(^^y

FOR THE PEOPLE

FOR EDVCATION

FOR SCIENCE

LIBRARY

OF

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM

OF

NATURAL HISTORY

Bound a
A.M.N.I

I

m

BRITBnDIRDS

AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE DEVOTED
TO THE BIRDS ON THE BRITISH LIST

c^^////?<^(4' O

EDITED BY

H. F. WITHERBY f.z.s. m.b.o.u. /

ASSISTED BY

Rev. F. C. R, JOURDAIN MA. M B.OU.

AND

NORMAN F. TICEHURST MA FRCS MB OU

Volume IV.
JUNE 1910— MAY 1911

WITHERBY & CO.

326 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON

^4 t':^/'^ ^M^i

PREFACE.

The year covered by our fourth volume has been marked
by a steady advance rather than by any very striking
event in British ornithology.

The interest in the Marking 8cheme continues to grow,
and the recoveries already announced show excellent
promise for the future. Such an inquiry must necessarily
be continued for some years before results of real value
can be obtained, but we now feel assured that the ringing
of birds, if conducted on a scale equal to that of last year,
will be the means of our gaining a considerable knowledge
of the exact movements of individual birds — a subject
of which we now know practically nothing. We may
here again express our gratitude to those numerous
readers who, by their enthusiastic co-operation, are
making the scheme a success.

The Crossbill irruption and the resultant nesting
have again engaged the careful attention of many con-
tributors, and never before has such a visitation been so
well and thoroughly recorded.

The value of a careful study of geographical races is
becoming more widely recognized, and the knowledge
gained by this means of the origin of a number of
immigrants, as in the case of Jays, Great Tits, and
Woodpeckers recorded in the pages of this volume,
must surely convince the most sceptical that the sub-
division of species into racial forms is of real practical
value to the student of migration, apart from its
undoubted interest to the evolutionist.

Notes on various interesting points connected with the
life-history and distribution of our birds have again shoM^n
a growth both in number and importance, and we hope
that this valuable feature will continue to increase.

IV. BRITISH BIRDS.

A word must be added regarding the vexed question of
nomenclature. Up to now Ave have adopted, so far as
possible, the nomenclature employed by Howard Saunders
in his " List," published in 1907, and failing a more up-to-
date standard, no other course is open to us. We have for
some time, however, been at work, in conjunction with
Dr. Ernst Hartert, upon a Handlist of British Birds, the
nomenclature of which will be strictly in accordance with
the rules laid down by the International Commission on
Zoological Nomenclature. Although when adopted this
will involve a good many changes in the names at present
used in the Magazine, any inconvenience so caused will,
we feel, be amply compensated for by the gain in world-
wide uniformity and stability, which should be the result
of following rules framed by an international authority.

The proposed Handlist will contain a sufficient synonymy,
and a careful account of the distribution of each bird.
It is hoped that it will be ready in the autumn, but in
order to avoid any confusion, and to give readers time to
study, and in some measure to become acciuainted with,
the new " List," the nomenclature at present in use will
be continued throughout Volume V. of British Birds,
and the nomenclature of the new Handlist will not be
adopted until the sixth volume.

The Editors.

April 29th, 1911.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Crossbills at the Nest. {Drawn by C. G. Davies, from
material collected in England in the Spring of
1910. — Plate 2 Frontispiece

Mallard Drake. {Drawn by H. Wormald) :-

Courtship Action No. 1

Courtship Action No. 2

Courtship Action No. 3

Courtship Action No. 4

Courtship Action No. 5

Lapwing with a large Sebaceous " Horn '

Grey Wagtail at its Nest near Tunbridge Wells, Kent
April, 1910. {Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner)

Boyd Alexander. — Plate 1 . . . . . . facing

Nest and Eggs of Marsh- Warbler. {Photographed by
W. Farren)

Nest of Marsh- Warbler, showing method of attach-
ment to Herbage. {Photographed by W. Farren) . .

Double Nest of Marsh-Warbler. {Photographed by
W. Farren)

Nest of Sedge-Warbler suspended in long grass.
{Photographed by W. Farren)

Male Blackbird removing fceces of Young. {Photo-
graphed by C. K. Siddall)

Nest of Golden-Crested Wren in Honeysuckle.
{Photographed by H. E. Forrest)

Mallard Duck betraying Anxietj
Miss E. L. Turner).— Plate 2

Mallard Duck brooding behind its Nest
graphed by Miss E. L. Turner)

Mallard Duck removing an Egg. {Photographed by
Miss E. L. Turner)

Nest of a Song-Thrush in a Heap of Bricks at
Skelmersdale, Lanes.

Blackbird's Nest in a Clump of Grass. {Photographed
by N. F. Ticehurst) . .

{Photographed by
. . facing

{Photo-

pagb
2
3
4
5
6
15

19
33

38

39

41

42

44

46

65

68

60

75

76

VI. BRITISH BIRDS.

Ore of Thres Adult Long-tailed Tits feeding Young page
at the same Nest. {Photographed by Smith

Whiting) '^S

Razorbill Carrying Sand-Eels to Young. {Drawn by

F. W. Frohawk) 90

Pigeons in Flight. {Photographed by F. W. Headley) . . 115

Pigeon Ahghting. {Photographed by F. W. Headley) . . 116

Willow-Wren Feigning Injury. {Sketched by C. K.

Siddall) .. .. " lis

Nest of a Little Grebe in a Boat-house on Radnor

Mere 125

Lesser Whitethroat's Nest torn away from its
Supports by the Wind. {Photographed by H. W.

Ford-Lindsay) 149

The same Nest removed to a secure Position and not
Deserted by the Bird. {Photographed by H. W.

Ford-Lindsay) 150

Variety of Gannet. {Photographedby J As^per Atkinson) 153

Positions assumed by Birds in Flight. {Photographed
by Bentley Beetham) :

Raising the Wings Preparatory to Going. . . . 161

About to dive forth . . . . . . . . . . 165

Going . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Gone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Fairly on the Wing . . . . . . . . . . 168

Two Extremes of Position . . . . . . . . 198

The Feet used as Brakes 199

Running as it were in Space. . .. .. .. 200

The Depressed Tail used as a Brake . . . . 201

Nearly Vertical in Position . . . . . . . . 202

Suddenly and Harmoniously Wheeling . . . . 203

Intent on Alighting .. .. .. .. .. 351

Sweeping Upwards . . . . . . . . . . 352

The Maximum of Resistance . . . . . . 353

Just set Foot upon the Ledge . . . . . . 354

The Wings have come Crashing down upon the

Rocks 355

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. vii.

The Great Auk. {From a Drawing by MacGillivray pacxE
in the British Museum) . . . . . . . . 171

A Reduced Facsimile of MacGillivray 's Handwriting . . 172

Nest of Greenfinch to show its Dirty Condition after
the Fledging of the Young. {PJiotographed by
C. K. Siddall) ' . . . . 185

Young Gull in Fhght. Pigeon Alighting. {Photo-
graphed by F. W. Headley) 192

Barn-Owi in Flight. {Photographed by CUnton G.

Abbott) .' 261

Musceum Tradescantianum. (Facsimile of Title Page) 267

John Tradescant, the Elder. {After the Engraving

by W. Hollar) ^ . . 270

John Tradescant, the Younger. {After the Engravin/

by W. Hollar) 271

A Young Kestrel. {Photographed by A. Geoffrey
Leigh) : —

Twenty-seven days old . . . . . . . . 299

Thirty-three days old 300

Forty-seven days old . . . . . . . . 301

Two Nests built side by side by one Pair of Hedge-

Sparrows. {Photographed by C. W. Colthrup) . . 308

Zone-marked Egg of Black-headed Gull. {Photo-
graphed by H. Bentham) . . . . . . . . 317

The First and Second Generations of Nestling Down

in the Barn-Owl. {Draivn by W. F. Pycrsii) .. 324

BRIT^nDIRDS

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

assisted by

Eev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and JSTorman F.

ticehurst, m.a., f.e.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 1, Vol. TV. June 1, 1910.

PAGE

The Courtship of the Mallard and other Ducks, by H. Wormald 2

The Bird-Watcher's Guide, by F. B. Kirkman . . . . . . 8

On a Curious Horn-like Excrescence on a Lapwing, by C. B.

Ticehurst, m.a., b.c, m.b.c.s., m.b.o.u. . . . . . . 14

Notes : —

Rapid Nest-building by a Robin (W. S. Medlicott) . . . . 17

Dartford Warblers Nesting in Heather (H. Bentham) . . 17

Nuthatch in Anglesey (H. E. Forrest) . . . . . . . . 17

Early Breeding of the Greenfinch (C. Kingslej' Siddall) . . 18

Greenfinches Feeding on Cotoneaster Berries (W. I. Beaumont) 18

White Wagtail in co. Wexford (H. F. Witherby) . . . . 18

Grey Wagtail Nesting in Kent (Miss E. L. Turner) . . . . 18

Late Stay of the Brambling (W. S. Medlicott) 20

Crossbills Nesting in England : —

In Berkshire (A. S. Tomlinson) . . . . . . . . 20

„ Hampshire (R. E. Coles and Sir Thomas H. C.

Troubridge, Bart.) 20

„ Kent (E. G. B. Meade-Waldo and C. F. Stedman). . 21

„ Norfolk (N. Tracey) 22

,, Sussex (Robt. Morris). . .. .. .. .. 22

Irruption of Crossbills . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Birds Feeding on Fir-Cones (Miss E. L. Turner and

Charles F. Archibald) 22

Mouth-Coloration of the Yellow Bunting (J. M. Dewar) . . 23

Nutcracker in Sussex (J. B. Nichols) . . . . . . . . 23

Hoopoe in Nottinghamshire (Henry J. Pearson) . . . . 24

Unusual Nesting-Site of the Tawny Owl (E. A. Wallis) . . 24
White-breasted Variety of the Common Cormorant (D.

Macdonald and Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain) . . . . . . 25

Migration of Scoters and other Ducks (C. B. Ticehurst) . . 26

Black Terns in Oxfordshire (A. Ritchie) 26

Black-throated Diver in Carnarvonshire (R. W. Jones) . . 26

Birds in Norfolk in 1909 (H.F.W.) 27

Birds liberated on the Scilly Islands (D. Seth-Smith) . . 28

Short Notes : — Incubation and Fledging Periods in Birds.
Remains of Birds in an Irish Cave. Albinistic Varieties.
Chiffchaff in Sussex in Winter. White Wagtail Nesting on Fair
Isle. Starlings Eating Wheat. Ceremonial Gatherings of
the Magpie. Greenland Falcons in Ireland and Scotland.
Scottish Heronries. Scottish Records of the American
Bittern. Geese in Fair Isle. Moult of Great Bustard and
Notes on Birds in Captivity. Grey Phalaropes in Fair Isle
in Winter. Breeding habits of Common Terns and Black-
headed Gulls 29

THE COURTSHIP OF THE MALLARD
AND OTHER DUCKS.

BY
H. WORMALD.

By far the most interesting time of year in which to
watch the ducks is the breeding season, when the attitudes
assumed by the various species during courtship will
well repay a careful study. Mallards {Anas boscas)
seem to have five distinct postures in their spring
" show." The performance usually begins by four or
five drakes swimming round a duck with their heads
sunk, and their necks drawn back, and in this attitude
they have the appearance of being most unconcerned.
This I will call action No. 1 (see Fig. 1). After swimming

FIG. 1. MALLARD DRAKE. COURTSHIP ACTION NO. L

(Drawn by H. WorrnaM.)

round in this fashion for some little time, the Mallards will
suddenly lower their bills so that the tips of them are
under the surface, and as they do so they stand up in the
water and then rapidly pass their bills up their breasts.

FIG. 2. MALLARD DRAKE. COURTSHIP ACTION NO. 2.

{Drawn by H. Wormald.)

4 BRITISH BIRDS.

Mr. J. G. Millais in his beautiful work, The Natural
History of British Surf ace- feeding Ducks, says, " all
the drakes simultaneously stand up in the Avater and
rapidly pass their bills down their breasts," but after
very careful observation, I am certain that he is in error
here, and I have satisfied myself that they pass their
bills 71 p their breasts (see Fig. 2). This motion is
performed with somewhat of a jerk, and if one observes

i.&S.i:^ciCaE(!L£;jS£!jiJtKfjy£<i:

FIG. 3. MALLARD DRAKE. COURTSHIP ACTION NO. 3.

{Drawn by H. Wormald.)

very closely, a tiny jet of water will be seen to be thrown
out in front by the bill being jerked from the water ; this
is interesting, as one also finds this jet of water in the
spring " show " of the Goldeneye, but in this case it is
made by the drake kicking out a small jet of water with
his foot while he quickly throws back his head.

The Mallard Awhile performing action No. 2 as I will
designate it, utters a low note rather difficult to describe,

THE COURTSHIP OF THE MALLARD. 5

but I think it may be said to be a low whistle with a
suspicion of a groan in it, as though it caused the bird
an effort to utter.

Following this, the Mallards lower their breasts and
raise their tails two or three times in quick succession ;
and this, which we may call action No. 3 (see Fig.
3), is often followed by a repetition of actions Nos.
1 and 2. A quick " throw up " of head and tail, with

FIG. 4. MALLARD DRAKE. COURTSHIP ACTION NO. 4.
(Drawn by H. Wormald.)

the feathers of the head puffed out, is action No. 4 (see
Fig. 4), and this is followed quickly by action No. 5
(see Fig. 5), in which the drakes stretch out their necks
with their throats just over the water and swim rapidly
about in different directions, when, apparently by
common consent, they all come back to action No. 1,
and go through the whole performance over again.

W ts

< s

THE COURTSHIP OF THE MALLARD. 7

The order of these actions is very often reversed, for
instance, that which I have given as No. 2 is very
frequently followed by No. 4, but No. 1 is almost always
the first, while No. 5 is the last, and is always gone through
by the drake immediately after treading has taken
place.

The courtships of the Teal {Nettion crecca), Pintail
{Dafila acuta), and Gadwall {Anas strepera) are very
similar to that of the Mallard, but I have never seen any
of them perform action No. 5. The Teal and the Pintail
utter a beautiful, low, double whistle, and the Teal in
action No. 4 makes the back of its head and tail meet
over its back.

Adult Mallards commence " displaying " in October
so soon as their winter-plumage is complete, and I have
seen them " display " when in full eclipse-plumage !
Immature drakes begin to " display " about the same
^ime, even before they are in full winter-dress. I have
seen immature Garganey drakes {Querquedula circia)
displaying when only just beginning to assume their
adult-plumage, but this is not so surprising if one judges
by the age of the bird since immature Garganeys do net
come into winter-plumage until months after Mallards
of the same age, and adult drakes are much longer in
eclipse-plumage than other surface-feeding ducks with
the exception of individual Shovelers. The courtship
of the Garganey is a very dull affair compared to that of
the Teal. One finds this autumnal display in many birds,
for instance. Blackcock repair to their playing grounds
and go through a half-hearted spring " show " so soon
as they have finished the moult. One often hears
cock Pheasants utter their spring-call followed by the
characteristic whirr of their wings in November. Snipe
drum freely during this month just before dark, though
I have never heard a Snipe drumming in the day-time
during November, but I daresay that other people may
have done so.

THE BIRD-WATCHER'S GUIDE.

BY

F. B. KIRKMAN.

I. — Spring and Summer.

1. Arrival of Summer - Migrants. — Date. Time.
Place. Number. Direction of flight. Sex of the successive
arrivals of the same species. Meteorological conditions.

