr. Astley has also found " nests of the Chaffinch and Greenfinch with one or more eggs concealed under the lining, and on one occasion a nest of the Meadow-Pipit with two eggs particularly well covered up." The Rev. Allan Ellison and Messrs. E. Earle and E. C. Rossiter give confirmatory evidence of the habit in the Great and Blue Tits, and the first-named adds : "I have many times noted the same in the case of the Coal-Tit. In one spot where a pair of these birds used to nest every year I used to A\atch them from day to clay. ... I always found that until the clutch was complete the eggs were buried in the materials of the nest, which had no cup, but was merely a flat bed of soft materials. Again and again I saw the birds carrying rabbits' fur to the nest at a time Avhcn I knew that there were eggs in it, showing that the eggs are covered by adding fresh material." Mr. Rossiter adds : " As regards the Marsh-Tit, on 3rd May, 1896, I observed a hen bird go on to lay. A few hours later I examined the nest with the help of a lighted taper held at a second hole. The nest was apparently empty, quite tidy, and cup-shaped. On the following 8th May it contained eight eggs, incubated about four days, and the eggs were not then covered." THE FIRST BRITISH EXAMPLE OF THE WHITE- SPOTTED BLUETHROAT. The late Mr. Howard Saunders, in his notes on additions to the British List (supra, pp. 7-8), did not refer to the Scarborough record of this form of the Bluethroat (c/. Zool., 1876, p. 4956, and Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire, p. 20), but gave the date of the first British occurrence as the 6th October, 1902, when one was picked up at Dungeness. Having recently had an opportunity of examining the Scarborough specimen, which I exhibited at the British Ornithologists' Club on the 16th October last, I am pleased to be able to state that its identity is fully established. It is in every wa}^ typical of the white-spotted form (Cyanecula ivolfi'), tlae wiiite in the centre of the blue throat being most distinct, and about half-an-inch in diameter. The plumage, even after the lapse of thirty years, still retains its deep intense hue. As the females of the two forms of Bluethroat cannot be distinguished it is unfortunate that a misleading statement was made as to the sex of this bird, which accounts for its rejection by the authors of recent ornithological works. On questioning the present owner of the specimen as to the NOTES. 229 facts of the occurrence, he corroborated in every respect the original statements of the Rev. J. G. Tuck and Mr. W. Eagle Clarke ; and, in case any sceptic may proffer a sug- gestion that it was an imported skin, my informant added that he remembers his father bringing home the bird, telling him he had found it below the telegraph wires, and at the same time pointing out where it had been damaged by coming in contact with them. For further particulars enquirers are referred to " The Birds of Yorkshire," pp. 38-39. T. H. Nelson. GROUSE-DISEASE. Drs. Seligmann and Sambon, in the " Lancet" for September 21st, describe a parasite from the blood of a Red Grouse which they have named Lcucocytozoon lovati. This they found within a curious spherical envelope drawn out at each pole into a long thread. Though they are unable to determine definitely the nature of this investing sheath, they are of opinion that it is formed by a blood corpuscle, since a dark body, apparently representing the nucleus of the corpuscle, is found beneath the parasite. Since a similar parasite has been found in the turkey and guinea-fowl, it seems improbable that this new species has any connection with Grouse-disease, though the bird which furnished the specimen was sent to Dr. Seligmann as having died of this mysterious plague. Rather we suspect that Grouse-disease will be found to be due to some Trypanosome. Dr. Sambon, in examining another grouse sent to Dr. Seligmann by the Grouse-disease Commission, found in the blood a filiarian, which represents the first record of this parasite in the Red Grouse. A short account of his discovery will be found in the " Journal of Tropical Medicine " for September 16th. THE MOVEMENT OF THE BEAK IN SNIPE. The October number of the " Ibis " contains a paper by Mr. W. H. Workman on the curious faculty possessed by the Snipe, Woodcock, and allied birds, of moving upwards the extreme tip of the upper jaw, while the rest of the beak, as a whole, is closed, and this he illustrates by a diagrammatic figure. Mr. Workman does not appear to know, and the editors of the " Ibis " appear to have forgotten, that a paper on this subject by Mr. W. P. Pycraft was published in the " Ibis " for 1893 ! Mr. Workman's observations add nothing new to our knowledge of this matter, but it is interesting to note that his suggestion as to the purpose of this curious movement is exactly the same as that given in the article referred to above. 280 BRITISH BIRDS. AMERICAN PECTORAL SANDPIPERS IN SUSSEX. A Pectoral Sandpiper [Tringa maculata) was shot at Rye Harbour on September 19th, 1906. It was an adult bird just commencing to moult into winter plumage ; the long scapular feathers were much abraded, and several of them had already been replaced. Mr. M. J. Nicoll wrote me that he saw and recognized two at this place amongst a flock of Dunlin, on August 1st of that year, and the present specimen is probably one of them. N. F. TiCEHURST. On September 21st last I was on the Crumbles, near Eastbourne, in company with Mr. L. E. Dennys, when a bird rose from some shingle and uttered a low note. I called to Mr. Dennys to shoot, and he secured what jDroved to be a specimen of the American Pectoral Sandpiper {Tringa maculata). The legs were greenish-yellow, and there was a little of the same colour at the base of the lower mandible. The bird was exhibited on my behalf by Mr. H. F. Witherby at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club held on November 20th last. E. C. Arnold. THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE PECTORAL SANDPIPER. In an interesting article in the " Ibis " for October, com- municated by Mr. H. E. Dresser, Mr. S. A. Buturlin thus describes the spring display of Tringa maculata : — " One would every now and then stretch both wings right over its back, and afterwards commence a grotesque sort of dance, hopping alternately on each leg ; another would inflate its gular pouch and run about, crouching down to the ground, or would fly up to about a hundred feet in the air, then inflate its pouch and descend slowly and obliquely to the ground on extended wings. All these performances were accompanied by a strange hollow sound, not very loud when near, but audible at some distance, even as far as five hundred yards. These notes are very difficult to locate, and vary according to the distance. When near they are tremulous, booming sounds, something like the notes of a frog, and ending in clear sounds like those caused by the bursting of water-bubbles in a copper vessel." Mr. Buturlin found Tringa maculata breeding to the east of the Kolyma delta. We beheve that it has not before been authenticated as breeding on the Asiatic side of the Behring Straits. It is also of interest to note that the author found f NOTES. 231 on the western side of the Kolyma delta migrating flocks both of the Siberian species [T. acuminata), which has very rarely been obtained in England, and of the American species, which much more frequently visits us. In a coloured plate accompanying the article the young in down of T. maculata are figured. In the same number of the " Ibis *' the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain figures and describes the eggs of this bird, and those of two other American species on the British List, viz., Totanus soliiarius and Tringa hairdi. Like the Green and Wood-Sandpipers the Solitary Sandpiper lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER IN KENT. A SPECIMEN of Bonaparte's Sandpiper {Tringa fuscicollis) was obtained at the Midrips in Romney Marsh, Kent, on June 4th, 1906. The bird was an adult male in process of change to breeding plumage, the ash-grey feathers of the winter plumage being much Avorn and mingled on the back with the new dark brown feathers with tawny edges. It is said to have been in company with a Knot which was in a similar condition of plumage. This appears to be the first record of this species for Kent. It was examined soon after being shot by Mr. M. J. Nicoll. N. F. TlCEHURST. RED-BREASTED SNIPE IN KENT. On September 2nd last I had the pleasure of examining a specimen of the Red-breasted Snipe {Macrorhamphus griseus). It had been shot on August loth at Littlestone, in Kent, and \\-as an adult male changing from summer into winter plumage. This and the other two rare wanderers from the American Continent recorded above passed through Mr. Bristow's hands, and to his courtesy I am indebted for the opportunity of examining them. N. F. TlCEHURST. THE FOOD OF THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. Mr. Pycraft's adverse comment in British Birds for November, on Messrs. Thorpe and Hope's report on the feeding habits of Larus ridihundus — that after being found not guilty, sentence was passed on the bird — was not without justification, but there is something to be said on both sides. The sentence was not one of death, but merely a suggestion that the protection of this bird's eggs should be suspended 232 BRITISH BIRDS. for five years, and this has been done by the Cumberland County Council. Two or three considerations influenced the " experts " in their conclusion. In the first place, in the last few years, owing to the eggs being protected, there has been " a vast increase in the number of the birds in the local area." As a rule, throughout the country, except where special watchers are appointed, the Act of 1894 relating to the protection of eggs is a dead letter, but in Cumberland the gulleries being few and well-known, the county police kept an eye on them and made many a pohce-court case. The reporters, further, could not shut their eyes to the fact that, although few remains of fish were found in the stomachs of the birds dissected, two Black-headed Gulls under observation in an aviary, were responsible for the disappearance in one night of six golden carp from a fountain, and on being tested, one gulped three and tlie other two 6 in. sparling (atherine smelt) at one meal. Then it was a crying grievance among the Solway fishermen that a bird which, as they alleged, was destructive to salmon and sea-trout fry, and had become unduly numerous, should continue to be favoured with special protection, and as this grievance could be allayed without inflicting cruelty on the bird, or endangering the existence of the species in the remotest degree, Messrs. Thorpe and Hope seem to have arrived at a very reasonable and judicious conclusion. At the present time the Lune Fishery Board is proposing to go a good deal further, and is approaching the neighbouring county councils with a view to the Black-headed and Herring-Gulls being struck off the Schedule of the Act of 1881. T. Harrison. [We are still of opinion that our remarks were fully justified. The deductions drawn from the Gulls which swallowed " sparling" in an aviary are valueless as evidence. The fishermen believed, and still believe, these birds to be injurious : the " experts " showed they were not, but all the same the award — a verdict of guilty — was brought in, apparently because the fishermen demanded it ! The verdict was not in accordance with the evidence, and no penalty should have been inflicted. — Eds.] NESTING OF THE LESSER TERN IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES. I AM unable to say positively that North Uist is not " the most north-westerly point at which the Lesser Tern has been found breeding," because I did not actually find the eggs, but when visiting the island of Lewis last June I came upon NOTES. 