2. Local Distribution. — A map showing (a) the posi-
tion of each nest in a given area ; (6) the character of the
ground and of the growth in the area ; (c) the boundaries
of the " estates " of those pairs which confine themselves
strictly to a limited feeding-ground. Add the history
of each nest in respect to (1) the fate of eggs, young,
parents ; (2) any of the points detailed below under the
head nest-building ; nest ; eggs ; incubation ; nestlings ;
mortality ; leaving nest ; life of the young after leaving
the nest ; the second brood ; departure from the nesting-
area. Note whether the young of the first brood play
any part in feeding the young of later broods.

3. Song and Notes. — Months in which the bird is
heard to sing. Does it sing at night ? Variation in the
song of the same species ; of the same individual in respect
to length, notes, quality. Does the hen sing ? On what
occasions ? Number and description of the various
notes (call-notes, alarm-notes, etc.) used by the cock,
hen and young. Occasions on which each is used. How
many of these notes form part of the song ? Does the
species sing when fighting ? Cause of the fights. Note
whether any recrudescence of song in autumn months.

4. Courtship. — Exact description of courting or other
sexual actions, noting the number of individuals of either
sex taking part and the role played by each. Note whether
the hen selects and how, or whether she is merely appro-
priated by the strongest. Description of the sexual
displays which occur after mating. Instances of birds
attacking imaginary rivals in windows or mirrors.

THE BIRD-WATCHER'S GUIDE. 9

5. Nest-building. — Which sex chooses the site ?
Which builds ? If both, state share of each. If hen,
what does cock do meanwhile ? AVhat time of day does
building take place ? How long does it take to complete
the nest ? Detailed description of the bird's method of
building (how it starts, fashions the nest, where and how
it collects the material). Interval between the completion
of the nest and laying of the first egg. Causes of desertion.

6. Nest. — The material, inside and out (in detail).
Is there a laj'er of different material between the inside
and outside ? Site of the nest. Is the material of the nest
available near the site ? Variation in the nests of the
same species building in the same area or the same kind
of site. Difference between the first and subsequent
nests of the same bird, and between those of young and
old birds. Note quarter to which the nest is exposed, and
how protected from sun, wind, water, or detection.
Note fate of eggs and young in the case of each nest
described.

7. Eggs. — Date and time of day when each egg in the
clutch is (1) laid ; (2) hatched, the eggs being numbered.
Number in clutch addled. If the eggs are not numbered,
the incubation-period should be reckoned from the date
on which sitting commenced. Effect of weather and the
situation of the nest on the period of incubation.
Weight of each egg before incubation. Loss of weight
as incubation progresses.

8. Incubation. — Which sex incubates ? If both do
so, their respective shares, and the hours at which they
sit. Is the incubating-bird fed ? Her (his) actions
when fed. Are the eggs covered when left, and with
what material ? Are the eggs turned, how often, and
in what manner ?

9. Nestlings. — (a) A series of specimens or photo-
graphs showing the development of the nestling from day
to day (all parts of body, pterj^lography, coloration) ;
(h) weight of same nestlings from day to day, taken at
the same hour ; (c) measurements (^.) from tip of beak to

10 BRITISH BIRDS.

pygostyle, the nestling lying on its belly ; (ii.) along arm
of wing, a separate measurement for each segment of
the limb ; (iii.) ditto for foot measurements ; (d) colour
of the markings of the inside of the mouth, and relative
sensitiveness of its various parts to stimulation by food ;
(e) wing-claws, how long retained ? (/) " heel-pads,"
when prefeent, and observations as to their use ; (g) dis-
tribution of down where present when first hatched ;
whether two down-plumages are developed ; date and
process of development of down after hatching ; dates
of shedding of down, and sprouting of quills ; process
and dates of development of quills.

10. Feeding of Nestlings. — Share of each parent
in the feeding. Visits per hour. Time of day when feeding
visits are most frequent. Distribution of the food among
the young. Do any receive more than their share and
why ? Description of the act of feeding. Nature of the
food given at each stage. Is it regurgitated by the parent ?
If so, to what extent is it digested ? (To find this, insert
a quill into the throat of the nestling immediately after
it has been fed, and examine under a lens the matter
adhering to the quill. Failing this method, the nestling
may be made to regurgitate by pressure or tickling. ) How
long are the nestlings fed on regurgitated, how long on
fresh, food ? Do the cock and hen birds bring different
food to the nest ?

Experiment. — Place a nestling (at various stages of
growth) in a conspicuous place at the foot of the nest or
near it, and note if the parents feed it or take any notice
of it.

11. Cleaning the Nest. — Methods adopted at various
stages of the nestling's growth. When the faeces are
removed by the parents, note whether they are eaten, or
merely carried away and dropped. If the latter, at
what distance from the nest.

12. Protection of Nestlings (a) by coloration or
behaviour, whether of the nestlings or the parents ; (6)
by the situation of the nest or nesting-place.

THE BIRD-WATCHER'S GUIDE. 11

13. Leaving the Nest. — Date of the hatching of
each individual in the clutch and of its departure from the
nest. What caused it to quit the nest ? Its proceedings
on quitting the nest.

14. Description of the Coloration of the Young
Bird previous to and after its First Moult. — (1) Of
the plumage in detail ; (2) of the soft parts.

15. Life of the Fledgling after leaving Nest. —
Where they go. How fed. Their enemies. Self-protection
(running, diving, crouching, coloration, etc.). Protection
by parents (feigning wounded, etc.) Mortality and causes
of death. First efforts at flight, swimming, running.
To what extent has skill to be acquired.

16. Second Broods. — Date of commencing second
nest (with date of departure of last nestling from the
first nest). Relations of parents with first brood after the
second nest is started. Is there a second courtship?
What form does it take ? Is the second nest built in the
same feeding-area as the first ? Is the first nest used for
the second brood, and, if so, is it altered or renewed in
any way ?

17. Quitting the Nesting-area. — Date at which
pairs quit the feeding-areas to which they have confined
themselves during the breeding-season. Movements of
parents and young, and their relations after quitting the
area.

18. Moult, both of Young and Adult. — Date
it begins. Order in which the various parts of the plumage
are moulted. Length of moulting-period. Behaviour of
the birds during the moult.

19. Departure of Summer -Migrants. — See Arrival
of Summer-Migrants. Note also behaviour of the species
previous to departure.

II. — Autumn and Winter,

1. Arrival of Winter-Immigrants. — Date. Place.
Time. Number. Sex. Young or old. Direction of
flight. Wind and weather.

12 BRITISH BIRDS.

2. Plumage-Changes. — Descriptions made on arrival,
in December, and before departure.

3. Feeding-Habits. — Whether in flocks, large or small,
famihes, pairs, singly. Do the flocks, etc., confine them-
selves to a definitely limited area ? Do they resent in-
trusion by members of their own species or of other
species ? Method of feeding. Nature of food. Time of
feeding. Alarm and call-notes.

4. Local Distribution. — ^Map showing (i.) feeding-
areas of selected species, e.g., Robin, Starling, Dipper,
Mallard ; (ii.) showing the distribution of all the bird-
life in any given area, noting also flight-lines.

5. Self-Protection. — Methods of protection adopted
by the species {e.g., posting sentinels, night -feeding,
etc.). Note causes of protective colouring. Against
what protective. In what environment protective.

6. Roosting. — WTien and where. Distance and route
travelled to reach the roost, size of the area from which
the birds come, whether the sleeping-quarters are in the
feeding-area. Behaviour previous to entering the roost.
After entering it. In the morning before and after
quitting it. Behaviour when disturbed.

III. — General.

1. Habit and Instinct. — Note what acts are (1) con-
genital or performed without previous experience ;
(2) acquired, or the product of experience (including
imitation), e.g., chirping in the egg is congenital ; fear
is largely the result of experience or imitation. (For
further details see Lloyd Morgan, Habit and Instinct.)
Note further the extent to which congenital acts, e.g.,
swimming, flight, nest-building (assuming the latter to
be a congenital act), are improved by practice.

2. IivnTATiON. — ^Note aU acts that seem to be the result
of imitation.

3. Expression of the Emotions. — Note in detail all
the outward signs of fear, anger, and other emotions.

THE BIRD-WATCHER'S GTHDE. 13

such as erecting feathers, snapping the mandibles, and
hissing,

4. Play. — Exact description of anything in the nature
of play.

5. Locomotion. — A comparative study of various
species in respect to the character of their flight, move-
ments on the ground, and in or under water.

6. Mortality. — Examples to show the various ways
in which birds may lose their lives.

7. Food. — Record of food of species month by month,
based upon examination of the crop or stomach or
regurgitated pellets.

( 14 )

ON A CURIOUS HORN-LIKE EXCRESCENCE
ON A LAPWING.

BY

C. B. TICEHURST, m.a., b.c, m.r.c.s., m.b.o.tt.

On Februar}^ 9th, 1910, I received for examination
through the Editor of British Birds from ^Messrs. W.
J. WiUiams, taxidermists, of Dubhn, a skin of a female
Lapwing {Vanellus vulgaris) which had been shot a few
days before in co. Waterford, Ireland. Springing from
the root of the tail was a large horn-like " growth,"
which hung do\Aai over the basal half of the tail. This
" horn " measured in total length 7 inches ; its base,
which was the A^-idest part, measured 2 inches in circum-
ference and I inch in diameter ; it gradually tapered to
a blunt point, and formed one spiral and a hah, curhng
from right to left ; its surface was smooth, very hard,
and in places irregularly striated. On examining its
origin more closely I found that it sprung from a part of
the oil-gland, and, indeed, was continuous ^\dth the
remains of that structure, which still retained some of
its secretion. The oil-gland is a bilobed structure
situated beneath the skin on the last free vertebra
and the bases of the rectrices ; the two lobes, which are
separated anteriorly, are united posteriori}^ and open
in a common cavitj' or an elongated process ; this process
in many birds {Gallinacece and aquatic birds, etc.) is
encircled by a small tuft of feathers. The gland consists
of closely -packed, parallel, fihform tubules, which secrete
the sebaceous unguent with which the plumage is preened ;
it is largest in aquatic birds, small in passerine birds,
whilst in some (Otis, Casuarius, StrutJiio, Rhea, some
pigeons and parrots) it is said to be absent. The secretion
is usuall}^ only shghtly odorous, except in Anas moschata
and Upiipa ejjops, in which it has a pronounced smell.
The gland is encapsuled in a covering which contains

EXCRESCENCE ON A LAPWING. 15

muscle-tissue, the latter doubtless being brought into
play in voiding the secretion. If the capsule were torn
and the tubules damaged the secretion would involuntarily
make its escape through the rent, and, if circumstances
allowed it to accumulate, it would harden ; the hardened
part would be pushed on by the ever-oozing fresh secretion,

LAPWING WITH A LARGE SEBACEOUS "HORN.

which in turn would be hardened and pushed on. In
this manner these curious sebaceous " horns " are formed.
Sebaceous " horns " are, perhaps, best known from
their occasional occurrence in the human subject, and
may be formed on any part of the skin where sebaceous
glands occur, but are commonest on the scalp. These
glands also occur in other mammals, and there is in the

16 BRITISH BIRDS.

Royal College of Surgeons Museum a specimen of a sebaceous
" horn " on the head of a mouse. There are also in the
museum a few specimens of bony horn-like growths in
birds arising from bone, and in a Thrush {Turdus musicus)
there is a tumour on the skull, said to be sebaceous in
origin, but as there are no sebaceous glands in this posi-
tion such a diagnosis seems improbable. There is,
however, a specimen of a pigeon with a tumour on each
side of the pygostyle which may have originated in the
oil-gland, but it is not a horny excrescence.

nOTES

RAPID NEST-BUILDING BY A ROBIN.

On April 19th, 1910, a gardener here (Basingstoke) hung up
his coat at 9.15 a.m. on a tree. At 1 p.m. he took it down
to put on, when a nest of a Robin {Erithacus rubecula),
ahnost comj)leted, fell from the folds of the coat. In three
and three-quarter hours, therefore, the site was selected and
the riest nearly finished. W. S. Medlicott.

DARTFORD WARBLERS NESTING IN HEATHER.

Statements have so frequently been repeated to the effect
that nests of the Dartford Warbler {Sylvia undata) have in
this country always been found amongst the lower portions
of thick furze-bushes, that some information with regard to
a departure from this habit will doubtless be of interest.

During the past three years I have examined some numbers
of nests in a certain Surrey breeding-haunt of the species,
and in this locality the majority of birds build in long thick
heather {Calluna vulgaris), growing either amongst or near
extensive furze-coverts.

I have also seen the nest placed in heather growing in oj^en
moorland country, furnishing no cover beyond that afforded
by a luxuriant shrub-like growth of that plant, and two or
three gorse-bushes growing at wide intervals, and at some
distance from the nesting-site ; but this latter situation seems
to be quite exceptional. Howard Bentham.

[In the AvicuUural Magazine (November, 1909, p. 32) Mr.
Allen Silver mentions that an informant of his always found
the nests in heather, but he does not state in what district,
Mr. E. Hart {Field, 23, x., 1909, p. 751, and 7, v., 1910, p. 821)
states that he has always found the nests in heather in Hamp-
shire. I have myself found several nests in heather in Hamp-
shire, but many more in gorse. — H. F. W.]

NUTHATCH IN ANGLESEY.

Whilst on a visit to Anglesey I was cycling with my friend
Mr. Laisters F. Lort on May 14th, 1910, when, as we passed
through Llangoed (a village east of Beaumaris) in a place
where the road was overshadowed by trees, I caught sight of a
bird moving about the upper branches of a large oak in the
manner peculiar to the Nuthatch {Sitta ccesia). Ivaowing that

18 BRITISH BIRDS.

thisbii'd had never been met with in Anglesey, I called a halt,
and, bringing tield-glasses to bear upon it, I was delighted to
find that my surmise ^\■as correct. Both ^Nlr. Lort and I
watched it for some time : it flitted soon to another tree,
A\'liere in a few moments it was joined by a second bird, no
doubt its mate. Both contmued to climb about as long as
we stayed, going from one tree to another every now and then.
From this mc judged that they had not got a nest, and we
could not see any likely hole from the roadway. Returnuig
in the evening we looked at tlie place again but could not then
see them. H. E. Forrest.

EARLY BREEDING OF THE GREENFIXCH.

This mornmg, April 23rd, I found in my garden at Chester
a young Greenfinch (Ligurinus chhri^s), which had evidently
just left the nest. It was fully feathered, but unable to fiy.
It is usually quite a month later than the above date that
one sees the first of the young Greenfinches in this locality,
and one can only suppose that the warm weather during the
middle of March Mas responsible for the early date.

C. KiNGSLEY SiDDALL.

GREENFINCHES FEEDING ON COTONEASTER

BERRIES.
For some weeks every winter Greenfinches resort to the
precincts of the Citadel on Plymouth Hoe to feed on the berries
of a species of cotoneaster (C viicrophi/JIa). They are not to
be seen there at any other time of the year.

W. I. Beaumont.

WHITE WAGTAIL IN CO. WEXFORD.