233 a small colony of Arctic Terns which were breeding, and amongst them were three Lesser Terns. One of these I put up four times from the same spot in the sand and shell where the other birds were nesting. Unfor- tunately the only hiding-place was a long way off, and though I saw the bird hover and settle each time that I went away, I could not find the eggs. There were several empty nests, and it is possible she had not yet laid. My watching was disturbed by some egg-hunting boys, and unfortunately I had to leave. M. Bedford. ^ ^ ^ IvARE Birds at Fair Isle. — Mr. W. Eagle Clarke has once more been on Fair Isle (Shetlands), and has again had good fortune. He makes the preliminary announcement that amongst the rare birds \a hich came under his notice during September and early October were the following : — Black- throated Chat (Saxicola occidentalis). Grey-headed AVagtail {Motacilla viridis), Red-breasted Flycatcher (Muscicapa parva), Greater Redpoll [Linota linaria rostrata), Black-headed Bunting (Emberiza melanocephala) , Ortolan Bunting {Emberiza hortulana), Lapland Bunting {Calcarius lapponicus), and Hoopoe {Upupa epops) (cf. Ann. S.N.H., 1907, p. 246). ■5(- •}«■ -X- Black-tailed Godwit in Barra. — On September 7th, 1907, the Duchess of Bedford shot a Black-tailed Godwit {Limosa belgica) at Eohgary, Barra. The bird is a verv rare visitor to the Outer Hebrides {cf. Ann. iS.N.H., 1907, p.'250). •'THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE." To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs, — In your review of Mr. Nelson's excellent book on the " Birds of Yorkshire," you allude to the " authors." This is a mistake. There is but one author, Mr. Nelson, and it is only fair to him that this should be made clear. Mr. Boyes and myself supplied information and acted as consul- tants only. William Eagle Clarke. The Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, November 15th, 1907. [The wording on the title-page of the work reads " By T. H. Nelson, with the co-operation of W. Eagle Clarke and F. Boyes," and if IMessrs. Clarke and Boyes were not to be regarded as authors it would have been more correct had their names been omitted from the title page, and their co-operation acknowledged in the Preface only. — Eds.] REV1EW5 Notes on the Birds of Kent. By R. J. Balston, M.B.O.U., C. W. Shepherd,' M.B.O.U., and E. Bartlett. 455 pp. Eight coloured and one collot3rpe plate, and map. R. H. Porter. A COUNTY fauna must inevitably be largely a work of com- pilation, but it should also be a great deal more. In the prospectus of the present work we were promised that " all available information hitherto published, together with a very large amount of original material " would be embodied in it. On going carefully through the volume, however, we regret to find that the original observations of any importance are singularly few, and we have failed to find any records of rare birds, or information on the distribution of the more local species, that have not already been published elsewhere. Very little attempt seems to have been made to bring the latter important branch of the subject up-to-date, and in consequence the status of several species as given, is at the present day inaccurate. For instance, we find no information about the Dartford Warbler since 1863 ; only very meagre notes on the Golden Oriole since 1875 ; and nothing at all about the Peregrine since 1887. For the rest the book is a mere compilation, and consists almost entirely of articles copied verbatim and in extenso from various sources. As a consequence the space taken up is often out of all proportion to the importance of the subject, while other subjects are as much neglected. For example, over eight pages are devoted to anecdotes and trivial observations on the House-Sparrow — quite out of place in a county fauna — and the important subject of the local Heronries is dismissed in as many lines. There would not, perhaps, be need to criticise this too severely, had the work of compiling been thoroughly done ; but, unfortunately, this is far from being the case. No bibliography is given, but it is evident that several important sources of information have not been consulted, and even the " Zoologist " has by no means been exhaustively searched. The number of birds on the " Kentish List " is computed by the authors at three hundred and twenty, but it A\'ould hardly seem necessary in a county with such a rich avifauna to attain such a total by the inclusion of such species as the American REVIEWS. 235 Robin, Red-winged Starling, Mocking Bird, Mottled Owl, the Egyptian and Canada Geese, and such doubtful forms as the Polish Swan and Pallas's Grey Shrike. Thirteen other species, viz. : White's Thrush, Yellow-Browed and Savi's Warblers, Crested Tit, Ortolan Bunting, Crested Lark, Great Black Woodpecker, Golden Eagle, Iceland Falcon, Great White Heron, Red Grouse, Roseate Tern, and Bonaparte's Gull are included on apparently very slender evidence indeed. On the other hand the Water- Pipit, White-winged Black Tern, and Sabine's Gull, which have undoubtedly occurred in the county, are omitted, and there is no reference at all to the Willow-Tit. The coloured plates, representing eight species of special interest to Kent ornithologists, though fairly good, are of unequal merit, that of the Masked Shrike, perhaps, being the best. Illustrations of the typical haunts of some of the more local species would have certainly added interest to the book, and in our opinion should always find a place in a county fauna. The map of the county is ridiculously small, and as a guide to the position of the places mentioned in the text almost wholly useless. Altogether this book cannot be considered an adequate history of the Kent avifauna, and it seems a pity that, having accumulated such a mass of material, the authors should not have gone further and spent a little more time and trouble in making that material complete. Thorough and up-to-date information should be the characteristic of ornithological as of all scientific works, and those that do not reach the requisite standard of efficiency are better left unpublished. N.F.T. A Bird Collector's Medleij. By E. C. Arnold, M.A. Illus- trated. West, Newman. 10s. Mr. Arnold is well-known as a diligent searcher after rare wanderers on our east coast, and he has shot and recorded from time to time a number of birds which have strayed from their normal course during the migration season. All this is useful, and no harm can be done to our indigenous avifauna by shooting such birds, while some benefit accrues to science by the exact recording of their wanderings. Some of the remarks in the chapter on " Protection " are sensible, but the author is not always sincere since, although he asserts that to him the Dartford Warbler is sacred, yet he relates very fully how he succeeded in shooting one of these birds, as well as two Bearded Tits, a much rarer English breeding bird. Mr. Arnold had no justification whatever 236 BRITISH BIRDS. for his shameful raid on these birds, since if the skins are wanted for a scientific purpose they can easily be obtained from abroad, where the bird is common. Nor does he bring forward any proof that the danger of final extermination of rare breeding species by the amateur collector has been ex- aggerated. Nor can we agree with him that the Ruff, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Black Tern, and Bittern are banished for ever as breeding species, and therefore may be shot as stragglers — far from it. On the shore, the mud-flats, and marshes Mr. Arnold is, as it were, on his own ground, and the chapters on shore-shooting are entertaining, but he would have been well advised to have omitted all reference to such places as the New Forest, where he has spent but a few days. There is much shooting but little ornithology in the book. Scientific names are omitted, and we have never heard of the Lesser Black-headed Gull (c/. pp. 31 and 33). The illus- trations from the author's own drawings in black and white and colour are decidedly stiff and faulty in various details, but we have no wish to criticise them too severely. Wild Life on a Norfolk Estuary. By Arthur H. Patterson : with a prefatory note by Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford. Illustrated. Methuen & Co. 10s. 6d. net. That enough material could be got together to make a book — a readable book — about the bird-life of so circumscribed an area as the mud-flats of Breydon Water, Great Yarmouth, would have seemed to most people very improbable. Yet Mr. Patterson has achieved this task, and with distinction. He has had the good fortune to see, on many occasions, small parties of such interesting birds as Spoonbills and Avocets ; and by dint of great patience has succeeded in keeping these under observation for many hours during several days. So recently as 1905 for example, he fell in with a flock of no less than nine Avocets. They swam, he says, "with the buoyancy of Tufted Ducks." Much of their food, we are rather surprised to find, they procured by that curious half -diving action so characteristic of the Mallard ; \\here the head and forepart of the body are submerged while the tail is kept vertical, above water, by the action of the legs. This is a book, in short, which is full of most interesting matter, not only as regards rarities, but also concerning the commoner species, and the earlier days when this rendezvous was even more favoured by birds than now. The illustrations have been drawn by the author himself, in pen-and-ink, and of their kind are excellent. BRITISnDIW)5 EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., M.B.O.U. Contents of Number 8. January 1. 1908. The Breeding of the Hen -Harrier and Hobbj' in Surrey in 1907, by C. H. Bentham and L. B. Mouritz . . . . Page 237 The Wood-Pigeon Diphtheria, by C. B. Ticehurst, m.r.c.s., L.R.C.P., M.B.O.U. . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 On the More Important Additions to our Knowledge of Britisli Birds since 1899, by H. F. Witherby and N. F. Ticehurst (Part VI.) — continued from page 184 . . 246 The Grey-backed Warbler {Aedon familiaris) in Kent, bv J.B.Nichols '. 257 Notes : — The Flanges and Mouth-spots of Nestlings (J. M. Dewar). The Food of the Black-headed Gull (D. Losh Thorpe, m.b.o.u., and Linna?us E. Hope). The Soaring of Small Birds (F. W. Headley). The Down-stroke of the Wing (F. W. Headley). Great Grey Shrike and Eider Duck in Kircudbrightshire (The Duchess of Bed- ford). Yellow-breasted or Willow-Bunting {Emberiza aureola Pallas) in Norfolk (F. G. Penrose). On the Colour of the Snowy Owl (C. W. Beebe). Sooty Shear- water in Kent (N. F. Ticehurst), etc., etc. . . . . 258 Books of the Month 265 Reviews : — The Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales. The Home-Life of Some Marsh-Birds 266 THE BREEDING OF THE HEN-HARRIER AND HOBBY IN SURREY IN 1907. BY C. H. BENTHAM and L. B. MOURITZ. The year 1907 will rank as one of excejDtional interest in the annals of Surrey ornithology, on account of three species of considerable rarity, namely, the Hen-Harrier [Circus cyaneus), Hobby (^Falco siihbuteo), and Marsh- Warbler (^Acrocephalus fcdustris), having- nested within the 238 BRITISH BIRDS. confines of the county, and we have great satisfaction in recording- that the two first named were successful in rearing their young. The breeding of the Hen-Harrier is undoubtedly to be regarded as the most important event ; this bird unfor- tunately being, at the present time, almost entirely Fig. 1. -Nest of Hen-Harrier photographed in Surrey, Jime, 1907, by C. H. Bentham. restricted, as a nesting species, to a few of the wildest and most extensive moorland districts, and it is therefore somewhat remarkable that a pair should have been successful in bringing off their young, in a comparatively populated neighbourhood within fifty miles of the C.H.BENTHAM,L.B.MOURITZ: HEN-HARRIER. 239 metropolis, and moreover in a county in which g-ame- preserving- is extensively carried on. There is some evidence in support of the supposition that Hen-Harriers nested in Surrey during- 1906, as a pair were on more than one occasion observed in the locality where the nest was discovered the year following- ; two young birds also being- seen on the wing- near the same place, towards the end of Aug-ust, 1906. In 1907 the species was noticed for the first time on March 27th, when a "Blue Hawk " and "Ring-tail " were seen in company. Sometime during April, however, the female met with the usual fate, being shot by a game- keeper, and shortly after this unfortunate occurrence the male evidently went in search of a fresh partner, and was not again observed in the neighbourhood until May 20th, when he was found to have settled down in the original haunt with another mate, and on the day following we were fortunate enough to discover the nest. This was situated amongst a thick growth of tall heather, and within about twenty yards of a little-used cart track. It was a slight structure, composed of dry grass, reeds, and a few heather-stalks ; but as incubation advanced a con- siderable quantity of material was added, as will be seen from the accompanying photograph (Fig. 1), which was obtained when the bird had been sitting- for about three weeks. When the nest was discovered on May 21st, there were three apparently nearly fresh eggs (although we after- wards ascertained that it originally contained the full complement of four), but visiting- the locality on June 8th, we were much annoyed at discovering that only two eggs remained, another having mysteriously disappeared, but whether a Carrion-Crow — of which there are a good number in the neighbourhood — or some egg-coUector was respon- sible for this depredation, it is difficult to say. Fortunately the bird did not forsake the remaining eggs, from which two healthy nestlings (Fig. 2) were subsequently hatched, and during July and August we had the pleasure of K to C. H. BENTHAM, L. B. MOURITZ: HOBBY. 241 witnessing the rare sight of adults and young on the wing together. The latest date on which we observed the Harriers in the district was on August oth, when the "Blue Hawk," " Eingtail," and one of the young birds were seen on the breeding ground. It was apparently shortly after this that both the adults were shot by a gamekeeper, although we have been unable to ascertain the precise date on which this lamentable destruction occurred. There is also some reason to fear that at least one of the young birds has also perished ; but we have no definite information on this point. It is deeply to be deplored that, after having safely reared their young without molestation, these magnificent birds should have been ruthlessly slaughtered in the interests of game-preserving. There aj^pears to be but one previous record of the Hen-Harrier having nested in Surrey, some young birds having been taken as long ago as 1842 (Bucknill, Birds of Surrey). No mention, however, is made of the adult birds, so that the value of the record is somewhat lessened and is perhaps inconclusive. With regard to the Hobby, we first met with this in- teresting species during 1907, on June 22nd, when a male was observed in the vicinity of an extensive fir-wood, and from the excited behaviour of the bird, we thought it possible that there was a nest somewhere in the neighbour- hood, and consequently made a search, which, however, did not result in any further discoveries. During the first week in August we again visited the locality, and on approaching the fir-wood were greeted by the ringing Kestrel-like cry of the male Hobby, and shortly after detected the bird perched on a dead tree- stump, from which there was a good outlook over the surrounding country. After we had been watching the male for about an hour, his mate suddenly flew out of the wood and settled on the top-most branch of . a tall pine, where she remained 242 BRITISH BIRDS. for a considerable time, but did not utter a note of any kind, and in this respect her behaviour differed widely from that of the male, the latter keeping up an incessant clamour as long* as we remained near. Shortly after the appearance of the female, we had several momentary glimpses of two young* birds, which did not appear to have attained their full powers of flight, and were excessively shy, keeping chiefly to the shelter of the wood. Towards the close of August, however, we were fortunate in seeing all three young birds with their parents, and by this time they were almost as strong on the wing as the adults. September 22nd was the latest date on which we observed the Hobbies, and apparently soon after this they left the neighbourhood on migration. The Hobby has previously been reported as breeding on two occasions in Surrey, a nest and young having been taken near Wanborough in 1879, and althougli the male bird was shot, a pair nested in the same spot the following year {Zoologist, 1902, page 231). There can, however, be little doubt that the bird has occasionally been over- looked as a breeding species in the county. During June last the Marsh- Warbler was found nesting in Surrey, and we were kindly informed of the fact by Mr. Graham W. Kerr, the fortunate discoverer of two nests, who has already contributed a detailed account of the event to British Birds {vide sufra, p. 186), so that it is unnecessary to dwell further upon the subject in this article. 243 THE WOOD-PIGEON DIPHTHERIA. BY C. B. TICEHUEST, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., M.B.O.U. As Wood-Pigeon diphtheria was so prevalent last winter in various parts of England, and excited some interest amongst sportsmen and ornithologists, a brief account of this disease may be acceptable to readers of British Birds. This complaint has been often referred to in various journals, and several suggestions have been made to account for it, but in none of these have I seen the real cause of the disease stated. Like a great many diseases it is due to a specific micro-organism, which was isolated by Loffler in 1884 in Germany, from pigeons dead of the disease, and called by him Bacillus diphtherue columharuni. The disease begins to reveal itself in red patches, which appear first on the surface of the fauces and then spread to the base of the tongue and pharynx, and even a little way down the windpipe and gullet. Later these patches become covered with a thick yellowish layer. The birds are said to have fever for two or three weeks, and they gradually waste and die from the poisons manu- factured by the bacilli, and not from inability to swallow, as I have found birds in the last stages of the disease with acorns in the crop ; moreover the post-mortem appearance of the internal organs is that of death from poisoning. These bacilli, which I have cultivated from pigeons dead of this disease, are short, rod-shaped bacilli, with rounded ends, and belong to the same group as the bacilli of rabbit septicsemia and fowl cholera. The disease occurs in those years in which hordes of 244 BRITISH BIRDS. pigeons are to be found tog-ether in our Engiish woods, and also seems to correspond with those years in which there is a plentiful supply of acorns, beech-mast, etc. Apart from the laboratory evidence that the disease can be inoculated from one pigeon to another, it cannot be doubted that transmission occurs in nature, for the in- cidence of the disease in a flock resembles that of a contagious disease in any overcrowded commiuiity. Exactl}^ hoiv the disease is spread is unknown, but it is possible that acorns, which have been eaten by infected pigeons, are regurgitated and eaten by other pigeons. Much is to be learnt as regards this disease : how it comes, why it comes, and when it comes : and much data is required to fill up the missing links in the etiology of the disease. To those readers of British Birds who have oppor- tunities of studying this disease I would suggest the following lines of investigation : — 1. Distribution of the disease in the British Islands. 2. The times of year at which the disease is noted. 3. The percentage of individuals in a flock affected. 4. Relation of the disease to the food supply. 5. Observations on the course and length of the disease. 6. Evidence of transmission of the disease. 7. Whether the disease occurs in young or old, or both. At the same time, when investigating this disease, I would suggest two other matters which might be looked into. The first is the apparent sj)oradic migrations of Wood-Pigeons during the winter (this probably is depen- dent on food supply, but more evidence is wanted) ; the second is a disease of the wing-feathers which Wood- Pigeons are especially liable to. The disease seems to attack the growing feather, which then dries up and ceases to grow, and in many instances the bird is incajDable of flight. This disease occurs every year, but little is known about it, and observations on the same lines as I have C.B.TICEHURST: WOOD-PIGEON DIPHTHERIA. 