As the "\Miite WagtaU {MotacUla alba) has seldom been
recorded from the east coast of Ireland {cf. Vol. I., p. Ill ;
Vol. HI., p. 130), it is worth noting that on April 30th, 1910,
I saw a party of eight (males and females) feeding in some
small fields adjoining some sand-dunes on the Wexford coast.
On the following day I could see the birds nowhere, and I
think they had passed on. On May 2nd I saw two pans
together in the same fields, and I am inclined to think that
these bu'ds Avere new arrivals. H. F. ^^'lTHERBY.

GREY WAGTAIL NESTING IN KENT.
The pair of Grey Wagtails [MotaciUa melanope) referred to
by Dr. Ticehurst in his Birds of Kent as havmg been seen
by Mr. H. G. Alexander feeding their young by the county-

NOTES.

19

boundary stream near Tunbridge Wells in 1908-09 again
made their appearance tliis spring. The accompanying
photograph shows the female about to brood over her first

GREY WAGTAIL AT ITS NEST NEAR TUNBRIDGE WELLS,

KENT, APRIL, 1910.

{Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner.)

newly-hatched young on April 25th, 1910. I am indebted
to Mr. Alexander for finally discovering this nest after vainly
hunting for it myself. E. L. Turner.

20 BRITISH BIRDS.

LATE STAY OF THE BRAMBLING.

On April 14th, 1910, 1 saw about twenty Bramblings {Fringilla
montijringilla) in a flock at Basingstoke, Hampshire, while on
May 4th I saw two fly over. This is, I think, unusually late.

W. S. Medlicott.
[This is certainly late for the south of England. I saw
Brambhngs in the New Forest up to April 10th. — H. F. W.]

CROSSBILLS NESTING IN ENGLAND.*

In Berkshire.

Crossbills have been very numerous in the pine-woods of
south Berkshire. Nests I myself have seen are as follows : —
March 16th, nest with 3 eggs (fresh).
March 28th, nest with 4 eggs (fresh).
April 1st, nest with 3 eggs (fresh).
April 4th, nest with 4 eggs (slightly incubated).
April 12th, nest wdth 4 eggs (slightly incubated).
April 18th, nest with 4 eggs (slightly incubated).
♦April 20th, nest with 3 eggs (much incubated).
In addition, I have heard of a nest of four eggs being taken,
also two nests with young bkds.

Towards the end of April numerous parties of (usually) six
birds, young and old, were about, which apparently soon left.
At the time of writing, May 18th, there are still a few pairs
which have not quite finished nesting.

a. s. tomlinson.
In Hampshire.

Since Crossbills arrived in the New Forest district in July,
1909, many birds have been constantly rejDorted, and consider-
ing the large area of fir- woods ui, the forest and its outskirts,
it is most likely that a number have bred ; in the Burley
district Mr. Witherby records at least four broods of young
fledged on April 2nd (Vol. HI., p. 401). I saw pairs of
birds during the months of February and March, but had not
an opportunity to make a search for nests till April 5th, when
with my friend Mr. R. G. Townsend I started on an expedition
near the south-eastern boundary of the forest, near Sowley
Pond, where we met only with moderate success, finding one
nest. But the finding of this nest is, I think, worth record-
ing in detail, as my experience agrees exactly with that of
Mr. Gilroy and Mr. Stanford, the presence of the cock
bird and his behaviour leading directly to the discovery of
the nest.

* For previous notes on this subject, see Vol. III. Index.

xNOTES. 21

We were on a road leading through a small wood and came
suddenly on this bird as he sat on an oak within a few feet
of us ; on his taking a short flight and perching on a tree in a
field, we followed and watched him for some time. He seemed
so contented, singing, and at intervals preening his feathers,
that I concluded his mate was near. So we retraced our steps
and found that in the wood and by the roadside opposite to
the oak where we first saw the bird, were' a few Scotch firs.
A short search revealed the nest situated next the stem of the
tree near the top and about thu'ty feet from the ground.
The hen bird was on the nest, and with glasses we were able
to see her most distinctly, but I regret that a nearer examina-
tion of the nest was impossible owing to the tree being, for
us, unclimbable.

The cock bird was not in very bright red plumage. Not
far from this nest we found another pair of birds in a large
wood of old firs. These birds were rather restless and gave
no indication of the situation of a nest. The cock bird was
generally perched on the top of a tree while the hen fed in
the lower branches. R. E. Coles.

Crossbills have been present in a small flock at Beaulieu
since before Christmas, and about a week after Easter some
boys found a nest in a Scotch fir. Shortly afterwards, in
another part of the woods, a young bu-d was seen being fed
by an old one. On May 1st I saw two nests and heard of two
more, from one of which the young had only flown the week
before. There are, no doubt, other nests which have not
been found, as the woods are large and there are a good many
Crossbills about. Thomas H. C. Troubridge.

In Kent,

On April 23rd I saw at least two broods of young Crossbills
at Middingstone Hoath, Kent. They were being fed by the
old birds by the side of a road on the outskirts of a wood of
old, but small, larch in which were a certain number of
Scotch pine. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo.

After watching Crossbills for several weeks in the neighbour-
hood of Ashford we saw on April 9th a female evidently
preparing a nest, and on the 10th we were able to locate
the position and saw the female go on to the nest. On April
17th I climbed to the nest, which was placed in the topmost
twigs of a Scotch fir on a small branch about forty feet from
the ground, and found that it contained four perfectly fresh
eggs. Charles F. Stedman.

22 BRITISH BIRDS.

In Norfolk.

Crossbills still (April 28tli) seem numerous in the neighbour-
hood of Castle Rising. On March 26tli a keeper found a nest
and showed it to me. It was about two feet from the top of
a very tall spruce, and was fully seventy feet from the ground.
The nest was a large one, made principally of dry grass and
decayed wood, and contained four fresh eggs. It appears to me
that most of the Crossbills are not breeding as they still seem
to be in flocks. N. Tracey.

In Sussex.

Some Crossbills seem to have nested in the Uckfield district.
I saw one young bird being fed on April 29th and two on
May 5tli at Uckfield- Robt. Morris.

IRRUPTION OF CROSSBILLS.*

Cheshire. — A number have frequented the fir- woods in one
portion of Delamere Forest all the A\'inter and spring. I
saw about a score so late as May 2nd, but can get no
evidence of nesting {T. A. Coward).

Kent. — None since April 1st at Edenbridge [H. H. Farwig).
On May 16th I saw a flock of about eighteen in a wood
near Tenterden that I had not previously visited (A^. F.
Ticehurst).

Norfolk. — None since April 26th at Keswick {J. H. Gurney).

Northumberland. — Over a dozen have been seen for several
weeks past (May 6th) at Blaydon-on-TjTie [J. Clark, Jnr.).

Surrey. — A small party passing overhead on April 2nd near
Dormans, and evidence of more .by the quantity of cones
strewn beneath a belt of pines close by {H. H. Farwig).

Sussex. — Several flocks of from fifteen to twenty birds on
May 1st in Ashdown Forest {H. H. Farwig).

BIRDS FEEDING ON FIR-CONES.

As I keep squirrels and require several bushels of fir-cones
during the winter months, I hapj^en to know that in the
neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells the Scotch fir has been
unusually fruitful during 1909-10. During the winter of
1908-09 both fir-cones and larch-cones were scarce. The
April snow and frosts in 1908 entirely destroyed the larch-
fruit in some districts, and the same may have happened
With regard to many of the young Scotch firs.

* For previous notes on this subject, see Vol. III. Index. Only
records of nesting, departure, marked decrease or increase, or arrival
in a new locality are now required.

NOTES. 23

I do not believe that any birds except Crossbills can extract
seeds from fir-cones before they begin to ripen and split
during April, then many seed-eating bu'ds will be found
feeding on them, especially Marsh-Tits ; whereas the seeds
of larch-cones form the principal food of Tits, Crossbills and
some of the finches all the winter. E. L. Turner.

On p. 411 (Vol. III.) there are two notes recording the fact
that Chaffinches, Goldfinches and other birds feed on the seeds
of fir-cones, and suggesting that this habit is new or at any
rate unusual. Many years ago I watched Chaffinches extract-
ing the seeds from the cones of the Scotch fir, and shortly
afterwards in another locality from those of the Austrian pine
or some allied conifer. I have also on two occasions seen a
Song-Thrush pecking at a fir-cone, presumably for the sake of
the seeds. I drew attention to these facts in two papers
published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society in
1892 and 1894, and also mentioned that the Goldfinch behaves
in the same manner as the Chaffinch, though I have never
observed it myself. Charles F. Archibald.

MOUTH-COLORATION OF THE NESTLING YELLOW
BUNTING.

With reference to Mr. A. G. Leigh's correction of the mouth-
coloration of the nestling Yellow Bunting (Vol. III., p. 417),
it may be noted that at birth the inside of the mouth is not
always of a pink colour. In one brood which I had under
observation the colour was yellowish, and this was associated,
as a coincidence or otherwise, with absence of the usual
dusky tinge on tlie tip of the bill. Within twenty-four hours
the duskiness appeared, as well as a number of j»ink spots,
over the inside of the mouth. These gradually spread and
had coalesced by the second day. As a general rule, the
pink colour fades from the sixth day onwards ; on or about
the ninth day it lingers as a number of spots, which soon dis-
appear completely. . J. M. Dewar.

NUTCRACKER IN SUSSEX.

A female example of the Nutcracker was shot at Three Oaks,
Guestling, near Hastings, Sussex, on March 4tli, 1909. The
bird was examined in the flesh by Mr. L. Curtis Edwards,
and is now in my possession. This bird's bill appears to be
exactly the same as that of the male obtained at Brede, Sussex,

24 BRITISH BIRDS.

in 1907 (c/. antea, Vol. I., p. 185), and this was identified as
an example of the west European form X. c. caryocatactes,
not X. c. macrorhyncJius, as printed, this being the name of
the slender-billed form (c/. Hartert, Vug. pal. F., 26). A
bird shot on November 17th, 1885, at Strode Park, Heme,
Kent (c/. N. F. Ticehurst, Birds of Kent, p. 193), is now in
my jsossession, and I find that its bill is nearly a quarter of an
inch longer and is rather more slender than that of the bu-d
shot on March 4th, 1909. The Strode Park bird therefore
appears to be an examjsle of the slender-billed Siberian form
X. c. macrorhynchus, Brehm.

J. B. Nichols.

HOOPOE IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

On May 20th a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) settled on the lawn
at Chilwell House, Notts., Avhile Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Pearson
were at breakfast. As the bird was only three or four yards
from the window they had a very good view of it, with its
crest erected, during the one or two minutes it was on the
ground. It was then disturbed by a cat, and disappeared over
the house.

As this species has been very rarely recorded in Nottingham-
shire, the above occurrence seems worth noting.

Henry J. Pearson.

UNUSUAL NESTING-SITE OF THE TA\VNY OWL.

An unusual nesting-site for a Tawny Owl {Syrnmm aluco)
was brought to my notice recently. Just before Easter I
was told of an Owl's nest in a rabbit-hole some twelve miles
from Scarborough, and on April 3rd, 1910, I went out to
photograjDh it. On reaching the place we found that someone
had taken the eggs in the meantime, but the farmer who had
originally found the nest knew the Ta\\'ny Owl well and showed
us the place. It was not a rabbit-hole as at first reported,
but a slight scraping about three inches deep on the ground
in a small pine- wood. There was no protection for tlie eggs or
bird of any sort, the nest being quite as open and conspicuous
as a Woodcock's, and placed near the foot of a Scotch pine.
There Avere a few bits of bark and pine-needles in the nest, and
several pellets and feathers on the ground round about. The
position was the more remarkable because the district affords
any number of normal nesting-sites, and there were several
old nests of Crows or squirrels in the wood.

A fortnight later I found a fresh Tawny Owl's egg and the
broken shells of two others on the ground in the same wood,

NOTES. 25

and the keeper then told me that since the first nest was
robbed he had found three eggs on the ground, each one in a
different place.

E. Arnold Wallis.

[It is remarkable that both this species and the Long-eared
Owl, which normally breed in trees at some distance from the
ground, though in very different sites, occasionally depart
from their usual habits and breed either on the bare ground
at the foot of a tree or even in a hole in the ground. With
regard to the Tawny Owl, instances of nests on the ground
at the foot of trees have been recorded from North Wales
(C. B. Wharton, Zool., 1866, p. 346), Loch Lomond (J. Lumsden,
Proc. N. H. Soc, Glasgow, V., p. 209), and Liineburger Haide,
North Germany {Orn. Monatsschrift, 1892, p. 294) ; while
nests in rabbit and other holes have been recorded several
times from North and South Devon, as well as from Wales
and Scotland {cf., Ibis, 1879, p. 378 ; Ann. Sc. Nat. Hist.,
1896, p. 95 ; Vert. Fauna of N. Wales, p. 212 ; Field, March
30th, 1901, etc.).— F. C. R. J.]

WHITE-BREASTED VARIETY OF THE COMMON
CORMORANT.

The white-breasted variety of the Cormorant described by
Mr. Frohawk (Vol. III., p. 385) is certainly not restricted
solely to the Scilly Isles. I have observed similar birds in
the Mull lochs — salt and fresh — every year. Indeed, I was
under the belief, considering the number of examples observed,
that all Common Cormorants had pure white breasts at some
period subsequent to the dirty-white breast of the first year,
but, of course, I had no absolute proof of the age of the pure
white-breasted birds. It is this frequent whiteness in the
coloration of the under-parts that has given rise to the
prevalent popular belief in Mull that the Common Cormorant
at a certain period in its life-history is changed into a Red-
throated Diver.

D. Macdonald.

I WAS much interested in Mr. F. W. Frohawk's account of
a white-breasted bird of this species, for on April 29tli, 1910,
while visiting an enormous Cormorant rookery on the Lower
Danube, consisting of over a thousand nests on submerged
willows, I noticed a single bird of this form sitting close to
its nest. Seen through the glass at close-quarters its under-
surface was exactly like that figured on p. 387 (Vol. III.).

26 BRITISH BIRDS.

It was evidently a breeding bird. Dr. Hartert [Bull. B.O.C.,
XXV., p. 89) mentions having seen similar specimens in the
breeding season on Herm and in Marocco.

F, C. R. JOUKDAIN.

MIGRATIOX OF CO:\DIOX SCOTERS AND OTHER

DUCKS.

In connection with the appearance of Common Scoters
{(Edemia nigra) m Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and
Cheshu-e on AprU 10th, 1910 (Vol. III., pp. 414, 415) I may
note that on April 13th I witnessed an enormous migratory
movement of this species off Dungeness Point, Kent. As
soon as it was daylight flock after flock of these birds passed the
poiat comiag from the west and flying east. Tliis migration
lasted for at least two and a half hours, the flocks passing
almost without intermission the whole time, and had for the
most part finished by 8.30 a.m. So numerous were the birds
at the height of the migration that I counted thu-ty-two flocks
(from ten to sixty birds in a flock), passing the point in twenty
minutes. Besides Common Scoters I saw five flocks of Brent
Geese [Bemicla brenta), five single Divers and several small
parties of Terns (Sterna fluviatilis or S. wacn^ra), all steadily
going eastwards. It would be interesting to know whether
these birds kept on eastwards or whether after passing the
Foreland they turned north.

On April 2nd in two different places in Romney Marsh,
Kent, there were masses of Mallard {A7ias boscas), Wigeon
(Mareca pe7ielope) and Teal (Nettion crecca),and in one place
some Tufted Duck [Fuligula cristata), Pochard {F. ferina),
Pintail {Dafila acuta) and many Shovelers {Spatula dypeata) ;
some had left in a day or two, and most had gone by the
16th. Garganey [Querquedula circia) had arrived by the 10th.

Claud B. Ticehfrst.

BLACK TERXS IX OXFORDSHIRE.

It may be of interest to record that on May 15th, 1910,
I watched two Black Terns {Hydrochelidon nigra) hawking
over a stretch of the Isis between Oxford and E\TXsliam.
A week later they were gone.

A, Ritchie.

BLACK-THROATED DIVER IX CARXARVOXSHIRE.

On April 30th, 1910, I watched for upwards of an hour a
Black-throated Diver [Colymbus arcticus) in Llandudno Bay,
and the fact that it approached to within a distance of

NOTES. 27

eighty yards from the shore enabled me to watch its move-
ments closely and take careful note of its plumage. It was,
however, difficult to determine beyond a doubt whether or
not the bird \\'as still immature, for wliile the crown, the sides,
and the back of the neck wei'e distinctly grey, and the front
of the neck down to the breast was black, the colour of the
feathers on its back, tail, and wings was not indicative of an
adult in full nuptial plumage. These parts of the body were
dark brown, and were not nearly so conspicuously barred
and speckled as are those of mature individuals ; indeed,
it was only when the bird half turned itself from me that I was
able to see the faint indications of tlie Avhite bars. The half
collar of white streaks could be detected only when the bird
was nearest to the shore. The Black-throated Diver is an
addition to the avifauna of the county.

R. W. Jones.

BIRDS IN NORFOLK IN 1909.

In his " Ornithological Report for Norfolk " for 1909 {Zool.,
1910, pp. 121-136) Mr. J. H. Gurney gives, as usual, much
interesting information.

Mr. Gurney reports that during the end of December, 1908,
and January, 1909, Mr. F. Coburn receiv^ed from King's
L}Tin fourteen examples of Brent Geese, which he identified as
belonging to the American form Bernida hrenta nigricans
(LawTence). All the birds M'ere reported as shot in the Wash
—two on January 19th, 1909, and seven more on the 26th.
Mr. Coburn now considers that at all ages and seasons, and in
both sexes, the black or slaty-black under-parts are constant,
and that after the first plumage there is always a larger amount
of white on the neck ; he adds, however, that females are of
a paler slaty-black than males. There is no information as to
whence Mr. Coburn's material came to enable him to arrive
at this conclusion, which is, by the way, practically the same
as that expressed by M. S. Alpheraky {Geese of Eur. and Asia,
pp. 162-5). We should have liked more exact information
as to how these birds differed from the typical B. hrenta
{cf. Vol. II., p. 27).

On January 29th, 1909, an Iceland Gull {L. leucopterus)
was shot near Yarmouth.

On February 10th a Black-breasted Dipper, presumably
Cinclus cinclus {L.), was shot at Coltishall ; an interesting record
which would be made far more valuable were the bird
carefully compared and identified, so that we might know to
what geographical race it belonged.

28 BRITISH BIRDS.

On April 18th the first Spoonbills {Platalea leucorodia) ,
three in number, arrived at Breydon, and stayed until the
29th ; while two more arrived on May 1st, and one appeared
on June 29th and stayed until July 8th, and was again seen
on July 22nd and 29th, and August 3rd and 8th. One was
also seen at Cley on April 18th.

An Avocet {Recurvirostra avocetta) visited Breydon on July
15th, and was seen on the 18tli and 29th, and again on
August 3rd ; \^'hile three Avere present for two hours on
August 8th, and then went probably to Blakeney, where
three were seen on the same day (c/. t.c, p. 196).

On August 3rd Mr. Bird put up near one of the Broads a
young Marsh-Harrier [Circus osruginosus) , which he believed
was bred locally.

On August 19th a Golden Oriole {Oriolus galhula) was shot
at Cley.

On December 1st a A^Hieatear {Saxicola oenanthe) was seen
at Eccles-on-the-Sea, while another was seen at Twyford on
January 3rd, 1910.

A Flamingo [Phoenicopterus roseus) \va.s seen on the Wash
in June, 1909, but this and two Snow-Geese (Chen hyper-
boreus), which arrived at Holkham with the Pink-footed Geese
at the end of October, may have been " escajoes."

Mr. Gurney gives some interesting details regarding a
Cuckoo {Cuculus ca/iorMs), showing that the parent Cuckoo
made a search in an ivy-covered wall several days before it
deposited its egg in a Wagtail's nest which was hidden in
the ivy ; that two of the Wagtail's eggs were eventually
removed, though how is unknown ; that the Cuckoo's egg
took fourteen days to hatch ; and that one young Wagtail
was ejected when the young Cuckoo was twenty-four hours
old, another three hours later, and the third and last an hour
and a half afterwards. H. F. W.

AMERICAN BIRDS LIBERATED ON THE SCILLY

ISLANDS.
Ix April the New York Zoological Society forwarded to
us per the s.s. " Minnehaha " the following American
birds : — Three Guiana Parrotlets {Psittacula guianensis) ;
four Northern Ground Doves {Columhigallina passerina
terrestris) ; six Inca Doves {Scardafella inca) ; six Columba
Crested Quail [Eupsychortyx leucopogon) ; four Sonoran Red-
Avings [Agelceus phoeniceus sonoriensis) ; six Purple Grackles
[Quiscalus quiscalus) ; six Bronze Grackles [Q. q. feneus).

The " Minnehaha " was wrecked on the Scilly Isles, and I
noAv learn that all of the birds Mere liberated, so if any report

NOTES. 29

of their being shot should come to hand ornithologists will
know their origin.

D. Seth- Smith.
Zoological Society's Gardens,
Regent's Park.

Incubation and Fledging Periods in Birds. — Mr. S. E.
Brock contributes an interesting note on this subject to the
Zoologist (1910, p. 117), in which he states that the Mistle-
Thrush, Song-Thrush, Blackbird, Sedge-Warbler , Pied Wagtail.
Spotted Flycatcher, Greenfinch, and Yellow Bunting have an
incubation-period of 13-14 days, and that the young leave
the nest from 13-14 days after hatching; the Whitethroat
has an incubation-period of 11-12 and a fledging-period of
11 daj^s ; the Willow-Wreri an incubation-period of 12-13,
and a fledging one of 13-14 days ; the H edge-Sparrow an
incubation and fledging-period of equal lengths, viz., 12-13
days ; the Dipper an incubation-period of 15-17 days ;
the Swallow one of 15-16 days, and a fledging-period of so
many as 21-22 days ; the Starling takes only 12-13 days to
incubate, but the young take 21-22 days to fly ; the Magpie
and Book have incubation-periods of 17-18 days, and fly
in 29-30 days ; Avhile the Carrion-Crow takes 18-19 days to
incubate, and 33-34 days to fly ; the Long-eared Qui takes
28-30 days to incubate, the Sparrow-Hawk 30-32, and 28-30
to fly ; while the Moorhen takes 19-20 days to incubate. Mr.
Brock also makes some interesting remarks on the regularity,
irregularity, times, and intervals, of laying of different birds.
Comparing these incubation-periods with those given by Mr.
W. Evans {Ibis, 1891, pp. 52-93, 1892, pp. 55-58), we find
fair agreement, except that Mr. Evans makes the Willow-
Wren 13-16 days, and the Yellow Bunting 12-13 days. As
regards the Sparrow-Hawk Mr. Evans has no observation of
his OAVTi, and those he quotes seem not very reliable. Dr.
J. H. Salter made the incubation-period as much as 37-38
days by observation of a nest in Wales {Zool., 1894, p. 341) ;
while Mr. J. Steele Elliott estimates the period during which
the young stay in the nest as about 27-28 days {t.c, 1909,
p. 466). Jourdain's notes show that the incubation-period
is not less than four w^eeks and possibly more, while Howard
Saunders gives five weeks {Man., Errata, p. 756).

Remains of Birds in an Irish Cave. — In a paper on
" Cave Hunting," Mr. R. J. Ussher mentions {Irish Nat..
1910, p. 41) that among the remains found in the second or
lower bed in some caves in co. Clare which he has been

30 BRITISH BIRDS.

exploring in company with Dr. Scharff and Mr. Coffey, were
found some bones of the Crane (said to have been common in
Ireland in the twelfth century), two bones of the Great
Spotted Woodpecker, and a " large " mandible of a Hawfinch.
" These," says Mr. Ussher, " seem to have been members of
the ancient fauna, though now rare and accidental stragglers."
Reports on these caves appear in the Transactions of the
Royal Irish Academy, Vol. XXXIII., B., pt. 1, 1906.

Albinistic Varieties. — Colonel E. S. Mason sends a photo-
graph of a pure white Crossbill [Loxia curvirostra) which was
shot in, January, 1906, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, and is now
in his collection. Mr. W. C. Wright sends a photograph of a
female Water-Rail [Rallus aquaticus) which is nearly white,
but is mottled on the under-parts. The legs and feet were of a
" lightish pink " and the bird was shot on December 15th,
1908, in CO. Do^\Ti, Ireland. Mr. A. W. Thornthwaite writes
that he saw on March 20th, 1900, near Godstone, a Redwing
{Turdus iliacus) with the tail and rump almost entirely white
and with a band of white on the mantle just below the nape.

Chiffchaff in Sussex in Winter. — Mr. R. Morris reports
{Zool., 1910, p. 158) that he saw a Chiffchaff at Buxted on
January 13th, 1910. Chiffchaffs have frequently been
observed in the Avinter in England, but it should be noted that
a specimen sent to Mr. Eagle Clarke from Orkney, where it
appeared to be wintering with another example, on February
5th, 1908, proved to be the Siberian Chiffchaff (P. tristis)
{cf. Vol. I., p. 382), and it is possible that the Chiffchaffs
which occasionally winter with us are of this species, and not
P. rufus. It would be interesting to secure such birds in order
to make sure of their identity.

White Wagtail Nesting on Fair Isle. — Mr. Eagle Clarke
records {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, p. 67) that a pair of
Motacilla alba reared a brood during the summer of 1909 on
Fair Isle. This is believed to be the first record of the bird
nesting in Scotland.

Starlings Eating Wheat. — Dr. J. E. H. Kelso brings
forward evidence [Zool., 1910, pp. 144-149) to show that
Sturnus vulgaris eats Avheat from the time it is sown until the
blade is sprouting from the ground. Dr. Kelso considers
that this habit has been acquired during the last twelve years
or so, but he concludes that the bird does more good than harm
taking the whole year round, and it is from this standpoint
that we require much more exact information before the
Starling or, indeed, any other bird can be condemned as
noxious.

NOTES. 31

Ceremonial Gatherings of the Magpie. — With reference
to Mr. F. J. Stubbs' note on this subject (Vol. III., p. 334),
Mr. F. B. Kirkraan wTites us that similar gatherings have been
noted in the case of Jays, notably by Mr. W. H. Hudson in
Birds and Man{ip. 232), while further accounts of the gatherings,
both of Magpies and Jays, have been recorded by M. Xavier
Raspail in the Bulletin de la Socieie Zoologique de France
(XXVI., p. 104).

Greenland Falcons in Ireland and Scotland. — Mr. D. C.
Campbell records {Irish Nat., 1910, p. 103) the following
examples of Falco candicans, which seem additional to those
already mentioned (Vol. III., pp. 307 and 329), as having
occurred in Ireland during the past winter : — -November 20th,

1909, female at Burton Port and another near Killybegs ;
December 30th, a male at Dunfanaghy ; in the middle of
December, a female at Glenties ; in the first week in January,

1910, one seen at Inch, Lough Swilly, and about the same time
a male near Derry. In the Field (14, v., 1910, p. 860), Mr. J. J.
Neale notes that one alighted on a steam-trawler on November
27th, 1909, in the Atlantic, a good many miles south of Ireland,
and about the same time another alighted on a steam-trawler
off the south-west of Ireland. Both birds were very tired and
allowed themselves to be captured. Messrs. Harvie-Brown
and Eagle Clarke record [A^m. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, p. 119)
the following nine occurrences in Scotland : — December 15th,

1909, one shot, and December 2oth one seen at Barra ; one
seen late in December near Inverbroom ; one seen in December
at the Flannan Isles ; an adult female seen on January 4th,

1910, near Pitlochry ; an adult male seen on January 23rd
near Blairgowrie ; one seen on January 25th at the Flannan
Isles ; one said to have been shot early in the year on
Schiehallion ; another seen during most of January in South
Uist.

Scottish Heronries. — Mr. H. Boyd Watt gives {Ann. Scot.
Nat. Hist., 1910, pp. 68-70) additions and corrections to his
list of heronries noted in Vol. II., p. 244.

Scottish Records of the American Bittern. — Mr. Hugh
S. Gladstone gives {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, pp. 70-74)
a very useful detailed summary of the seven occurrences of
Botaurus lentiginosus recorded for Scotland. Full details are
given regarding an example recorded as killed on Dinwiddle
Moors near Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire, in the middle of
October, 1844, and this record seems to have escaped the
attention of the authors of our standard works.

32 BRITISH BIRDS.

Geese in Fair Isle. — Mr. Eagle Clarke records {An7i. Scot.
Nat. Hist., 1910, p. 67) that a number of Pink-footed Geese
{A. brachyrhynchus) appeared on Fair Isle during the wild
weather from October 7th to 18th, 1909. The bird appears
to be an addition to the avifauna of Shetland. During the
first three months of 1909 several single Barnacles (J5. leucopsis)
were seen at intervals, and in October an injured B. brenta
was captured.

Moult of the Great Bustard and Notes on other
Birds in Captivity. — In his Presidential Address to the
Yorkshire Naturalists' Union (December 11th, 1909), Mr.
W. H. St. Quuitin states {Nat., 1910, p. 112), that the Great
Bustards {Otis tarda) which he has in captivity moult their
wing-feathers gradually with the rest of their plumage during
the late summer and autumn, and that they do not
shed their primaries all together, as has been stated by
various writers. Mr. Abel Chapman, whose experience of
wild Great Bustards in Spain has been very extensive, states
positively that they cast " all quill-feathers (as wild geese
do) almost simultaneously. Hence, at the end of May, they
become for a time incapable of flight " {Wild Spain, p. 342).
Mr. St. Quintin gives some interesting information (^.c,
pp. 204-9) with regard to the nesting in his aviaries of the
Waxwing {Ampelis garrulus), Snowy Owl {Nyctea scandiaca),
and Raven {Corvus corax) ; a male Snowy Owl, which since
its fourth year had been white, except for a few black spots
on the tertials, had when about fifteen years old grown many
spotted featheis on the wing-coverts.

Grey Phalaropes in Fair Isle in Winter. — Two Grey
Phalaropes {Phalaropus fulicarius) are recorded by Mr. Eagle
Clarke {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, p. 67) as appearing on
Fair Isle singly, during the earliest days of 1909.

Breeding Habits of Common Terns and Black-headed
Gulls.— In the Zoologist (1910, pp. 137-143) Mr. T.
Hepburn has some notes on a colony of Common Terns
{Sterna fluviatilis) and Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridibundus)
in Colchester Harbour. No exact observations on the period
of incubation could be made, but Mr. Hepburn infers that
close-sitting lasts twenty to twenty-one days after the full
clutch has been laid. Out of fifty-one nests of Common Tern
thirty-six contained three eggs and fifteen two only ; while
twenty-five nests of Black-headed Gull had three eggs and
nine' two onty.

Born January l6th, 1873. Died April 2nd, 1910.