245 sug-g-ested in the other disease would no doubt help to elucidate the mystery. [The points raised by Mr. C. B. Ticehurst seem to us to form most fitting* subjects of enquiiy for the readers of British Birds. It is only by the co-operation of observers all over the country that these and similar interesting problems can be solved. We sincerely hope, therefore, that every reader of the Magazine will take the subject up and give the results of his observations, however limited these may have been. With this object, the essential points upon which evidence is required have been embodied in the form of questions in a schedule, which will be found attached inside the cover of this number. The schedule can be easily detached, and should be filled in and posted to the Editors by March 1st. It would also greatly assist the enquiry if correspondents who can procure Wood-Pigeons suffering from either disease would post them, together with details as to the place and date of capture, and the name and address of the sender, to Mr. C. B. Ticehurst, at Gruy's Hospital, London, S.E. — Eds.] ( 246 ) ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BIRDS SINCE 1899. BY H. F. WITHERBY and N. F. TICEHURST. Part VI. {Conthuied from page 184.) NORTHERN BULLFINCH Pyrrhula ptjrrhula (L.). S. page 195. " A considerable immigration of Bullfinches " was recorded by Mr. J. S. TuUoch as having taken place in Shetland at the end of November, 1905. A specimen having been sent to Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, he pronounced it to be a representa- tive of the large and brilliant race which breeds in Scandinavia and Russia — the typical Loxia pyrrhula of Linnaeus. Others probably of the same form were seen by Dr. T. E. Saxby at Unst in March and April, 1905 ; while in November of the same year one or more visited Fair Isle. Further records include a male killed in North Shetland, October 18th, 1906, and a few seen in Fair Isle in November, 1906 (c/. Ann. S.N.H., 1905, p. 182; 1906, pp. 50, 115, and 148; 1907, pp. 50 and 70). A female which Dr. Saxby obtained at Halhgarth on November 8th, 1902 {ZooL, 1902, p. 468), may have also belonged to this form. The only previous authentic records of the occurrence of this bird in the British Isles were of two obtained in Yorkshire at Kilnsea, Holderness, and at Hunmanby, in November, 1894 {P.Z.S., 1895, p. 681. and Nat., 1896, p. 4). SCARLET GROSBEAK Pyrrhula erythrina (Pall.). S. page 197. Radnorshire. — A male in full plumage is preserved in the collection of stuffed birds at Maesllwch Castle, Glasbury- on-Wye. It shows no indication of having been in confine- ment, and is said to have been shot by a gamekeeper named Sharp, near Painscastle, Radnorshire, about 1875 (J. H. Salter, Zool., 1904, p. 228). Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A bird of the year was shot on October 3rd, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1907, p. 70). The Scarlet Grosbeak has been recorded three times pre- viously in this country. ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 247 PINE-GROSBEAK Pyrrhula enudeator (L.). S. page 199.. Kent. — A small flock appeared near Hawkhurst on October 25th, 1905, and two young birds were shot by Mr. Oliver and sent to Mr. Bristowe for preservation (C. B. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., XVI., p. 47). Sussex. — A few days after the above, a flock, probably the same, was seen in Ashburnham Park, and two or more birds (one of them a rosy-coloured male) were shot by a keeper, and are now in Mr. Fleetwood Ashburnham's collection (N.F.T.j. CROSSBILL Loxia curvirostra L. S. page 201. Surrey. — Messrs. Long and Eastwood say that it no doubt nests sometimes in the Bagshot and Witley districts (J. A. Bucknill, t.c, 1901, p. 251). Berkshire. — Mr. Bradshaw had a very young one, " probably one of a local brood," brought to him in 1898 from Aldermaston, where they had been very abundant that year (G. W. Bradshaw, ZooL, 1899, p. 136). Suffolk. — A male was shot near Bury St. Edmunds on 31st March, 1904, which from post-mortem examination was probably one of a pair of breeding birds (J. G. Tuck, t.c, 1904, p. 191). NoRTHANTS. — Two nestlings were picked up at Harleston Firs on 28th March, 1904. A description of them is given (F. C. R. Jourdain, t.c, 1905, p. 347). Shropshire. — A brood of young birds was seen on Grinshill in 1896 (H. E. Forrest in lift.). North Wales. — Two or three pairs nested at Penmaenmawr in 1890 or 1891 (G. H. Pentland, ZooL, 1899, p. 182). " Seen near Bala practically throughout the year " in 1897 (H. E. Forrest, Vert. Fauna N. Wales, p. 159). Yorkshire. — For list of breeding records in this county, cf. "B. Yorks.," p. 198. Ireland. — " Has disappeared from some of the districts in which it bred in 1888-1894 " (R. J. Ussher in litt.). TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL Loxia hifasciata (C. L. Brehm). S. page 203. Sussex. — A male in red plumage was obtained at West- field on 23rd February, 1899 (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., VIIL, p. 49.). Kent. — A female was obtained at Woodchurch on 26th December, 1902 [id., t.c, XIIL, p. 51). Notts. — A specimen was shot at Southwell some years 248 BRITISH BIRDS. ago and remained unidentified (J. Whitaker, ZooL, 1902, p. 353). BLACK-HEADED BUNTING Emberiza melanocephala 8eop. S. page 205. Sussex. — A mature male was shot at Little Common on 21st April, 1905 (J. B. Nichols, Zool, 1905, p. 267). Fair Isle. — The species is recorded as occurring in Sep- tember, 1907 (W. E. Clarke, An7i. S.N.H., 1907, p. 246). CIRL BUNTING Emberiza cirlus L. S. page 211. Yorkshire. — A pair was found nesting near Harrogate in 1903 by Mr. R. Fortune {B. Yorks., p. 205). North Wales. — " Not uncommon locally in Denbigh and Flint " and round the mouth of the River Conway (H. E. Forrest, Vert. Fauna N. Wales, p. 163). Ireland. — An adult Avas watched at close quarters and its note heard on x\ugust 2nd, 1902, near Dunfanaghv, co. Donegal (H. E. Howard, ZooL, 1902, p. 353). The bird had not previously been recorded in Ireland. ORTOLAN Emberiza hortulana L. S. page 213. Norfolk. — A female was shot on 13th September, 1904, near Wells (E. C. Arnold, Zool, 1904, p. 389), and a male entangled itself in some netting near Yarmouth, and was captured and caged on 5th May, 1906 (J. H. Gurney, t.c, 1907, p. 127). Yorkshire.— One labelled " Bedale, Yorks, 9th July, 1882," is in the collection of Mr. S. L. Mosley {B. Yorks., p. 206). Scotland. — Shetlands. — Two, not mentioned in the "Manual," were obtained during a remarkable visitation of migratory birds on 30th April, 1898 (T. Henderson, jun., An7i. S.N.H., 1898, p. 178). Fair /s/e.— Quite a number arrived during the last days of May, 1906, and three (two males and a female) were sent to Mr. W. E. Clarke. A young bird was obtained on 18th September, 1906 ; Mr. Clarke regards it as " an occasional visitor to Fair Isle during the seasons of passage" (W. E. Clarke, t.c, 1906, pp. 139 and 237 ; 1907, p. 71). [North Wales. — A bird, identified as of this species, was watched by Mr. D. H. Meares on the Berwyn Mountains on May 20th, 1907 (H. E. Forrest, Vert. Faima N. Wales, p. 167).] RUSTIC BUNTING Emberiza rustica Pall. S. page 217. Sussex. — A young male was shot by a boy at Westfield on 22nd September, 1902 (N. F. Tieehurst, Bull. B.O.C., XIIL, p. 15). ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 249 [Lincolnshire. — Mr. J. Whitaker identified a female at Chapel St. Leonards, on 22nd September, 1906, amongst a large lot of migrants on the sea-bank (J. Whitaker, Zool., 1906, p. 392).] [Northumberland. — A hen caught near Seaton Sluice prior to 1903 was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Cage-Bird Show in January, 1905. It is stated to have been identified by the late Canon Tristram (c/. Zool., 1905, p. 279).] Scotland. — A pair was obtained at Torphins, Aberdeen- shire, at the end of March, 1905 (E. T. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1907, p. 114). An adult male in full summer plumage was obtained at Cape Wrath on 11th May, 1906 (W. E. Clarke. t.c, 1906, p. 138). Only three records of the occurrence of this species are given in the " Manual " none of which were in spring, and none in Scotland. LITTLE BUNTING Emberiza pusilla Pall. S. page 219. Durham.— A female was procured at Teesmouth on 11th October, 1902, by the late Mr. C. Braithwaite (W. R. Ogilvie- Grant, Bull. B.O.C., XIIL, p. 14). Warwick. — A male in winter plumage was caught with bird-lime at Pailton, near Rugby, in the beginning of October, 1902, and lived in a cage for nearly fifteen months (O. V. Aphn, Ibis, 1904, p. 307). Scotland. — A young bird was captured by a cat at the Pentland Skerries Lighthouse on 15th October, 1903 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1904, p. 14). One was seen at close quarters and satisfactorily identified at Fair Isle on 2nd October, 1905, and an adult female was obtained at the same place on 3rd October, 1906 {id., t.c, 1906, pp. 18 and 236). The Little Bunting had only once previously been identified in this country, viz., at Brighton, on 2nd November, 1846. LAPLAND BUNTING Calcarius lapjmiicus (L.). S. page 223. Sussex. — An immature male was shot near Pevensey on 28th September, 1904 (M. J. Nicoll, Bull. B.O.C., XV., p. 12). Norfolk. — One reported from Yarmouth on 4th November, 1898, two in October, 1899, and two on 1st November, 1903 (J. H. Gurney, Zool, 1899, p. 126 ; 1900, p. 98 ; 1904, p. 214). A female was caught at Great Yarmouth on 18th September, and a young male on 25th September, 1904 (O. V. Aphn, t.c, 1904, p. 428). Nine were caught and taken to Yarmouth during November, and two were seen at Cley on 17th December, 1>50 BRITISH BIRDS. 1904. Several were seen at Yarmouth and Blakeney in November, 1905, and some at Cley on 2nd November, 1906 {id., t.c, 1905, p. 98 ; 1906, p. 1.36 ; 1907, p. 136). Mr. Patterson states (1900) that they arrive in great or less numbers every winter, and are looked for by the bird-catchers (A. H. Patterson, t.c, 1900, p. 406), and Mr. Gurney remarks that in 1904 they were more in evidence than they had been since 1892, though, indeed, they are annual visitors (J. H. Gurney, t.c, 1905, p. 89). Warwick. — A male was caught near Birmingham on 21st October, 1904 (T. Ground, t.c, 1904, p. 428). Yorkshire. — One was caught near Whitby in the spring of 1870 {B. Yorks., p. 211). Scotland. — Flannan Isles. — A party of 30 to 40 young and old was seen on 6th September, 1904, and some were observed daily up to 21st September. They appeared again in some numbers in the autumn of 1905 (W. Eagle Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1904, p. 207 ; 1906, p. 19). Suleskerry.— Several were seen on 22nd September, 1904 {id., t.c, 1904, p. 207). Fair Isle— {1905). One heard, 7th September, several seen, and one obtained 11th September, and "from this date onward old and young birds were observed or heard daily, and in some numbers, down to our departure." (1906). First arrivals 8th September, not so numerous as in 1905, but seen daily after this date. " This bird does not appear to winter in the island ; but the return movement north was witnessed in May, when a few arrived " {id., t.c, 1906, p. 18 ; 1907, p. 71). Ireland. — A male in winter plumage was caught with some linnets near Kilbarrack Churchyard, Co. Dubhn, on 27th January, 1906 (W. J. Wilhams, Irish Nat., 1906, p. 112). The Lapland Bunting must still be regarded as a somewhat erratic migrant to England. Previous to Mr. Clarke's valuable observations detailed above the bird had seldom been recorded in Scotland, but it would appear that it is in reaUty a regular bird of passage in the northern and far western isles. SNOW-BUNTING Plectrophenax nivalis (L.). S. page 219. Scotland. — Nests were found in July, 1903, on the spurs of the Grampians which stretch southward between Rannoch and Glen Lyon, and besides, their breeding there has been well-known to intelligent persons during the last few years. This is considerably further south than any of the previous records. They have also been met with at the height of their nesting season in 1905 on a mountain still further south, but the exact locality is not indicated. " I tliink it may safely ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 251 be said that the present distribution of these birds in the nesting season embraces a wide area in the northern half of Scotland, both along the backbone of the country, and the liigh mountains of the great divide between east and west, and also the main divide between north and south, or the ranges and their spurs of the Grampians " (J. A. Harvie- Brown, Fauna Tay Basin, etc., pp. 132-134). Numbers were seen in Mid-Atlantic on migration, ap- parently travelling due eastwards, on lltli to 14tli October, 1902, in Lat. 45°-50° N., Long. 15° W. They were seen singly and in twos and threes. They were travelling with a buoyant, undulating flight, showed no signs of fatigue, and " circled round the big Uner (running 18 or 19 miles an hour) as if she were standing still " (A. L. Butler, Ihis, 1904, p. 304). STARLING Sturnus vulgaris L. S. page 227. MIGRATIONS. The Starling was one of the eight species whose migratory movements were worked out in detail by Mr. Eagle Clarke for the British Association Committee on Migration, and his "Summary" was pubhshed in the Report for 1903. He shows that besides the regular migrations performed by this bird it is also subject to a number of movements which are partially or wholly irregular in nature, and dependent on a variety of causes, some of which are purely local in origin. The regular movements he divides into (a) The migrations of the British Starhng (i.) within our own area ; and (ii.) their passage to and from winter quarters beyond our shores ; and {b) the migrations of birds from the continent to or through Britain in the autumn, with a similar return passage in the spring. Briefly summarised in chronological order, these movements are thus given : — 1. In June the young of the first brood gather together and lead a roving life, visiting the coasts, etc. 2. Later in the summer old and young flock together, and in the autumn many seek winter quarters in the west and south of Great Britain and Ireland. 