BRITI5nDIW)5

EDITED BY II. E. WITIIERBV, E.Z.S., MB.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u,, and Nokjiax F.

ticehurst, m.a,, f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 2, Vol. IV. July 1, 1910.

PAGE

Memoir of Boyd Alexande-, by N. F. Ticehurst. (Plate 1.) . . 34

On the Nesting of the Marsh-Warbler in Cambridgeshire, by

William Farren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Notes : —

On the Breeding of the Blackbird (C. Kingsley Siddall) . . 44

Increase of Lesser Whitethroats in Creuddyn, North Wales

(R. W. Jones) 45

Two Lesser Whitethroats laying in the same Nest (Staff

Surgeon C. E. Cortis Stanford, r.n.) . . . . . . . . 45

Unusual Nesting-sites for Goldcrest (H. E. Forrest and N. F.

Ticehurst) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Late stay of Brambling (Howard Benthaui and J. K. Stanford) 47

Crossbills Nesting in England : —

In Sussex (J. G. Millais and John Walpole-Bond) . . 47

In Kent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Irruption of Crossbills . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Peregrine Falcons at Bempton (T. H. Nelson). . . . . . 53

Unusual Nesting-site for the Common Snipe (Rev. Julian G.

Tuck) 53

The supposed Eggs of the Wood-Sandpiper taken in

Elginshire in 1853 (H. F. W.) 54

Little Terns Nesting at Tees Mouth, Yorkshire (Stanley

Duncan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Little Gull in Kent (C. J. Alexander) . . . . . . . . 55

Death of a Flamborough Cliff -Climber (T. H. Nelson) . . 56

" A Lost British Bird " (A Correspondent) . . . . . . 57

Short Notes : — Great Spotted Woodpecker in Scotland. Stock-
Dove in Dee. Blackcock and Capercaillie hybrids . . . . 60

Reviews : —

The Vertebrate Fauna of Cheshire and Liverpool Bay. The

Birds of Cheshire . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

The British Warblers — A History with Problems of their Lives.

Part IV 62

( 34 )

BOYD ALEXANDER.

[Plate L]

All ornithologists will have received with unfeigned
regret the news of the tragic death in the heart of Africa
of Lieutenant Boyd Alexander. He was on a journey
which, had it been accomplished, would have made him
still more famous as one of the most intrepid and successful
of explorers. Few details are to hand, but he appears
to have been murdered on April 2nd, 1910, by hostile
natives while endeavouring to pass through their territory
to the north-west of Abeshr in the Wadai.

Boyd Alexander was without doubt a born naturalist,
and had he not found a wider scope for his talents he
would soon have made a name for himself amongst those
who study specially the birds of this country. \^Tiat
British ornithology has lost, the science at large has gained,
and although students of British birds must in a way
regret that one with such natural gifts of observation
and such a talent for committing these observations in
an accurate and interesting manner to paper, should have
so early abandoned this branch of study, it must ever
be a source of satisfaction that the early training m the
field of British ornithology should have led to those
really remarkable results which Boyd Alexander achieved
in the wider field of work to which he was called.

At an early age Boyd Alexander commenced to study
and collect the birds in his own neighbourhood of Cran-
brook. Indeed, at the age of ten, he was consistently
keeping a naturahst's diary, and his boyhood friends
recall the fact that when he was about eleven a bad
attack of rheumatism, which stopped his playing cricket
for a term, did not prevent his chmbing trees, and the
numbers of eggs and other natural history objects which
he amassed during this term put his schoolboy rivals for
ever behind in the race of collecting. He soon extended
his researches to the neighbourhood of Romney Marsh,
and quickly added to his collection of local rarities. It

BOYD ALEXANDER. 35

is recollected of him that once when his host at a shoot
had put him as " heading" gun he was heard to fire only-
one shot, and on the keeper going to find out the reason
why, he was found coming back to his stand from another
direction, very content at having bagged a small bird that
he wanted. His first published note on British birds appeared
in the Zoologist for 1896, where he recorded and described
the first British example of Harcourt's Petrel (Oceanoc^roma
cas^ro), which was picked up near Littlestone on the Kent
coast on December 5th, 1895, and found its way into his
collection. During the spring and autumn of 1896 he
passed a great deal of his time on this coast-line, studying
the nesting-habits of the birds and their migrations.
The results of these observations were published in three
papers in the Zoologist of the same year under the titles
" Ornithological Notes from Romney Marsh and its
Neighbourhood " (p. 246). " Notes on Bu-ds in Kent "
(p. 344) and " Ornithological Notes from Rye " (p. 408).
Many of the notes are in diary form, made day by day
while in camp in the marshes and are specially valuable
as records of the movements that take place along that
much-favoured coast-line. In February of the following
year Boyd Alexander left on his first expedition to the
Cape Verde Islands, and from that date his time was so
fully occupied with his travels abroad and when at home
in working out the results, that he had little leisure in
which to pursue his earlier studies, but as opportunity
occurred he never failed to add to his collection of local
birds, and his interest in them was in nowise lessened by
his pursuit of greater thmgs. It was in the mtervals
between his earlier journeys that he found time to compile
his chief contribution to the ornithology of his county,
namely, the section on " Birds " in the Victoria History
of Kent. Although necessarily limited by exigencies of
space, this contribution reaches a higher standard than
most similar articles, and is specially valuable to the
county-historian in that it not only takes cognisance of the
work of previous authors, but is full of the writer's own

36 BRITISH BIRDS.

field-notes and observations. Brief reference only need
be made liere to tlie work of the last fourteen years, for
although of great interest and importance, it has no
direct reference to British ornithology and will be dealt
with in another and more suitable place by one more
fitted for the task than the present A^Titer.

Although only thirty-seven years of age at the time
of his death, Boyd Alexander had already made for himself
an honourable name amongst the intrepid band of British
explorers who have done so much to throw light upon the
hidden mysteries of the dark continent. In the course
of all his travels his favourite pursuit of ornithology
always held a prominent place, and mdeed his first
expedition to the Cape Verdes in 1897 was undertaken
solely from motives of ornithological exploration and
may be said to have served as an introduction to the
more ambitious researches and travels in the Islands of
the Gulf of Guinea and the continent of Africa, which
have added so much to geographical and ornithological
science and shed such lustre on the name of their author.

Accounts of his various expeditions with special
reference to their ornithological aspects were published
by him in the Ihis as follows : — " On an Ornithological
expedition to the Cape Verde Islands " {Ihis, 1898, pp.
74, 277) ; " On an Ornithological Expedition to the
Zambesi River " {oj). cit., 1899, p. 549 ; 1900, pp. 70, 424) ;
" On the Birds of the Gold Coast and its Hinterland "
{op. cit., 1902, pp. 278, 355) ; " On the Birds of Fernando
Po " {op. cit., 1903, p. 330). The two papers on the birds
obtained during his great journey from the Niger to the
Nile, which were foreshadowed in the Ihis for 1908, p. 203,
have not yet been published, although the new species
discovered on this journey have been described in the
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists^ Cluh.

To those who knew him, Boyd Alexander was a charming
personality and a well-loved friend. Amongst ornitholo-
gists and explorers he was in the front rank. His loss will
indeed be hard to bear. N. F. T.

( 37 )

ON THE NESTING OF THE MARSH-WARBLER
IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

BY

willia:\i farrex.

One of the early records of the nesting of the Marsh-
Warbler {Acrocephcdus palustris) in this country may be
found in Howard Saunders' Manual, and reads as
follows : — " The late Mr. F. Bond had a genuine nest
and eggs of this species, A\hicli he took some years ago
in Cambridgeshire, but the pair of birds which he obtained
at the same time and place are simply Reed-Warblers."
I cannot say that I have devoted much time to serious
search for the Marsh- W^arbler, yet in consequence of the
above record I have always hoped to find the species
nesting in Cambridgeshire.

On June 14th, 1909, an undergraduate of Trinity
College brought me news of his having that day found a
nest of the Marsh- Warbler in a rough willow-copse near
the river. It contained four typical eggs and one of a
Cuckoo, Avhich latter he had taken. He was well
acquainted with the species, having found it nesting near
Windsor. Unfortunately he was leaving Cambridge
the next day, and so could not take me to the locality.
However, he furnished me with ample direction as to
the whereabouts of the willoAV-copse, which I found with
but little trouble, but his directions as to the nest were
less adequate, or I blundered, for in spite of a most
thorough search I failed to discover it. Of the birds
there was no doubt, and in spite of my terribly bad ear
for distinguishing closely allied bird-notes, I was at once
able to pick out the song of the male from the chattering
chorus of Reed- and Sedge- Warblers. I will at once
confess to an honest doubt whether I should have done
so without the knowledge that the Marsh- Warbler was
there ! Both male and female kept near to the spot

38

BRITISH BIRDS.

where by the directions given me I felt sure the nest should
be. All I could find was the scanty foundation of a nest
woven on to a mixture of comfry and meadow-sweet,

FIG, 1. NEST AND EGGS OF MARSH- WARBLER.
{Photographed by W. Farren.)

so unlike the method of the Reed- Warbler or any other
bird I could call to mind but the Marsh-Warbler, that
I should have concluded at once that this was the cause
of the birds' presence but for the loiowledge that three

MARSH-WARBLER IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 39

days before there was a nest with four eggs certainly
not many yards away. A week later — on June 23rd —
I again visited the copse to investigate this new nest.

FIG. 2. NEST OF MARSH- WARBLER, SHOWING METHOD OF

ATTACHMENT TO HERBAGE,

{Photographed by W. Farren.)

From a distance of several yards I could see that it was com-
pleted. I tried not to feel too sure as I drew near and looked
into the nest, and all who recall the first impression of an

40 BRITISH BIRDS.

interesting species will realize my joy at seeing it contained
three eggs, unmistakably those of the Marsh- Warbler.

The birds came very near and I imagined I could see
all sorts of differences distinguishing them from the
Reed-Warbler, not differences of colour and markings,
but of carriage and movement and temperament. They
did not hold themselves so smartly, and they were less
sharp and fussy in their expressions of impatience at
my presence than are Reed- Warblers under similar con-
ditions. Those who know the Marsh-Warbler well, and
who read these notes, will be able to judge how much of
this was due to my imagination. Three days afterwards,
when the nest contained five eggs, I took several photo-
graphs of it, not only from above showing the eggs (Fig. 1),
but also from the side to show the method of attachment to
the herbage (Fig. 2). This last shows also the extremely
fragile structure of the nest, as one egg is clearly visible
through the nest-wall. From the behaviour of the
female and from my experience with Sedge- and Reed-
Warblers, I have no doubt that it would not have been
a difficult matter to photograph the bird, but I preferred
to wait until the young were hatched, when there would
be less danger of causing the birds to desert, and the
interest in the photographs would be enhanced. Although
it happened that I was a loser by then abstaining from
an attempt to photograph the birds, I am quite satisfied
that from every point but that of getting a photograph
at all hazards, it was the proper course to take. When
I next visited the locality, on July 8th, having allowed
time for the young to hatch, it was to find the nest
empty and dishevelled. The birds were still there, and
the fact that the female had lost most of her tail-feathers,
coupled with the disarrangement of the nest, pointed
to a rat or other natural enemy as the marauder.

As the birds still exhibited interest in this part of the
copse, I searched the herbage and found another nest,
built but not lined. It was clearly the nest of the same
pair of birds. Heavy and continuous rain fell on the

MARSH-WARBLER IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 41

three or four following days, and at the end of a week
I again visited the copse, hoping to see these unfortunate
Marsh- Warblers settled in their new home. The nest
was so changed in appearance that at first I hardly
recognised it ; it was still empty and unlined, but was,
or appeared to be, considerably larger. A closer investiga-

FIG. 3. DOUBLE NEST OF MARSH- WARBLER,
(Photographed by W. Farren.)

tion showed that the birds had built a second complete
nest on top of the original one (Fig. 3). My explanation is
that they were stopped in their building by the rainy days,
and afterwards, instead of lining the original nest, had
continued to build. Not to prolong the story of these
truly unfortunate birds — Avhose misfortunes I felt that

42

BRITISH BIRDS.

I had shared — nothing furtlier to my knowledge resulted ;
no eggs were laid in the double nest and I saw but little
more of the Marsh- Warblers.

Searching in the rough tangle of herbage near the double
nest, I found a nest (Fig. 4) with young birds, which at

FIG. 4. NEST OF SEDGE-WABBLER SUSPENDED IN

LONG GRASS.

(Photographed by W. Farren.)

first puzzled me not a little ; it was suspended about
three feet from the ground on the stems of a tall reed-
like grass (Phalera aru7idinacea) . It was wrong in shape
and too solidly built for the Reed- or Marsh-Warbler,
and some moss woven in the lower part of the nest, and

MARSH-WARBLER IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 43

the scolding of a pair of Sedge- Warblers suggested that
it belonged to that species. But it was so far from the
ground and so clearly suspended that I could not feel
satisfied until I had concealed myself in a bush, and seen
the Sedge-Warbler come and feed the young. A week
or so later, when these young birds had flown, and all
hopes were at an end that the Marsh- Warbler would lay
in the double nest, I took photographs of both nests
and also brought them away.

So far as I could determine there were no more than
the one pair of Marsh-Warblers in this copse, and I do
not think any young were brought off, unless while I was
keeping the double nest under observation they were
keeping house in another nest.

I have, perhaps, given this account at greater length
than its importance deserves, but my very natural desire
to obtain photographs of the Marsh- Warbler led to my
spending a considerable time in the willow-copse, and
incidentally learning much that was new to me of the
nesting-habits of all three species of Acrocephalus, e.g.,
the suspended nest of A. phragrnitis, and a small colony
of A. streperus nesting a hundred yards from the river
in the branches of smaU pollarded willows and in ten feet
high osiers.

So far as A. palustris is concerned, the interesting points
are : — The locality is in the district where Bond lived
and, no doubt, found the nest recorded in Howard
Saunders' Mayiual ; the first nest, found in June, 1909,
contained a Cuckoo's egg ; a second nest was begun
four days later and an egg laid in it a week after ; and
the curious fact of the double nest. The fate of the first
nest, from which the Cuckoo's egg was taken, and why
the birds left it remain a mystery. Their building another
nest so soon after and so near the same spot is, according
to other observers, a normal habit, as I have seen it
stated, and quote from memory, " If a nest is robbed
or destroyed the birds at once build again close to the
same spot."

nOTES

NOTES ON THE BREEDING OF THE BLACKBIRD.

On March 26tli, 1910, I found a pair of Blackbirds {Turdus
merula) building in a pile of sticks in a position which enabled
one to approach within a few feet without being seen by the
birds. Building proceeded in a leisurely manner, and it was

MALE BLACKBIRD REMOVING fieces OF YOUNG.
(Photographed by C. K. Siddall.)

not till March 31st that the nest was completed. Both birds
took part in building. On April 1st the first egg was laid and
on April 5th the female commenced to sit on a clutch of four
eggs. During incubation I did not see the cock sitting, nor
did I see him carrying food to the hen. On April 17th four
young were hatched oiit. When the young birds were two
days old I found the male bird covering them. On April 20th
I examined the nestlings and found down on the skull, on the
dorsal tract and jien feathers showing on the wings. I was

NOTES. 45

interested on April 22nd to see the female bring a " snake
millipede " to the nest and feed the young with it. As far
as I could judge, however, fully 50 per cent, of the food taken
to the young consisted of earthworms.