3. A portion of our Starlings, especially those from the more northern and elevated districts, leave us in early autumn to winter in south-west Europe, etc. 4. From late September to early November vast numbers of Starlings arrive on the south-east coast from central Europe. Many of these winter in England and Ireland, Avhile others passon to south-west Europe. 252 BRITISH BIRDS. 5. In October and November considerable numbers arrive on the north and north-east coasts from north Europe. Many of these also ^^'inter in Great Britain and Ireland, while others again pass on to south-west Europe. 6. During a spell of severe cold many of our winter residents (chiefly the continental birds) seek the south and west parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and may even leave altogether for warmer regions in the south. 7. In February the birds inhabiting the more northern and elevated districts in our isles begin to return to their summer quarters. 8. The summer visitors to our islands return from south- west Europe to their summer quarters in February and March. 9. About the same time the continental birds Mhich left us during the winter also return. 10. In March and April the birds of passage arrive on the south coast on their way to their summer quarters in central and north-west Europe. 11. In February and March the central European birds which have wintered with us return to their summer homes by the east coast. 12. In mid-March to April the northern birds, which have wintered Avith us, return to their summer homes. I]S"CREASE AND EXTENSION OF RANGE. Channel Islands. — Jersey. — Eighteen or twenty years ago Starlings were comparatively rare, but since then they have increased to abundancy (H. Mackay, Zool., 1904, p. 342). Sark. — Quite an uncommon species, comparatively speaking (E. F. M. Elms, t.c, 1903, p. 305). SciLLY. — It is apparently still only an autumn and winter visitor to these islands. " As a rule only a few stragglers are to be seen after the middle of April " (J. Clark and F. R. Rodd, t.c, 1906, p. 251). Hants. — " I have been informed that it is much more abundant in the New Forest than some years ago " (C. B. Corbin, t.c, 1904, p. 458). It has certainly largely increased as a breeding species within the last ten years in the New Forest, but directly the young are fledged the Forest itself is abandoned. (H. F. W.) Cheshire. — Has undoubtedly increased of late years (T. A. Coward and C. Oldham, B. of Cheshire, p. 94 (1900) ). N. Wales. — " Although the Starhng is now abundant in all parts of North Wales, as a breeding species it was almost unknown in the west twenty to twenty-five years ago. At ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 253 the present time it is very common and increasing." (H. E. Forrest, Vert. Fauna N. Wales, p. 169 (1907) ). Surrey. — An abundant and increasing species (J. A. Bucknill, B. of Surrey, p. 67 (1900) ). YoRKS. — Has increased enormously within the past half century, particularly in the valleys of the Wharfe, Nidd, and Washburn, and in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, where at the present day it is quite abundant, even to an elevation of 1000 feet (T. H. Nelson, B. of Yorks., p. 216 (1907) ). Scotland. — Outer Hebrides. — " The vast increase of this bird is equally noticeable in the Outer Hebrides as in many other parts of Scotland (J. A. Harvie-Brown, Ann. S.N.H., 1902, p. 147). The bird has become even more numerous than last year (P. H. Bahr, t.c, 1907, p. 210). Ireland. — " Now nests in every county . . . The number of those which breed is increasing " (R. J. Ussher and R. Warren, B. of Ireland, p. 79 (1900) ). " Has greatly extended its breeding range, e.g., in Kerry and Mayo, and breeds much more numerously" (R. J. Ussher, in litt. (1907) ). Co. Mayo and Co. Sligo. — " Very scarce in summer up to fifteen or twenty years ago. . . . Since then the birds have spread all about the country" (R. Warren, Irish N., 1902, p. 246). Belfast.— Increase enormous of late (W. H. Workman, Zool., 1904, p. 429). Although there is a general impression that the Starling is still increasing and spreading very few actual facts regarding its numbers in the breeding season seem to have been recorded during the last few years. ROSE-COLOURED STARLING Pastor roseus (L.). S. page 229. SciLLY. — One was killed June, 1899 (J. Clark and F. R. Rodd, Zool., 1906, p. 252). Kent. — An adult male was obtained near Appledore on 14th May, 1901 (L. A. C. Edwards, t.c, 1901, p. 223K Hertfordshire. — A specimen in the St. Albans Museum is stated to have been shot some years ago at Bovingdon, and was found in a case in an inn (W. Bickerton, in litt.). Yorkshire. — One was seen near Hull, November, 1901 {Field, 1901, 23rd Nov.). Shetland. — One was seen at Halligarth, 6th November, 1903 (T. E. Saxby, Aim. S.N.H., 1904, p. 156). Five or six appeared at Foula on 28th October, 1906 (W. Robertson, t.c, 1907, p. 51). Ireland. — One was shot near Londonderry on 9th June, and another at Killybegs, co. Donegal, on 20th July, and 254 BRITISH BIRDS. another near Foxford, co. Mayo, on 5th November, 1899 {Irish Nat., 1899, pp. 186 and 230 ; 1900, p. 22). NUTCRACKER Nucifraga caryocatactes (L.). S. page 233. Sussex. — One was shot on 21st December, 1900, at Chilgrove, near Chichester (H. M. Langdale, ZooL, 1901, p. 107). This was a specimen of the typical N. caryocatactes. Kent. — A male was shot on 14th January, 1905, at Benenden (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., XV., p. 31). This was also of the European form. Norfolk. — For a week in May, 1899, a Nutcracker fre- quented a plantation of tall dark fir trees near Thetford (J. H. Gurney, Zool, 1900, p. 106). Cheshire. — One was shot at Ilkley on 5th January, 1901, and was identified as belonging to the slender-billed Siberian form (W. R. Butterfield, Ibis, 1901, p. 737). Herefordshire. — One Avas obtained in September, 1901, near Hereford (H. E. Forrest, Zool., 1902, p. 25). The Nutcracker is an irregular visitor to this country, and both the thick-billed typical N. caryocatactes of Linnaeus inhabiting the European Alps, and the slender-billed N. c. macrorhyncus of Brehm, breeding in Siberia, visit our shores. In the autumn of 1900 the invasion of the Siberian race into north-eastern Europe was spread over a large area, and reached to Denmark and Holland, but the invasion was not so large as that in 1844 (c/. Ibis, 1902, p. 172). HOODED CROW Corvus comix L. S. page 245. Suffolk. — A pair nested and reared a brood near LoA\estoft in 1903 (E. A. Butler, Zool, 1903, p. 350). In Wales, where this species is rare at any time, a bird paired with the Carrion-Crow, and reared young near Bai'mouth, Merioneth (H. E. Forrest, Vert. Fauna N. Wales, p. 186), and a similar instance is recorded near Llanwrtyd, in Breconshire (E. Cambridge Phillips, Field, 7, ix., 1907). ROOK Corvus frugilegus L. S. page 247. The migrations of this species were worked out in detail by Mr. Eagle Clarke, and published in the British Association's Report for 1903. Briefiy summarized they are as follows : — 1. Partial and irregular movements of our resident birds beginning at the close of the nesting season and continuing throughout the autumn, some probably leaving for the continent. ADDITIONS SINCE 1899. 255 2. Between mid-September and mid-November the main autumnal movement takes place, and vast numbers of foreign rooks arrive on our south-east coasts fi^m central Europe and winter in our eastern counties. 3. Between mid-October and mid-November immigrants arrive on our northern shores, and spend the winter with us. 4. In severe winters some emigrate from the northern counties of Britain to the western isles. 5. From late February to early April numbers arrive on the south-east coast from the continent, moving in a westerly and north-westerly direction, and are probably our own birds returning from winter quarters abroad. 6. Early in February and until mid-April the most im- portant spring movement takes place in the return of the central European birds for their summer homes from our south-east coast. 7. In March and April the Scandinavian birds return to their summer quarters, passing through the Orkneys and Shetlands. The Irish movements are chiefly irregular and unimportant, and Ireland is not resorted to by the continental visitors for winter quarters. WOOD-LARK Alauda arhorea L. S. page 251. SciLLY. — A rare occasional visitor — six specimens have been obtained, the last on St. Mary's, 28th December, 1904 (J. Clark and F. R. Rodd, Zool., 1906, p. 297). Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A few appeared during the early days of November and remained until the middle of December, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1907, p. 71). This is a very remarkable record, since the Wood-Lark had not previously been recorded, with authenticity, as occurring anywhere in Scotland, and as far as its distribution in Europe is kno\An it appears to breed but very little, if at all, north of Fair Isle in any quarter, so that its occurrence there must be regarded as abnormal. SHORT-TOED LARK Alauda hrachydactyla Leisl. S. page 255. Hants. — One, said to have been caught near Portsmouth, was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Bird Show in 1890 (Kelsall and Munn, B. of Hants, p. 97). Outer Hebrides. — Flannan Isle. — A female was cap- tured on 20th September, 1904 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1904, p. 206). The Short-toed Lark is only a straggler to northern, or even central, Europe, and has only been recorded 256 BRITISH BIRDS. nine times in England, once in Ireland, and never before in Scotland. WHITE- WINGED LARK Alauda sibirica Gm. S. page 257. Kent. — A male was shot on 27th January, and a female on 28th January, 1902 and another individual was seen at Woodchurch (N. F. Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C., XII., p. 50). The third individual alluded to above was shot at the same place on 22nd March, 1902, and was a male changing into summer plumage {t.c, XIII., p. 15). This eastern species has only once previously been recorded in this country, viz., near Brighton, Sussex, on 22nd November, 1869. SHORE-LARK Otocorys alpestris (L.). S. page 259. Howard Saunders sa^^s : " Autumnal arrivals on the coast of Yorkshire are almost annual." Mr. Nelson {B. of Yorks., p. 259) states that it is now of annual occurrence at the mouth of the Tees ; and its occurrence on the Lincoln and Norfolk coasts would appear also to be now almost annual (c/. ZooL, 1898, p. 115; 1900, pp. 101, 408; 1902, p. 112; 1903, pp. 122, 361 ; 1907, p. 136). Cheshire. — A bird watched at close quarters on 19th December, 1905, at Hilbre Island, was identified from a sketch made at the time (T. A. Coward, ZooL, 1906, p. 72). Fair Isle (Shetlands).— A small number arrived at the end of October, and stayed till mid-December, 1906. The Shore-Lark seldom visits the west of England, and had not before been recorded in Shetland. {To be conlinued.) THE GREY-BACKED WARBLER (Aedon famiUaris) IN KENT. A NEW BRITISH BIRD. On July 15th, 1907, a male " Rufous Warbler " was shot at Hythe, Kent, and sent to Mr. Bristow, of St. Leonards, where it was seen in the flesh by Dr. N. F. Ticehurst. On receiving it from Mr, Bristow I thought it to be Aedon galactodes, but on its being submitted to Dr. R. B. Sharj)e and Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grrant, they identified it as the Grey-backed Warbler, Afdou famiUaris, a bird which has not previously been obtained in this country. It difPers from A . galactodes by the greyish-brown rather than rufous-brown coloration of the upper parts, and by the central pair of tail-feathers being bi'own instead of chestnut. Male Grey-backed Warbler {Aedon f ami/ iaris) , shot at Hytlie,Kent, on July 15th, 1907. In range the Grey-backed AVarbler replaces the Rufous Warbler as a breeding species in Asia Minor, Tui-key and Greece, and further east. It has, however, wandered to Heli- goland, Italy, and the south of France on a few occasions. Aedon galactodes, it may be noted, has only occurred three times in England and once in Ireland, all in the autumn. J. B. Nichols. nOTES THE FLANGES AND MOUTH-SPOTS OF NESTLINGS. I HAVE read the article on " Nestlings " with interest, and if I may be allowed to express the wish, it is that circumstances had permitted Mr. Pycraft to deal with the subject more fully. It is probable that the hps or flanges have another use beside that of serving to outhne the mouth by their generally paler colour. When the nestling opens its mouth widely, the flanges straighten out like the sides of a leather purse, and, becoming stretched, fill up much of the lateral gaps between the separated mandibles, and as these apparently bend over into a nearly horizontal position, the mouth is converted into a funnel-shaped cavity, \\'ith an everted and almost level rim. To drop food into a chick's moutli is not an easy matter, as the scarcely-developed muscles are unable to support the head steadily for long, and it usually jerks to and fro in a provoking way. Thus the flanges may prevent the escape of food side\^ays from the mouth, and according to my limited experience, they attain the greatest develop- ment in the nestlings of those species which nest commonly in dark situations, and which may be sujiposed to have difficulty in feeding their young. With regard to the spots in the mouths of certain cliicks, there can be little doubt that the spots are a distinct aid to the economy of those nestlings which possess them. During the past summer I tested a number of yoang Skylarks, less than six days old, with a view to finding out A\'hich part of the mouth was most sensitive to stimulation. The inside of the mouth is yellow. A black spot is present on the tip of the tongue, and another on tlie inside of the tip of the lower mandible. I used small worms and slugs, similar to those with which the parents fed the young, and placed them on different parts of the gaping mouths. The experiments were haphazard, if you like, as I hesitated from a touch of sentiment, perhaps, to deprive the nestlings of their mother's warmth for too long, knowing well their liability to lung trouble, and further experiment may modify the results set down below. The flanges were found to excite no response. The chicks continued to gape, as if nothing had been supplied to them, and when they, ^\'earied by their efforts, sank down into the nest and closed their mouths, the NOTES. 259 food remained between the flanges uneaten. The anterior portion of the palate was also irresponsive when the mouth was open. On the other hand, when the food was placed on the tongue and especially on its posterior part, deglutition followed instantly. It is well-known that children, when they put pennies or other articles in their mouths, are extremely prone to swallow them. They '• slip over without thinking." And the attempt to keep a sweetmeat on the back of the tongue until it dissolves away excites an almost irresistible desire to swallow. In man, as a rule, swallowing is done consciously or sub-consciously. The two examples given are cases of excitement of the reflex act of deglutition, in the one unconsciously, in the other consciously, it is true, but against the will. It is a far cry from the children of men to the nestlings of birds, but there can be little risk in saying that the act of swallowing in chicks, say less than six days old, is an un- conscious one, and that it owes its initiation to a stimulus acting on a place which has been set apart for the pui'pose by use and wont. That place seems to be the tongue, and especially the posterior part of it. Hence the spots on the tongue, when present, may direct the parents to drop the food where the act of swallowing will be excited most rapidly. That spots should occur on the palate does not seem to invalidate this view, because in the narrow throat of the nestling food dropped on the rear portion of the palate can hardly fail to come into contact with the tongue and at once excite the act of swallowing. J. M. Dewar. THE FOOD OF THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. In your November issue there is a short notice of our report to the Cumberland County Council on the " Food of the Black-headed Gull." As the writer has made one or two mistakes therein we would be glad if you will correct the same in your next issue. L We do not in any part of the report use such an indefinite term as " shellfish," but give the various classes of animals taken by the bird as food under their proper heads in Table D of the report as either fishes, mollusca, or Crustacea. 2. Mr. Pycraft also comments on our recommendation to the County Council (not our " decision," as he is pleased to call it). Our reason for making this recommendation is clearly stated, viz., abnormal increase ; and surely Mr. Pycraft knows that if one species increases abnormally it is at the expense of other, and perhaps better, species, the food supply 260 BRITISH BIRDS. being naturally limited ; and to protect a bird which has already increased to such an extent would do no good, but only tend to disturb the balance of nature. 3. Mr. Py craft further says that the bird was " honourably acquitted." Can this be said when there is only a difference of 7 per cent, between the food harmful and the food bene- ficial in effect taken, and that without four birds, sent to us from a rehable source, containing fry of Salmonidce, and mentioned in the report ? We are glad to have Mr. Pycraft's review of our report, but we must suggest that he has not read it carefully. D. LosH Thorpe, M.B.O.U. LiNN^us E. Hope. [The authors of this report are mistaken in their surmise that our review was written hastily, and before digesting all the facts this report claims to have estabhshed. But we will reply to the points raised in the above letter seriatim. 1. We did not attribute the use of the word " shellfish " to the authors, but we were certainly wrong in concluding that Crustacea and mollusca were included under " the common term ' fish.' " 2. The word " decision " seems to us perfectly justified. In fairness to the authors we assumed that they had come to •some decision before they made their " recommendation." 3. There can be no two opinions about the unwisdom of their " recommendation." The authors' attempted justification therefor — abnormal increase — is quite unsup- j)orted by facts, since they have failed, absolutely, to show that the " abnormal " increase has yet exceeded the food supply. Their further assumption that on a continued increase of this species there is a " probability " — or even possibility, which is by no means the same thing — of its becoming more addicted to the taking of grain, is quite unsound. There are a dozen " possibilities " in such an event. 4. The authors' objection to the phrase " honourably acquitted " is not justified, as they suppose, by the figures they have quoted, for these are not altogether rehable. They should have given us the percentage of animal and vegetable food, injurious, or beneficial to man's interests, as the case may be, found in each stomach. On the system they have adopted the idiosyncrasies in the choice of food of particular individuals have been put to the credit, or discredit, of aU the members of the colony. And, apart from this, it would appear that the authors have not had sufficient ex- perience to enable them to determine in every case which species of insects are to be regarded as pests, or which may be NOTES. 261 considered neutral or beneficial. Thus, in this report, ah the " Ground-beetles " (Carabidce) are regarded as beneficial to man's interests, so that Gulls, in so far as they feed on these beetles, are to be considered as harmful to man. As a matter of fact, several species of Carabidce are to be reckoned among the pests of the farmer and gardener since they make serious raids on strawberries, swedes, mangel- wurzels, and kohl- rabi, for example. Of this the authors can obtain confirmation by consulting the " Reports " published by the Board of Agri- culture, or the " Reports on Economic Zoology " pubhshed by the British Museum. In so far, then, as the Gulls devour these species they are beneficial and not harmful to man ! We do not wish to disparage the work of Messrs. Thorpe and Hope. Quite the contrary. They have undertaken, in the right spirit, a work which badly needs doing ; and our only object in criticizing is that thereby the truth may be thrashed out, and that even better work may be done. But the authors do not appear to realize that their " recommendation " is hkely to have far-reaching consequences, for other public bodies will follow this " recommendation " as authoritative. Thus real harm niay result from this report when nothing but good was intended. We sincerely hope they will see their way to revise their work, and to bear in mind that a wider area than that ruled by the Cumberland County Council will be affected by their " recommendations." — Eds.] THE SOARING OF SMALL BIRDS. It is much to be regretted that the flight of birds, and more particularly their soaring, are so httle studied by ornith- ologists. Mr. Lowe's letter in the last number of British Birds (p. 225), therefore, is welcome. But as to the point which he raises, my observations do not agree with his. I have seen Swifts after giving a few vigorous strokes glide onward with wings held rigidly expanded, then after another stroke or two glide onward again. But neither during their calmer flight in broad daylight, nor in their wild twilight evolutions before they go to roost, have I seen them obtaining support and momentum from the wind : and this is the essence of soaring. Last September I several times saw Wheatears hovering with wings expanded and motionless. Kestrel- fashion, where rocks gave the wind an upward slant, but in each case it lasted only for two or three seconds. And I have seen Bee-eaters trying to turn spirals, but their success was not great, for they had frequently to put in a stroke with their wings. F. W. Headley. 