I noted the male and female eating the faeces of the young,
at almost every visit to the nest, and the accompanying
photograph shows the cock in the act of lifting the peces in his

bill. C. KiNGSLEY SiDDALL.

INCREASE OF LESSER WHITETHROATS IN
CREUDDYN, NORTH WALES.

Inasmuch as there are no recorded instances of the Lesser
Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) having been seen or heard on the
Great Orme's Head, I think it is worth recording that on
May 13th and 16th, 1910, I saw and heard an individual of
this species in some tall hawthorn bushes bordering on a
kitchen-garden in the small and narrow valley at the eastern
corner of the headland. Apparently the bird did not secure
a mate and settle down to nest there, as it was neither seen
nor heard afterwards. In the Hundred of Creuddyn (of
which the Great Orme forms a part) the bird has always been
considered local and uncommon, keeping mainly to the
neighbourhood of the mouth of the River Conway, and one
rarely sees or hears more than two in a long walk, but on
May 16th, 1910, Mr. T. A. Coward and I counted five indivi-
duals in a walk in and close to that southernmost part of the
Hundred — an unusual number, which gives colour to the
presumption that the species is increasing gradually around
the mouth of the river, for on the Conway side there are and
have been of late perceptible signs of an augmentation in
their numbers. R. W. Jones.

TWO LESSER WHITETHROATS LAYING IN THE

SAME NEST.
On May 22nd, 1910, I discovered on Hayling Island, Hamp-
shire, in some bramble bushes, a nest of the Lesser Wliite-
throat [Sylvia curruca), containing two eggs. On again visit-
ing the nest on May 27th a clutch of ten eggs was discovered.
The short time (five days) in which these eggs were laid
points to the fact that the clutch was the produce of two hens —
all the eggs were fresh. C. E. Cortis Stanford.

UNUSUAL NESTING-SITES FOR GOLDCREST.
The nest shown in the accompanying photograph was found
in a wood by Bomere Pool, Shrewsbury, on April 17th. At
first sight I supposed it to be a Chaffinch's, though there were

46

BRITISH BIRDS.

no bits of lichen outside, but on closer inspection and. examina-
tion of the eggs it proved, to be a Goldcrest's [Regulus cristatus).
There were two eggs on the 17th, but the bird laid another
each day up to the 21st, when I photographed the nest.
Some explanation of the position is requisite. The straight
piece of timber crossing the picture obliquely is the upper

jj^H

"

^^1^^^'

^B^B|^^gfiL 1 M^^^^^B

I^HI

IHHIHIBt

NEST OF GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN IN HONEYSUCKLE.
(Photographed by H. E. Forrest.)

part of a dead larch tree that has cracked across the middle
and turned over with its point resting on the ground. The
whole is swathed in a mass of old Ironeysuckle-stems, and it
is to these that the nest is fastened in such a position that
the larch-pole forms a sloping roof over it. There are scarcely
any leaves to conceal the nest, and it is only about five feet

NOTES. 47

from the ground, so that it is most conspicuous. What
induced the Goldcrest to build in such an unusual position
I cannot imagine, for there are plenty of larch, spruce, yew
and other suitable trees in the same wood.

H. E. Forrest.

A PAIR of Goldcrests [Regulus cristatus) have this year built
their nest amongst the matted stems of a rambler-rose trained
against an uj^right post in a flower-bed in the garden at
Huntbourne, High Halden, Kent. The nest is about four
feet and a half from the ground and well hidden by the foliage
of the bush. On June 12th the young were a few days old.
The birds first of all built in a juniper in the same garden, bub
owing to too frequent inspection abandoned this site before
laying, and although there are several similar, and one would
think more suitable, nesting-sites, they have preferred the
present anomalous one. N. F. Ticehurst.

LATE STAY OF BRAMBLING.

With reference to the notes on this subject published in the
June issue (page 20), it may be worth while to record that
on April 17th, 1910, I observed a party of eight Bramblings
at Titsey, in Surrey. Beech-nuts were unusually plentiful
in that locality last winter, and were still to be found in con-
siderable numbers at the time I noticed the Bramblings,
and this possibly may have had some relation to the delayed
departure of the birds. Howard Bentham.

With reference to Mr. Medlicott's note {supra, p. 20), I may
say that on April 9th, 1909, I saw a few Bramblings in a wood
near Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Their numbers were increased during
the next few days, and on April 15th there were twenty or
thirty in a flock. The next day they had disappeared. I
noticed that they had not yet acquired the blue bill of the
summer-plumage. J. K. Stanford.

CROSSBILLS NESTING IN ENGLAND.

In Sussex.

I HAVE noticed that Crossbills are to be found in flocks at
all seasons, even during the nesting-time — a fact equally
noticeable amongst Twites and Red Linnets, which seem to
resort together at the feeding hours, even though they may
separate at other periods of the day to attend to their domestic
duties.

The Crossbills near my house at Horsham, Sussex, seem to
have regular flighting times along particular lines of trees.

48 BRrriSH BIRDS.

Throughout April and May I have seen flocks passing always
over the same ground covered with old Scotch firs, the direction
being north and south. Early in May I saw numerous single
birds travelling the line and assumed that they were males
whose wives were engaged with family duties.

As an example of the gregarious nature of Crossbills I
may mention that a friend who had come from a distance
especially to see the birds was at first disappointed though we
searched all day to find them. Late in the evening we took
our stand close to the flighting-line and presently heard a
male burst into song on an oak tree only ten yards distant.
We watched and listened to him for some time, when he
suddenly ceased his lilting music and began to call loudly in
the usual clinking fashion. Some three other Crossbills
passed over at a considerable height and one, a female, made
a swooping descent and lighted in the oak tree close to the
vocalist, the others passing on. The male then commenced to
" sho\\'." Flying in circles and hopping actively from branch
to branch with lowered wings, he sang loudly in a voice both
high-pitched and apparently full of excitement. At each
circle through the branches he approached closer and closer
to the female, which sat in a crouching position waiting for
the male and uttering a low peevish note, her attitude being
similar to the female Greenfinch when the pair are engaged in
making love. During these amorous advances another
flock of Crossbills (eight in number) circled round and alighted
on a tall Scotch fir, where, after a stay of a few minutes, the
whole party left together, rising high in the air.

I have not found a single nest, although I have seen a bird
with building materials in its mouth ; an attempt to follow it
resulted in failure.

Early in May a local naturalist offered to show me a nest
full of young Crossbills which he desired to sell. I have no
doubt he had found the nest but I did not take advantage of
his offer. On May 18th I followed a female Crossbill with four
young ones which I observed for some time at a short distance,
and have no doubt that several pairs have bred in this neigh-
bourhood. J. G. MiLLAIS.

Some of the Crossbills nesting in Sussex this year have proved
to be genuinely double-brooded, while I have some grounds
for believing that some pairs are now rearing their third
family. All the books tell you that the species is single-
brooded. Yet, even in the bird's normal nesting-haunts in
Scotland and Ireland, I believe that this would be found not

NOTES. 49

to be the case ; and it affords a good instance of one of many
such blunders to be met with in ornithological works.

On May 3rd, while working much the same ground as on
April 9th (c/. Vol. III., p. 406) I found not sixty yards removed
from the tree where she had four young practically fledged
on April 15th, a female Crossbill sitting on four eggs. This
was in a road-side clump of Scotch firs ; her first attempt was
in a hedgerow tree. This nest was about fifteen feet from
the ground, and was difficult to reach, being, as it was, near
the extremity of a projecting and somewhat dependent
bough ; it was poorly and loosely composed, first of a few
conifer- twigs, then of moss and coarse and fine dried grass,
lined with fine shredded grass, with a small feather or so
round the rim. Tlie eggs — as I had remarked with the clutch
of five found chipping on April 15th, and have noticed with
another set of five found since — although not unlike Green-
finch's in coloration, were decidedly larger and bulkier than
that species, as indeed one would expect to be the case ;
moreover, the grain of the shell is much coarser with the
Crossbill. The spots in this particular set were, in the main,
evenly, albeit sparingly, distributed over the entire shell-
surface ; and some of the markings were very dark. The
male sang once or twice in the vicinity of the nest, but he did
not appear as I was examining it.

On this day I saw flocks of Crossbills no longer ; merely
small parties of adults — from three to ten — and one or two
lots of fledged young ; I also found a nest of young just
ready to fly. This was in a fresh locality.

On May 4th, visiting an area where I had found two lots
of young on April 15th, I met with both pairs of adults, one
with their progeny in an orchard, though the cock seemed to
do most of the " mothering." These young were ridiculously
tame ; indeed, although they could fly strongly, I all but
succeeded in catching one as it sat in an apple tree. One of
the adult pairs (whose young I could see no traces of in or out
of the nest) were very amorous, yet I could flnd no fresh nest.

On May 11th, in much the same locality, I met with but
one lot of three adults ; otherwise pairs or single birds, and
beyond a nest — hitherto unfound — from which young had
obviously flown, I found nothing fresh. This nest was largely
felted with dried grass and many white feathers.

On the 18th I saw but one pair of Crossbills, and an empty
nest in a typical position, which might have belonged to them.
But on the 25th I discovered a Crossbill's nest containing two
eggs (this afterwards held five), which belonged, I believe,

50 BRITISH BIRDS.

to a pair which had young fledged between April 22nd to
25th, though I should imagine that they had had an inter-
mediate attempt destroyed, as the interval was curious. And
the same day I found another nest — clearly the work of a
pair which had young on April 15th, seeing that it was not
twenty yards distant from the old structure. This held four
young, not more than three days old.

I now believe that the nests found with young during April
were genuine second broods, not only because the Crossbill is
well-kno\\'n to breed in February and March — even far up
north — but also because a close search revealed, in three cases,
obvious Crossbills' nests from which young had just as
obviously flown ; and these were close to the tenanted April
nests. A friend of mine, to whom I gave some young Cross-
bills, has kindly kept the record of when their beaks crossed.
These birds were approximately fledged on April 15th, i.e.,
thirteen or fourteen days old. Granting this, another fifteen
days elapsed (it was April 30th) before the bills began to turn,
and the cross was complete by May 7th. In three of them the
upper mandible crosses to the right ; in the fourth to the left.
One of them — a male, of course — has already begun to sing
(latter half of May). John Walpole-Bond.

[We do not know to what authors Mr. Walpole-Bond alludes
in his statement that " all the books tell you that this species
is single-brooded." Newton in Yarrell (Ed. IV., Vol. II.,
p. 197) says : " Second broods are apparently not uncommonly
produced, or, if not, certain individuals must delay their
breeding-season for some months." Jourdain {Eggs of
European Birds, p. 76) writing of the Scotch form says,
"A second brood is sometimes reared in June," and of
English birds adds, " Second broods have been recorded from
various parts of England i7i June and July." Dresser {Eggs
of Birds of Europe, p. 358) says, " I am uncertain whether two
broods are raised in the year, but it appears probable that
this is the case." Seebohm {Brit. Birds, 1884, Vol. II., p. 32)
thinks these late nests are not second broods but are the
result of first nests having been destroyed.

Other authors we have consulted do not commit themselves
to a definite statement. As is well-known, the Crossbill has
been observed to breed in almost every month of the year,
and this fact must be taken into consideration in any observa-
tion of ajDparent second broods. We do not consider
Mr. Walpole-Bond's evidence is satisfactory. Even if new
nests found near others from which young had been reared
were regarded as sufficient evidence, the time which elapsed

NOTES. 51

between the fledging of the first brood and the building of
the second nest seems to be in two cases at all events
inadequate. In the first case it appears to have been less than
a fortnight ; in the second case (in which no details are given as
to positions of the two nests) about four weeks, and in the
third case about a fortnight. Either we must presume that
the old birds continued to feed the young after the second
nest was built, for which there is no evidence, or else that
young Crossbills can look after themselves in a fortnight after
fledging, which we believe to be hardly possible. — Eds.]

In Kent.

Mr. W. Naunton Rushen records in the Field (May 28th,
1910, p. 949) that he had seen an adult pair of Crossbills on
Hayes Common repeatedly since March 26th, 1910, but he
could not discover that they were breeding. On May 20th,
however, he watched for some hours an undoubted family-
party of " about half-a-dozen " on Keston Common, quite
close to Hayes Common.

IRRUPTION OF CROSSBILLS.

On behalf of the Migration Committee of the British Ornitho-
logists' Club I am sending the following additional notes
on the irruption of the Crossbill into England. We have
received a number of these notes, but the majority have
already appeared in British Birds ; my Committee consider
it a pity that the records of the irruption should not be
made as full as possible in British Birds by the inclusion of
these, which might otherwise remain unpublished until our
next report is ready, Avliich cannot be for some months.

Berkshire. — February 27tli, 1910, eight seen among tall
conifers at Bulmershe ; not apparently paired, but
occasionally uttering a love-note differing from the usual
call {H. M. Wallis). At least twenty of both sexes seen
during the week, April 3rd to 10th, near Ascot by D. W.
Callings, who reports that they did not appear to be
nesting.

Hants. — A small flock seen at Buckholt, Dean, on July 14tli,
1909, and another small flock in a wood containing a good
many larch trees near the same place on November 9th
(R. G. Townsend). Three seen by H. L. Curtis on April
5th, and a single bird on the 13th by J. F. Butterworth,
near Bournemouth.

52 BRITISH BIRDS.

Leicester. — A small flock seen at Loughborough on April
3rd by G. Frishy.

Northamptonshire.^ — A pair is reported from Kettering by
Mrs. C. E. Wright on March 28th ; these were seen almost
daily up to April 3rd, when four were seen. " Many " were
also reported by her at Harlestone Firs, near Northampton,
on April 2nd. All had disappeared before April 20th,
except a single pair, and though no nest was located,
a single male only was seen after this date {cf. Vol. III.,
p. 260).

Suffolk. — From the Ipswich district Mr. H. H. A. Miller
reports as follows : — " A flock of forty to fifty, consisting
of both sexes, on December 2nd, 1909, and eight on
December 4tli ; a few on March 29th, 1910." Between
April 11th and 14th the numbers appear to have increased,
and a nest was found on the 3rd and others in two different
localities between the 11th and 14th. "Flocks" seen
at Sutton on September 26th, 1909 {G. D. Hope). The
bkds referred to (Vol. III., p. 403) by Miss J. M .Wilkinson
as being in the Brandon district appear from her reports
to have decreased somewhat after April 10th, but were
seen in numbers of from three or four up to a dozen as
late as May 3rd. Four seen and others heard at Fritton
on April 7th by Major-General Upcher.

Sussex. — During the last week of July, 1909, a flock of from

twenty to thirty Crossbills appeared near Barcombe and

attacked the spruce trees which were affected by some

kind of disease ; they nipped off large quantities of the

young shoots. October 1st, two parties of eight and five

seen. October 23rd, five or six visited the garden for

a few minutes ; they never stayed very long, and were

very erratic in their movements and appearance {Miss A.

Shenstone). August 25th, 1909, one seen at Eastbourne

{Miss F. Maude).

Worcester. — Mr. T. J. Beeston records a pair in the Cookley

district on March 30tli. These were seen at intervals

during April and on the 6th and 8tli of May, AAlien it

Avas susj)ected that they were nesting, but the finding of

a nest is not recorded. A j^air is recorded at Earls Croome

by N. G. Hadden as late as May 1st.