262 BRITISH BIRDS. Fig. 1. THE DOWN-STROKE OF THE WING. The fact that a bird moves its wing forward at the same time that it moves it downward is well-known. But the extent of the forward movement is, I think, hardly realised. On first thoughts it may seem odd that a bird should be able to propel himself by such a movement as this. When the wing has to propel as well as to hft, the bird gives it an upward incline from the front of the back margin, and. being held in this position, it can- not but propel as weW as support him. In these two photo- graphs this point is not brought out, since the pigeons are only raising themselves from the window-ledge on which they had been standing. Figure 1 shows the down- stroke still in its full force. The primaries are bent upward, and the first primary is con- spicuously more bent than its neighbours. This can only be due to its greater phancy, and there is every reason to believe, though the photo- graph does not make this clear, that it takes place simul- taneously and to an equal extent in both wings. It cannot, therefore, be of any assistance in steering. But it is clear that the straightening out of the feathers when the down-stroke slackens must be ec(uivalent to a continuation of the stroke, and help to give it an easy and comfortable finish. The separation of the primaries probably prevents a too sudden escape of the air Fig. NOTES. 263 from below, such as might liappen if the \\ing had an unindented edge. In Figure 2 the down-stroke is almost finished, and the feathers have lost their upward curve. F. W. Headley. GREAT GREY SHRIKE AND EIDER DUCK IN KIRCUDBRIGHTSHIRE . On 17th November, 1907, I saw a Great Grey Shrike in the valley of the Palnure, N.B. Though I had a gun in my hand and the bird was close, I did not shoot it as many occurrences have been recorded in the county. I hoped that it might be fortunate enough to run the gauntlet of the British Islands, but I see one was caught in Yorkshire about 23rd November, which might have been the same. On 18th November I saw a female Eider Duck in Kircud- bright Bay. These have also been frequently noted in the Solway, but the bird is sufficiently rare to be worthy of record. M. Bedford. YELLOW-BREASTED OR WILLOW-BUNTING {Emberiza aureola Pallas) IN NORFOLK. Ak immature female of the above species was shot by Patrick Cringle, a son of one of Lord Leicester's watchers, on the Cabbage Creek Marsh, near Wells, Norfolk, on 5th September, 1907. I saw the bird in the flesh the same day with Mr. Alec. J. Napier, of Holkham. The latter forwarded it for preservation to Mr. T. E. Gunn, the taxidermist, of Norwich, who identified it^and his identification was confirmed, I believe, at the meeting of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, on 28th October, 1907, by Mr. J. H. Gurney and Mr. Southwell. Mr. Napier kindly allowed me to show the bird at the November meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, and previously to the meeting I took it to the Natural History Museum to show it to Dr. Bowdler Sharpe. He very kindly allowed me to compare it with the skins in the collection, and there is, I think, no doubt of the identification. In the present specimen the beak is darker than in any of the Museum specimens, and the bird is a very dingy specimen. In the first number of British Birds, Howard Saunders, in referring to the first occurrence of this species in these islands, viz., an immature female shot at Cley, Norfolk, by Mr. E. C. Arnold, of Eastbourne College, on 21st Sej)tember, 1905, writes : " As the bird had been recorded thrice in Heligoland, as well as many times in northern Italy and south-eastern France, its apparition is not remarkable." F. G. Penrose. 264 BRITISH BIRDS. ON THE COLOUR OF THE SNOWY OWL. Mb. C. W. Beebe, in the Eleventh Annual Report of the New York Zoological Society, contributes a most interesting article on the 0\\\s of the Nearctic Region. In the course of his remarks he refers to a point with regard to the plumage of the Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca (L.)), which appears to have escaped the notice of British ornithologists. Remarking that " Old male birds are sometimes almost pure white in colour," he goes on to cite a statement made by Mr. Nelson of a bird shot in Alaska in which the plumage was suffused with " a rich and extremely beautiful shade of clear lemon-yellow, exactly as the rose-blush clothes the- entire plumage of some Gulls in Spring. The morning after the bird was killed the colour was gone, the plumage being dead white." So far as we can make out no such fleeting colour appears to have been noticed in any British or European examples of this species. It is also a matter for debate as to whether the whiteness above referred to is really a sign of age or an individual variation. SOOTY SHEARWATER IN KENT. On October 14th, 1907, a Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus J. F. Gmelin) was shot along the shore of Dungeness Point, in Kent. It proved to be a male by dissection, and was examined by myself on October 21st, soon after it had been stuffed. Several birds of this species have occurred in Sussex, but so far as I am aware this is the first one recorded from Kent. N. F. TiCEHUEST. 4!- 4f -Jf Richaed's Pipits in Noefolk. — A specimen of Richard's Pipit {Anthus richardi) was netted on the North Denes at Yarmouth on 22nd October, 1907 (B. Dye, ZooL, 1907, p. 428). Another — a male — was shot on the " Norfolk coast " on 12th October, and a female near the same spot a few days later (C. Borrer, Field, 16, xi., 1907). ^ * -Sf Abnoemal Blackbied's Eggs laid foe seveeal yeaes in the same Locality. — Mr. W. Binnie, of Aberdeen, records that in 1903 he found a Blackbird's nest A\ith three pure blue eggs ; on 19th April, 1905, near the same spot, another nest with two pure blue eggs and one of the ordinary type ; these being taken, another nest was made close by, and on 30th April contained a similar clutch. Again the nest was robbed and another nest made, and a similar clutch of eggs laid by NOTES. 265 10th May. On 9tli April, 1906, there was a nest with two unspotted eggs and a similar one on the ground ; and in 1907 a deserted nest near the same place contained four blue and unspotted, and one normal egg {A7in. S.N.H., 1907, p. 246). * * * Swifts returning to different Colonies at different TIMES. — There are two old-established colonies of Swifts, three miles apart, in a neighbourhood in Devonshire. In 1907 the migrants returned to one colony " exactly one week before a single bird was seen at the other " (E. A. S. Elliot, Trans. Devon. A. A. Science, etc., 1907, p. 79). This interest- ing observation is corroborated by some of the facts collected by the B.O.C. Migration Committee (c/. Bull. B.O.C., XVII., p. 12), and suggests that migratory birds which breed in the same neighbourhood do not necessarily winter in the same place. •^ -^^ ^ Melanistic variety of the Honey-Buzzard in Devon. — In September, 1904, a melanistic variety of the Honey- Buzzard {Pernis apivorus) was obtained on Dartmoor (E. A. S. Elhot, Trans. Devon. A. A. Science, etc., 1907, p. 78). * * * liiTTLE Bittern in Inverness-shtre. — A Little Bittern (Ardetta minuta) — a rare visitor to Scotland — was picked wp near Inverness on June 9th, 1907 (cf. W. Milne, Ann. S.N.H., 1907, p. 248). * -Sf -Sf Lapwing Breeding in November. — An anonymous cor- respondent writes to the "Field," 7th December, to record the fact that on 30th November he was shown, " in Devonshire, a Green Plover with chicks four or five days old, apparently uninjured." BOOKS OF THE MONTH. Birds of Britain, by J. L. Bonhote, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 100 Coloured Plates. (A. & C. Black.) 20s. net. The Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales, by H. E. Forrest. 28 Plates. (Witherby.) 17s. 6d. net. The Home-Life of Some Marsh-Birds. Photographed and described by Emma L. tm-ner, F.L.S., and P. H. Bahr, B.A., M.B.O.U. 32 Plates. (Witherby.) Art linen, 2s. 6d. net, cloth boards, .3s. net. Adventures in Bird-Land, by Oliver G. Pike. Illustrated. (R. T. S.) 6s. net. A Monoqraph of the Petrels (Order Tubinares), bvF. Du Cane Godman, D.C.L., F.R.S. Part I. Plates 1 — 19. (Witherby.) £2 5s. per part. Cfilbert White of Selborne, by W. H. Mullens. M.A., LL.M. 7 Plates. (Witherby.) 2s. 6d. net. Birds of the Loch and Mountain, by S. P. Gordon. Illustrated. (Cassell.) 7s. fid. net. m/fw^ The Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales. By H. E. Forrest, Lxxiv. 538 pp. Twenty-eight Plates and Map. Witherby & Co. 17s. 6d." net. {Birds, pp. 67—418.) This very useful work marks a great advance in our knowledge of the ornithology of North Wales. In these days when we are overwhelmed with popular compilations of the tritest nature on British birds, it is a relief to turn to an honest attempt to work out the fauna of one of our neglected districts. Until the last seven years or so, the amount of original work done west of the Marches was lamentably small, in spite of the fact that it is ornithologically one of the most interesting parts of the British Isles ; but latterly Mr. Forrest has had the assistance of several energetic workers, amongst A^hom we may specially mention Messrs. Aplin, Cummings, Coward, and Oldham, and with their help the bird-life of Anglesey and Carnarvon, hitherto almost unknown, has been thoroughly investigated. Montgomery, too. has remained terra incognita until the publication of the present work, and the convenience of having all these records brought together in a form available for reference can hardly be over estimated. The book is planned somewhat on the lines of Ussher's well-known work on the " Birds of Ireland" ; the general dis- tribution being described briefly in a few \\ ords at the head of each article, and treated at greater length below ; ^^■hile details of occurrences are given under the head of the different counties. These latter would, howevei-, have been more intelligible if geographical order had been more strictly adhered to, and several notes from Aberystwyth are included under the heading of " Merioneth." In nomenclature the author is scarcely consistent, for he retains the Linnsean specific names when treating of the Mammals, but elects to follow Saunders' list when writing on the birds. Our insular races of Wagtail are therefore regarded as separate species. In view of recent literature on the subject, it is somewhat disappointing to find that no clue is given as to whether the " Marsh-Tits " of the eastern counties belong to the dull-headed Willo\^-Tit or the glossy-headed British race of the true Marsh-Tit. The great value of the book, however, lies in the details which are given as to the distribution of many of the Passeres. So long has elapsed since the publication of the earlier volumes of the Fourth Edition of Yarrell that it is not surprising to REVIEWS. 267 find it out of date, but a comparison of the articles on the Lesser Whitethroat, Nuthatch, Yellow Wagtail, Hawfinch, Cirl, and Corn-Bunting, with those in the Second Edition of Saunders' " Manual," will show that a considerable advance has been made since 1899. Interesting notes on the breeding of the White Wagtail and the Siskin are also given ; but it is remarkable that there is still no definite record of the nesting of the Twite, although it is now known to have bred in north Devon. As a rule the author shows commendable caution in admitting stragglers to his list, but the evidence on which the Ortolan and Shore-Lark are included seems to us to be no stronger than that on which the Snowy Ow\ and the Little Owl are relegated to brackets. As might be expected, the articles on the Chough, Raven, Buzzard, and Peregrine are of the most interesting nature. But \\ hile not disputing the fact that the Raven is occasionally guilty of the misdeeds attributed to it on page 179, the large number of lambs which come to an untimely end on the Welsh hillsides provide ample supplies of food in the early spring, and we do not believe that the Raven will attack living animals \\hile plenty of " braxy " lamb and mutton is available. In the otherwise excellent account of the Buzzard we must take exception to the statement on page 222 that it " rears two broods in a year." This is obviously incorrect and at variance with what is known of the habits of this bird. The late nests which are occasionally met with are those of birds which have lost their first clutch. A very remarkable instance of the breeding of the Wigeon in an undoubtedly wild state, which appears to be well authenticated, is recorded on page 283 ; and some interesting notes on the breeding of the Dunlin on the moors of Denbigh and Merioneth will be found on page 347. The creaking (rather than " clanking ") noise made by the Mute Swan on the wing (p. 270) is produced mechanically by the movements of the pinions. Misprints and errata are very few, but we notice that Willughby's name is mis-spelt (pp. xxvi., L., Li., etc.). Bombus lapponicus (p. 128) is probably a slip of the pen for B. lapidarius. The Bibliography might be more complete : we do not notice any reference to Mr. O. V. Aplin's paper in the " Zoologist," 1905, p. 170, or to Professor Salter's articles in the " Zoologist " for 1896, p. 24 ; 1898, p. 198 ; and 1900, p. 76, and we look in vain for the name of H. Ecroyd Smith. The work is fully illustrated with photographs of typical scenery, and contains a useful map. On the whole, we can recommend this as a valuable addition to our long list of local 268 BRITISH BIRDS. faunas, and trust that before long some equally energetic and competent observer will undertake the same labour of love for South Wales. F.C.R.J. The Home-Life of Some Marsh-Birds. By Emma L. Turner and P. H. Bahr. Illustrated. Witherby & Co. 2s. 6d. net. Within the last few years a very large number of books have appeared illustrated with bird-photographs, and the charm of their novelty has begun to wear off, so that the reviewer has necessarily become more severely critical. It is with all the more pleasure, therefore, that we are able to testify to the excellence of the photographs in the present work. To one who has had some practical experience of the difficulties and disappointments of that most fascinating of pursuits — bird- photography — the success of Miss Turner and Mr. Bahr are objects of envy, and their very success goes to prove that they are also most competent field-naturalists. The authors have, for the most part, entirely ignored the stereotyped descriptions of the birds and their nests, with which we are so often unnecessarily bored, but have narrated in a simple and entertaining manner the habits and home-life of the birds they were fortunate enough to observe at such close quarters. In this way they have brought out many interesting traits in their characters and modes of life that had previously been little recorded ; and what is more, by their excellent photographs they have given their less fortunate brother ornithologists graphic proof of the facts they narrate. In this connection Plate XVI. may be instanced where the Red-throated Diver is shown returning to its nest in a semi-upright position. The assumption of this attitude by the Divers has been denied by many naturalists and also by anatomists, but here we have ocular proof that it is not only possible but also usual. It is very gratifying also to hear of the increase of that most delightful bird, the Bearded Tit. One criticism as to detail we would make, and that is from a pictorial point of view care should be taken to get the horizon lines, where these come into the photographs, level. It is sometimes impossible to do so with these difficult subjects on the plate itself, but the fault is easily remedied afterwards by judicious trimming. N.F.T. BRITI5HDIW)5 EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. ASSISTED BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., M.B.O.U. Contents of Number 9. February 1, 1908. On Two Supposed Hybrids between Red Grouse and Ptarmigan, by W. R. Ogilvie-Grant . . . . . . Page 269 Notes on the Habits and Distribution of the Cirl Bunting in North Wales, by S. G. Cummings . . . . . . 275 On the More Important Additions to our Knowledge of British Birds since 1899, by H. F. Witherby and N. F. Tieehurst (Part VII.) — continued from page 256 . . 280 An Incident in the Southward Migration of the Swallow, by Commander H. Lynes, r.n., m.b.o.u. . . . . 285 Notes :— Wood-Pigeon Diphtheria (C. B. Tieehurst). The Down-Stroke of the Wing (F. C. R. Jourdain). " Lviminovis Owls" (Eds.). Chiffchaffs in Shetland (John S. Tulloch). Great Tits Usm-ping Nest of Blue Tits (Grenville N. Temple). Richard's Pipit in co. Dublin. Continental Crossbill in Scotland (William Evans). Little Bunting in Kent (William Eagle Clarke). The Incubation Period in the Cuckoo (Collingwood Ingram). Pintail in Berkshire (Heatley Noble). Wood- Pigeon Swimming (A. Holte Macpherson). The Food of the Black-headed Gull (W. Steuart-Menzies). Notes on the Phimage of a Great Northern Diver and a White-billed Northern Diver (W. R. Ogilvie Grant), etc. 288 Letters: — Marking Birds (Claud B. Tieehurst). "The Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales " (H. E. Forrest). The Ornithology of Svissex (H. A. Brvden and John Walpole-Bond) ". 298 Review : — " Birds of Britain " . . . . . . . . 300 ON TWO SUPPOSED HYBRIDS BETWEEN RED GROUSE AND PTARMIGAN. W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT. At a meeting- of the British Ornithologists' Club held on the 18th December, 1907,^ I had the pleasure of exhibiting- to the members present two mounted examples of Grouse which I believe to be hybrids between the Red Grouse {Lagopus scoticus) and the Ptarmigan (L. mw^M.s). These specimens show in so marked a degree the characteristics. * Cf. Bull. B.O.C., XXL, p. 36 (1907). 270 BRITISH BIRDS. of both species, that there seems no reason to doubt their origin. Such hybrids are evidently extremely rare among these ordinarily monogamous species, for during the last twenty-five years, while I have been connected with the Ornithological Department of the British Museum, no other examples which appeared to be genuine have been submitted for examination. It is true that, from time to time. Grouse have been brought to the Museum which were believed to be hybrids of this kind, but in every instance they seemed to be merely partial albino varieties of the Red Grouse. Mr. J. G. Millais is now of opinion that the bird figured and described by him (c/'. Game Birds and Shooting Sketches, p. 70) as a supposed •example of inter-breeding between these species, must also be regarded as a variety of the Red Grouse, and in this decision I entirely agree with him. This specimen was killed as it was flying with a covey of Grouse, and is j^reserved in the University Museum of Zoology, Cam- bridge. With the exception of the two Grouse now under consideration I am not aware that any other examples of this rare hybrid with any claims to authenticity have been recorded, though it has been stated, in a general way, in various works, that such occasionally occur. It has, therefore, been thought advisable to give figures and a short description of each of these extremely interesting birds. Figure 1. This fine adult bird, evidently a male, was killed at Kinloch Rannoch, Perthshire, on the 9th Sep- tember, 1907, by Mr. H. B. Debenham, of Thrifts Hall, Theydon Bois, Essex, and was recorded in the " Field " of 5tli October, 1907, p. 631. Mr. Debenham, who was kind enough to lend me the bird for exhibition, has informed me that it was shot on high stony ground at an elevation of about 3000 feet above sea-level, where Ptarmigan were numerous, but Red Grouse seldom seen. Though the bird did not rise with Ptarmigan there were plenty of these birds close to it. The weight was IWb., equal to that of an average old cock Red Grouse. -^■X: -dS 272 BRITISH BIRDS. It may be described as follows : Bill stout as in the Red Grouse. General appearance and style of coloration like that of a large Ptarmigan in autumn plumage, but the head, neck, chest, back, upper tail-coverts, and some of the flank-feathers are much like those of a Red Grouse changing from the autumn to the winter plumage. It must, however, be specially noted that some of the new winter feathers moulting in on the chest, back and upper tail-coverts are ivhite, indicating a tendency to assume the winter plumage of the Ptarmigan. The breast and under- parts are pure white, and the under tail-coverts black, widely tij)ped with white. The terminal half of the primary quills is mostly greyish-black, j)artially edged with white, and the remaining basal portion is white ; the secondary quills are white on the outer web and almost entirely greyish-black on the inner web ; the wing-coverts are mostly white, but many are partially black towards the base, and some of the lesser ones are black freckled with rufous, as in the Red Grouse. The wing measures eight inches. It has been suggested {cf. Field, October 19tli, 1907, p. 720) by Mr. W. Steuart-Menzies that this bird might be one of the Willow-Grouse or Ryper (Lag opus lag opus) which he imported from IsTorwa}^ and turned down in Banffshire last spring, but a glance at its dusky primar}'- quills is sufiicient to show that one of the parent birds must have been a Red Grouse. Figure 2, the second example, which is undoubtedly a bird of the year, and almost certainly a female, has also the stout bill of a Red Grouse, and resembles in general appearance the male described above. It differs, however, in having many of the greater wing- coverts partially, and the median wing-coverts mostly, mottled with black and rufous and tipped with white : while many of the grouse-like feathers of the chest, sides of the back, sides of the body and flanks, as well as the upper and under tail-coverts, are conspicuously tipped with white. The win^ measures 7'8 inches. o c? 'OQ 03 g rQ GO tp o •^ o i w -iO P^GC (D (D ^^ ri J2 s "2 o 'C ^2^ ^ >. of W i^ TJ 03