With regard to Miss Shenstone' s note on the Crossbills

attacking the spruce trees which were affected by some kind

of disease, she kindly sent a specimen of one of the young

shoots bitten off by the birds. It is apparent from this that

NOTES. 53

the Crossbills were feeding on the swollen stems of the shoots
and the insect-contents of the breeding-cavities in them
occupied by an aphis {Chermes abietis), numerous specimens
of which have since hatched out from the sample sent. This
habit of the Crossbills has recently been remarked upon and
described by Herr R. H. Stamm in the Dansk Oryiithologisk
Forening Tidsskrift (An. IV., pt. II., pp. 45-49).

N. F. TiCEHURST, Hon. Secretary.

[It was also noted in our last volume (Vol. III., p. 193), that
Crossbills had been proved to be feeding upon Chermes abietis.
Some specimens were sent to me at the time by Commander
H. Lynes, and the gizzards of the birds were found to contain
immature examples of this aphis. Commander Lynes also
sent some of the galls which he had observed the Crossbills
attacking.— H. F. W.]

Kent. — On April 29th a flock of fifteen or sixteen near
Tenterden, newly arrived, had been there a day or two,
no signs of nesting and no young seen. Passed on in
a day or two. May 1st to 14th, none seen ; but on the
15th some recently plucked cones found ; on the 18th
one female ; on the 20th, one male ; on the 30th, five
or six — no young seen ; on May 31st a flock of fifteen
to twenty, some of them being fully-grown young which
had the upper and lower beak just crossing at the tip.
June 1st, still there ; June 2nd to 7th, none seen ; but
on the 7th recently plucked cones found {Claud B. Tice-
hurst).
Surrey. — One on April 24th at Lingfield and one on May 22nd
at Oxted {H. Bentham).

PEREGRINE FALCONS AT BEMPTON.

The Peregrine Falcons have again nested at Bempton, on the
ground climbed by John Hodgson, and near the place where
they bred last year. When climbing commenced, on May 9th,
1910, three young ones were found in the eyrie ; these are now
strong on the wing, and to-day (June 15tli) I disturbed one,
on the grass at the cliff-top, feeding on a homing-Pigeon.

T. H. Nelson.

UNUSUAL NESTING-SITE FOR THE COMMON SNIPE.

At Norton, Suffolk, on May 26th, 1910, some men hoeing wheat
showed me a nest of the Common Snipe {Gallinago coelestis) in
the middle of the field, in exactly the place where one might
expect to see the nest of a Skylark or Corn-Bunting. The
eggs seemed to be hard-set, and the bird probably resorted

54 BRITISH BIRDS.

to this unusual site on account of the many acres of low-lying
meadows, in which several Snipes always breed, having been
more or less under water from recent heavy rains.

Julian G. Tuck.

[Although it is very unusual to find Snipe breeding in such
an open situation as a wheat-field, yet it is worth noting that
other Limicolce, whose usual breeding-places are equally
different in character, will occasionallv nest in such a site.
Thus Mr. Oxley Grabham {Field, June 7th, 1902) has recorded
the Ringed Plover {Jigialitis Maticola) as nesting in corn-fields ;
and on two occasions I have met with the Common Sand-
piper {Totanus hypoleucus) breeding in Avheat-fields, probably
for the reason suggested by Mr. Tuck. — F. C. R. J.]

THE SUPPOSED EGGS OF THE WOOD-SANDPIPER
TAKEN IN ELGINSHIRE IN 1853.

Under this title Mr. W. Evans publishes in The Annals of
Scottish Natural History (1910, pp. 74-76) some interesting
correspondence between the late Professor Newton and him-
self concerning the supposed eggs of the Wood-Sandpiper
{Totanus glareola) taken in Elginshire on May 23rd, 1853.
Professor Newton gives extracts from letters written to him
by his brother Edward concerning these eggs, which he had
seen, and whose history he had heard from Charles Thurnall,
who found tliem. This correspondence shows that neither
Newton nor his brother believed that the eggs were anything
more than those of the Common Sandpiper, and that Thurnall
never identified the bird properly. Bond, who had a wonderful
knowledge of eggs, aj)peared to accept them as genuine, but
with the evidence of Edward Newton, who interviewed
Thurnall a few months after the taking of the eggs, now before
us, we do not hesitate to say that the record is most unsatis-
factory and should no longer be accepted. Mr. Evans' corre-
spondence with Professor Newton on the subject took place
in 1901, and although he had leave to publish the letters,
he hoped that Newton himself would do so. (c/. also Ann.
S.N.H., 1899, p. 14 ; Yarrell 4th ed.. Vol. III., p. 465 ;
Saunders' Manual, 2nd ed., p. 607). jj p ^y

LITTLE TERNS NESTING AT TEES MOUTH, YORKS.

During the last twenty years certain parts of the Tees Mouth
have slightly altered, partly through natural and partly
through artificial causes. The shingle-beds have accreted
considerably, and it is probably mainly due to this fact

NOTES. 55

that I am able to record the addition of the Little Tern {Sterna
minuta) to the breeding-birds of Cleveland. Since 1900
the shore which now is the breeding-site has been quite
suitable for the nesting of the Little Tern, but not until the
present summer have eggs of the species been found. Formerly
Little Terns annually visited the spot on migration, though
no signs have been apparent until recently of their staying to
nest. Last year a few birds were noted throughout the summer
by the local fishermen, but no eggs were found. As these
birds were often to be seen at the same time as three Sandwich
Terns (the latter being well known not to be breeding), it
was generally surmised that they were either late migrants
or non-breeders. This year, after having under observation
four pairs of Little Terns for several days, I discovered, on
June 2nd, three nests — two containing two eggs and the other
three, but, alas, as the birds had nested rather low on the
shore, a high tide occurring on June 6th swept every egg away.
Despite this, on June 9tli, the birds were still frequenting
the ground and seemed like making preparations for laying
again. It is hoped they will, if a second attempt is made,
rear young. The situation lends every natural protection,
the breeding-ground being very extensive for the size of the
colony. So far as I can learn. Little Terns have not pre-
viously nested at the Tees Mouth within the memory of living
man.

In the Birds of Yorkshire it is stated that the only York-
shire colony of Terns is at Spurn, and that J. Hogg in the
Zoologist (1845, p. 1187) refers to the Lesser Tern inhabitmg
in summer the sandy beach near the Tees Mouth, but no note
of nesting is mentioned. Stanley Duncan.

LITTLE GULL IN KENT.

On May 16th, 1910, when Mr. A. W. Seaby and I were on the
shore between Littlestone and Dungeness we saw a Little
Gull {Larus minutus) sitting by some Common Terns. As
we had neither of us seen this species before, it may be Mell
for me to describe it. Its head was mainly slaty-black, but
the forehead was quite white and the parts about the eye
grey ; the mantle was very pale, almost white, with some dark
flecks ; the primaries were mostly black. In flight it showed
a black patch on the front edge of the wing ; its tail-feathers
were tipped with black, except the two middle ones, which
were white throughout ; the tail was distinctly graduated.
Its feet were bright red and its beak was dark, either dark
red or dark bro^n.

56 BRITISH BIRDS.

When first roused it settled on the sea, but when we put
it up a second time it flew away along the shore northwards
and was soon lost to sight in the fog blowing off the sea.

C. J. Alexander.

[In his History of the Birds of Kent (p. 510) X. F. Tice-
hurst remarks that the visits of the Little Gull to Kent in
spring and summer are rare. He gives details of two occur-
rences in Aj)ril, four in May, and two in June, the latter being
apjjarently in much the same stage of plumage as the bird
above described. — Eds.]

DEATH OF A FLAMBOROUGH CLIFF-CLIMBER.

A MOST regrettable accident has happened to the Flamborough
party of cliff-climbers, by which Joseph Major, fisherman,
lost his life. Major and his brothers went out on the
morning of June 6th, 1910, to the cliffs near Danes' Dyke
on the north of Flamborough, where the egg-climbing opera-
tions are carried on, and shortly after Joseph had made his
second descent, his companions became anxious on noticing
the signal-rope was slack and not working ; one of then number
went to a projecting point of rock, where he saw the climber
lying motionless on a grassy slope below. Assistance was
procured from the Bempton climbers, one of whom, Moore,
being lowered do\\Ti to him, discovered he was unconscious,
and had sustained a serious injury to his head, apparently
caused by a piece of rock falling upon him. The Flam-
borough Rocket-Brigade also gave valuable assistance, whilst
medical aid was summoned from Bridlington. Dr. Wetwan
and the other climbers descended to the injured man, who had
meanwhile been lowered to the beach, and after very great
difficulty and several hours' work, he was brought up, in the
breeches-buoy of the rocket-apjsaratus, to the cliff-top near the
" Dor," thence being conveyed in the doctor's motor-car to the
Bridlington Hospital, where, unfortunately, he succumbed to his
injuries two days afterwards, without having regained conscious-
ness. Although the climbers have several times been injured
by stones becoming loosened and falling upon them, this is
the first fatal accident whilst in the actual pursuit of " egg-
climbing " kno^^-n in the Flamborough district, and visitors
to the celebrated Yorkshire cliffs, who knew young "Joss," as
he was familiarly called, will deeply deplore the untimely,
and painfully sad, end of an obliging, intrepid and skilful
fisherman and egg- climber.

It is somewhat strange that since the publication of The
Birds of Yorkshire three of the climbers therein referred to

NOTES. 57

have been placed hors-de-combat. William WUkinson had a
serious accident last season, Henry Marr died during the
past winter, and now young Major has been killed.

T. H. Nelson.

"A LOST BRITISH BIRD."

Under the above title there appeared in a recent issue of the
Zoologist (1910, pp. 150-156) an article by Mr. Frederick J.
Stubbs, a few short comments on which may be of interest
to our readers.

The article commences by stating that : " During the
Middle Ages England was the home of a White Heron or
Egret, of which no useful description appears to have been
handed down," and towards its close the writer informs us :
" I do not hesitate in thinking that the bird was Ardea garzetta,
and not A. alba.'^ So mucli being clear, we will briefly
examine the writer's arguments in support of this statement.
These he divides into three classes, firstly, references to the
works of " Certain old ornithologists " ; secondly, quotations
from early MSS. and printed books bearing on the subject, and
thirdly to extracts from two Acts of Parliament. We wQl
deal with the above in their order.

We are firstly informed that William Turner (1500-1568),
in his Avium Pr;ecipuaru7n, etc. (A. H. Evans' edition), after
noticing the Common Heron, goes on to say that there was
another, the " Alba, which was fair in colour . . . and brings
forth young well." Turner, of course, said nothing of the
kind, the words are Aristotle's, on whose History of Animals
Turner is here commenting ; what the latter did say is next
somewhat incorrectly quoted. Evans' translation is : " Of
this kind [the Common Heron] I have seen some white, though
they are rare, which differed from the aforesaid neither in their
size nor shape of body, but in colour only. Furthermore, the
white has been observed in England to nest with the blue and
to bear offspring. Wherefore it is clear that they are of one
species." In Mr. Stubbs' quotation the words we have
printed in italics are omitted, a not unimportant fact if, as
seems more than likely from the above quotation. Turner was
merely referring to albino specimens of the Common Heron.
Merrett, Muffett, and Tunstall are then cited as mentioning a
White Heron. Neither of these three authors gives us any
information about the bird, though Tunstall says " Grus &
Garzetta olim in paludibus Angliae, teste Raio & aliis, notis-
simae aves, his vero temporibus inter rarissimas & alienigenas
habentur." In quoting Tunstall in another passage the

58 BRITISH BIRDS.

writer is again someAAhat at fault, stating that that author
inchided in his Appendix of rare visitors to Britain " the
Crossbill, and even Brambling." instead of the Crossbill and
'* Greater Brambling or Snowbird, Emheriza nivalis,'''' as it
is in the original. Mr. Stubbs now quotes from Willughby's
Ornithology, edited by Ray (1678, p. 279), as follows : "The
Great White Heron, Ardea alba major. This differs from the
Common Heron : (1) In magnitude, as being lesser than that ;
(2) in the length of its tail ; (3) in that it wants a crest. A
certain Englishman (saith Aldrovand) affirmed that he had
seen white Herons, though rarely, which neither in bigness of
body nor shape differed at all from the Common Heron, but
only in colour. I suspect this Relator, Avhoever he was, was
mistaken, accounting the bird in this article described by us
not to differ from the common Heionshaw, but only in colour.
For Mr. Jolmson, who hath seen the White Heron in England,
puts it down for a distinct kind in his Method of Birds com-
municated to us." Mr. Stubbs remarks : " This correspon-
dent of Aldrovand was, as we now know, William Turner."
It would be interesting to learn on what authority Turner is
termed a correspondent of Aldrovand. A friend and constant
correspondent of Conrad Gesner (1516-1561), Turner certainly
was, and in Gesner's Historia Animalimn, 1555, the remarks
of Turner as to White Herons are quoted verbatim, preceded
by " Inquit Tui'nerus." Aldrovand, who plagiarised freely
from Gesner, whom he quoted as " Ornithologus," has here
followed his usual method, and, taking the reference from
Gesner, to which Willughby refers, ascribes it to " Quidam
Anglus." As we have seen, so far the sole authority for the
existence of a white Heron in England, other than an albino
of the common species, rests on the communication of Mr.
Johnson to Ray. It is somewhat curious that this Egret, if it
existed, should have been unknown to Ray and Willughby,
and Mr. Stubbs proceeds to point out, therefore, " that this
is a matter of little importance for he [Willughby] can only
speak of the Crane from heai'say ; yet the abundance of this
species in England in former times is beyond question."
Willughby, far from speaking of the Crane only from hearsay,
tells us (p. 25 of the Ornithology), that this bird " was common
in the Fens of Lincolnshire, and in Cambridgeshire," and on
p. 274 of the same work : " They come often to us in England :
and in the Fen-countries in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire
there are great flocks of them," and goes on to say, " but
whether or no they breed in England I cannot certainly
determine either of my own knowledge, or from the relation
of any credible person."

N0TP:S. 59

We next, following Mr. Stubbs, come to Pennant, who in his
British Zoology (p. 345, 2nd ed., Vol. II.) refers to the Great
White Heron, as mentioned by Turner and Willughby, and
" the small species of Crested White Heron mentioned by
Leland, under the name of Egritte." At p. 495 Pennant
prints the full bill of fare of the famous feast given at the
" enthronisation of George Kevell Archbishop of York," 1374,
which in the long list of birds and beasts, commencing with
" Wylde Bulles, 6" and ending with " Porposes and seals, 12,"*
contains, among the numerous Cranes, Bitterns, and Herons
mentioned, the item " Egrittes 1,000." John Fleming, in
his History of Animals, 1828, p. 96, referring to Ardea garzetta,
says : "' This is supposed to be the species, a thousand indi-
viduals of which were served up under the name of Egrettes.
... It is possible, however, that the Lapwing may have been
there referred to, as the most common bird with a crest."
And later authors agreeing with what Mr. Stubbs terms
Fleming's unlucky comment, have held the same opinion.
It \y\\\ be seen therefore that there is practically nothing in the
works of the " professed ornithologists " to aXiow that A.
garzetta was ever a British bird.

In the next part of his paper, and by far the most inter-
esting one, Mr. Stubbs adduces evidence, which go^s to prove
that there was a bird, apparently with a long beak, served at
feasts in England in early times and known by the various
names of Egrett, Egret, Egrette, Egryt, and Egreate, and in the
I)lural as Egretez. Mr. Stubbs is of opinion that this bird was

* The full bill of fare as given by Pennant is as follows : —

In wheate, 300 quarters. Pigeons, 4000.

In ale, 300 tunne. Conyes, 4000

Wyne, 100 tunne. In bittors, 204.

Of ypocrasse, 1 pype. Heronshawes, 400.

In oxen, 104. Fessauntes, 200.

Wylde Bulles, G. Partridges, 500.

Muttons, 1000. Woodcockes, 400.

Veals, 304. Curlewes, 100.

Porkes, 304. Egrittes, 1000.

Swannes, 400. Stagges, bucks and roes, 500 and

Geese, 2000. mo.

Cajjons, 1000. Pasties of venison colde, 4000.

Pygges, 2000. Parted dyshes of gellies, 1000.

Plovers, 400. Colde tartes baked, 4000.

Quayles, 100 dozen. Colde custardes baked, 3000.

Of the foules called rees, 200 dozen. Hot pasties of venison, 1500.

In peacockes, 104. Hot custardes, 2000.

Mallardes and teales, 4000. Pykes and breames, 608.

In Cranes, 204. Porposes and seals, 12.

In kyddes, 204. Spices, sugared delicates, and

In chyckens, 2000. wafers plentie.

60 BRITISH BIRDS.

Ardea garzetta, but apart from the fact that its geographical
distribution hardly warrants the assumption that it could ever
have been a common bird in England, we are surprised that
in his researches the writer has found no evidence to put
before us of instances of the use in dress of the plumes of the
Egret in this country. The use of the " Egret " was well
known to early writers. Willughby mentions " their use in
caps and head pieces for ornament, and which are sold very
dear in the cities subject to the Turk," and Aldrovand,
Gesner and Belon write to the same effect. The following
passage from Belon's UHistoire de la Nature des Oyseaux, 1555,
p. 195, is perhaps Avorth quoting, and if his derivation of the
word was in any way warranted, the application of the name
Egret to several birds other than A. garzetta is at once apparent.
" L' Aigrette doit estre mise entre les especes des Herons. . . .
Les rran9oys Font ainsi appellee, a cause de I'aigreur de sa
voix." . . . . " Sa chair est delicate and tendre."

The Acts of Parliament (19 Hen. VII., and 25 Hen. VIII.)
which are cited at the conclusion of the article, do not mention
the Egret, and only point to the rapid extinction of many
species of wild-fowl in England ; perhaps even a more pregnant
quotation of the destruction that was then commencing is that
which occurs in the Norfolk Household Book of the L' Estranges
of Hunstanton, 1533, " the xxxviijth weke, Tewysdaye, Itm.
a Cranne kylld wt. the gun." A Correspondent.

Great Spotted Woodpecker in Scotland. — With reference
to the spread of D. major in Scotland the following notes are
of interest : — One seen on December 23rd, 1909, near Penpont,
Dumfriesshire, by Mr. H. S. Gladstone ; and the following
recorded by Mr. Harvie-BroAATi — one got near Dunipace,
Larbert, Stirlingsliire, about March 12th, 1909 ; one seen in
Carron Glen on July 18th, 1909 ; one seen near Aberdeen
in 1908 and 1909 {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 118).

Stock-Dove in Dee. — Mr. Harvie-Brown records {Ann.
S.N^.H., 1910, p. 119) that Columha osnas, which is spreading
in Scotland, has nested for two years (1908 and 1909) in the
parish of Banchory Ternan.

Blackcock and Capercaillie hybrids. — -Mr. H. S.
Gladstone in recording {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 119) a brood
of these hybrids reared in 1906 near Fasque, Laurencekirk,
Kincardineshire, remarks that Mr. Millais has stated that
female examples of this liybrid are extremely rare. The
brood recorded is said to have consisted of four cocks and three
hens. The four males have been shot and examined, and
two of the females have been shot, but only one retrieved,
and this unfortunately was not preserved.

m/rm

The Vertebrate Fauna of Cheshire and Liverpool Bay. Vol. I.,
pp. 91-459. The Birds of Cheshire. By T. A. Coward
and C. Oldham. Illustrated. (Witlierby & Co.) 1910.
26s. net.

These two liandsome volumes not only contain an account
of the vertebrate zoology of the district, but Mr. J. A. Dockray
has also contributed a chapter on the Dee as a wildfowl resort
by way of introduction to the second volume, and there is
also a very complete bibliography and a useful map. As a
whole, there is no doubt that such an account of the vertebrate
fauna has long been wanted, but our present concern is with
the ornithological section of the work alone, and as the same
authors published a book on the birds of Cheshire so recently
as 1900, it is only natural to enquire whether the writers have
justified by their work the appearance of the present publica-
tion. It is pleasant to be able to say at once, without reference
to the other sections, that they have done so, and the present
book shows a distinct advance on their former work. Of
course, there is naturally a good deal that is common to both
books, but the original work was far more than a mere county-
catalogue, and contained many interesting field-notes and
observations, and we are glad to notice that the present work
is not behindhand in this respect. The avifauna of Cheshire
is, of course, not to be compared in richness with that of some
of our eastern and southern counties, which meet the full
tide of migration, but it is redeemed from the commonplace
by the great range of variation in the character of the countrj^ ;
and the wild moorlands of Longdendale in the east, the mud-
flats and sand-hills of the Dee and Mersey estuaries, and the
meres and mosses of the central plain, all have their character-
istic fauna and flora. Any estimate as to the numb<}r of
species recorded must be somewhat unsatisfactory in
default of an official check-list, such as that published
by the American Ornithologists' Union, as so much division
of ojiinion exists as to the status of many forms, but,
roughly speaking, about 228 species are recognised by the
authors, in addition to several cases, such as the Wagtails,
Redpolls, \A^ieatear, etc., where more than one race has
occurred in the county. This shows a gain of some nuie
species since 1900. Perhaps the most interesting of these
are the occurrence of Schlegel's Petrel, (Estrelata neglecta

02 BRITISH BIRDS.

(Sclilegel), for the first and only time in Eurojie, at Tarporley
in 1908, and that of the American Bkie-winged Teal, Querque-
dula discors (L.), about fifty years ago, a time when it is
extremely improbable that this bird was kept in confinement
in this country. As might have been expected from its distri-
bution in Wales, the Cirl Bunting has now been definitely
recorded from within the county, but we notice that no men-
tion is made of the Willow-Tit. Messrs. Coward and Oldham
regard the Pied Flycatcher as a bird of double passage only,
and are probably correct in their view, but the Field of
October 7th, 1871, contains a statement by W. Purnell that
this species bred on one occasion near Crewe. The site men-
tioned is improbable, but the circumstance is worth investiga-
tion. The Teal (j). 331) not only breeds on the hills east of
Macclesfield, but also on the Longdendale moors. On the
whole errata and misprints are conspicuous by their absence,
but Ave must demur to the name " Northern " European
Nutcracker applied to N. caryocatactes caryocatactes (p. 236).
All the European i"esid»'nt birds belong to the thick-billed
form, which, by the way, breeds in numbers as far south as
Bosnia and is found in the Balkans, and is really a Western
form .

The nomenclature adopted is distinctly in advance of that
of most of our county faunas, and where necessary the
trinomial system has been adopted to distinguish local races.
We think, however, that it might with advantage have been
extended to the British Yellow Wagtail and the Red Grouse.
In conclusion, we may say that the work is capitally illustrated ;
the views of local scenery are good and clear and give an
excellent idea of the countrv.

F. C. R. J.

The British Warblers — A History with Problems of their Lives.
By H. Eliot Howard, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. Part IV.
Coloured and Photogravure Plates (R. H. Porter). 21s.
net. per part.

Another part of Mr. Howard's interesting work on the habits
of the warblers he has studied so intimately is very Avelcome.*
This part concerns chiefly the Common and Lesser White-
throat and is illustrated as before by Mr. Gronvold's beautiful
drawings reproduced in colour and photogravure. Phyllos-
copus viridanus and P. tristis are also included in this part,
but are treated in the usual perfunctory style adopted in
* For notices of previous parts, see Vol. II., i^i^. 67-8. Vol. III., pp. 62-4.

REVIEWS. 63

previous parts for the rare species ; indeed, in the case of the
Greenish Willow- Warbler the author has not even taken the
trouble to discover that the bird recorded from Suleskerry
has been proved to be an example of P. horealis {cf. B.B., Vol.
II., p. 408 ; Vol. III., p. 297). A mistake once made is
certainly difficult to eradicate, but we had not expected a
perpetuation of this error in a work of so special a character.

It is, however, the original information concerning the
habits of our common warblers that makes Mr. Howard's
work so valuable. Although there are many points of simi-
larity in the " courting " habits of the birds the author
has so far dealt A\ith, there are also many slight but important
differences. In the case of the Common Whitethroat we find,
as in other warblers, the male arriving in advance of the
female and occupying a definite territor}^, and battles ensuing
when one invades the territory of another ; further than this,
Mr. Howard has watched the females fighting together when
two have appeared in the same territory, and this he has not
observed in any species other than the Wliitethroat. This
bird is indeed particularly excitable, as must have been noticed
by everyone, and the author mentions an extraordinary case
when a male in his " frenzied excitement " actually built a nest
before the arrival of the female, and curiously enough this
nest was ultimately used for rearing the offspring ; in another
case a male, during the course of his sexual excitement (the
female being present this time) built two incomplete nests
and part of a third, M'liich the female eventually completed.
Like the Blackcap (and other birds) the Whitethroat removes
the fxces of the nestlings and frequently swallows them ;
by a chance experiment Mr. Howard has found that if a leaf
be placed in the nest the bkd will attemj)t to swallow it —
an interesting fact and one which should be noted especially
by those who are wont to claim too much intelligence for the
" lower " animals. An incident is also related which goes far
to prove that parental instinct disappears in the absence of a
proper response from the young.

In his life-history of the Lesser Whitethroat the author
enters into an interesting discussion on the origin and meaning
of a bird assuming an attitude of feigned injury when its young
are threatened. Mr. Howard having already come to the
conclusion that what are commonly called " courting "
displays, are but expressions of emotional states, is now
inclined to believe that " feigning injury " may be explained
in the same way, and this because he finds that the attitudes
assumed by the female Lesser Whitethroat when its young

64 BRITISH BIRDS.

are handled are the same as those of the male during periods of
sexual excitement. \\^iat the enemies are which could be
misled by the " feigning injury " performance the author finds
it difficult to imagine. But we cannot agree that these actions
are not of use to some birds at all events. Let Mr. Howai'd
watch, for example, a Pheasant with a brood suddenly
approached (before they can hide) by a terrier, and he will
find that the dog is misled and chases the old bu*d, which leads
him away and eventually flies off ; even if the dog does return to
the spot where he started, the chicks will by then have become
scattered and so well-hidden that he will be very unlikely to
find them. It would be interesting to collect proofs of actual
benefit to the brood by these manoeuvres in various birds.
Mr. Howard's book is certainly not only informative but
also stimulating.

H. F. W.

[British Birds. Vol. IV.. PI. 2.

MALLARD DUCK BETRAYING ANXIETY.
(Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner.)

BRITI5HDIW)5

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., MB.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. E. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norman F.

ticehurst, m.a., f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 3, Vol. IV. August 1, 1910.

PAGE

On a Mallard Duck removing her Eggs, by Emma L. Turner . . 66

On the Down-Plumage and Mouth-Coloration of Nestling Birds.

I. By C. B. Ticehurst. II. By A. G. Leigh 70

Notes : —

Marking Birds. (H. F. Witherby) 74

Song-Thrush Building in a heap of Bricks (F. C. Hill) . . 74

Blackbirds and Thrushes Nesting on theGround(N.F.Ticehurst) 75

Late Ring-Ouzel in Kent (H. H. Farwig) . . . . . . 77

Redstart and Blue Tit laying in the same Nest (H. R. Tutt) 77

Two Broods reared in a Hedge-Sparrow's Nest (T. R. Ward) 77

Three Long-tailed Tits feeding Young (Smith Whiting) . . 78

Golden Orioles in Derbyshire, etc. (F. C. R. Jourdain) . . 79

A Red-backed Shrike's '= Larder" (N. Tracy) . . . . . . 79

Red-backed Shrike in North Staffordshire (T. Smith) . . 80

Greenfinch swallowing Faeces of Young (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) 81

Late Stay of a Brambling in Ireland (J. Beddall Smith) . . 81
Crossbills Nesting in England : —

In Essex (J. Beddall Smith) ; in Gloucestershire (E. T.
Clarke) ; in Kent (H. R. Tutt) ; in Norfolk (N. Tracy) ;

in Sussex (H. H. Farwig) 81-82

Irruption of Crossbills . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Large Clutch of Eggs of the Wryneck (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . 83

A Great Spotted Woodpecker's Nesting-Hole (E. Earle) . . 84

Tawny Owl nesting in a Rabbit-burrow (H. M. Upcher) . . 84

The Present Status of the British Kite (H. F. Witherby) . . 84

On the Food of the Common Heron (Claud B. Ticehurst) . . 85

Inland Nesting of the Sheld-Duck in Cheshire (T. A. Coward) 86

American Wigeon in Anglesey (Chas. Oldham) . . . . 87

Wood-Sandpiper and Ruffs in Kent in June (H. F. Witherby) 87

Curlew Nesting in Norfolk (N. Tracy) . . . . . . . . 88

Black Tern in Bedfordshire (John Paterson) . . . . . . 88

Marked Sandwich Tern apparently Nesting in its first year

(H. W. Robinson) 88

Food of the Nesting Lesser Black-Backed Gull (H.W.Robinson) 88
On the Food and Feeding-Habits of the Razorbill (F. W.

Frohawk) 90

Short Notes : — Late Fieldfare in Kent. Nesting-Habits of the
Wren. Blue-headed Wagtail breeding in Wiltshire. Pro-
bable Black-headed Wagtail in Norfolk. Wryneck in Cum-
berland. Short-eared Owl Nesting in Essex. Supposed
occurrence of the Swallow-tailed Kite in Surrey. Garganey
on the Solway. Food of the Wood-Pigeon. Stone-Curlews

in Bedfordshire and Cumberland. Black Terns in Yorkshire 92

Review : — The British Bird Book . . . . . . . . . . 95

( 66 )
ON A MALLARD DUCK REMOVING HER EGGS.

BY
EMMA L. TURNER.

I FIRST attempted to photograph this Mallard duck
{Anas hoscas) on May 30th, 1910, but waited for her in
vain about four hours. Her own eggs had been removed
and a clutch of addled ones substituted, as the duck-tribe
is exceedingly shy, and when disturbed will often not
return to the nest for many hours.

The next day I tried again, and after three hours'
delay, thought I had secured a photograph of the duck
brooding, but there was nothing on the plate ! Having
other and more interesting work, which occupied me till
June 28th, I forgot all about this troublesome duck ;
but, finding she was still persistently brooding and I had
a spare day or two, it seemed worth while making another
attempt, besides which I was very tired, and the prospect
of four hours of sitting still with intervals for sleep was
not without its attractions for once. But I paid heavily
for not being wide awake and attending strictly to business.
The Duck onl}^ kept me waiting an hour and a half. I awoke
to find her creeping slowly up to the nest ; when close to
it, she carefully surveyed the situation, and evidently
took exception to something, what I cannot tell ; the inner
workings of a bird's — and especially a duck's — mind are
as complex, and sometimes as irresponsible, as a woman's.
My shelter had stood opposite her for a month and ap-
parently presented the same front ; but to the wary bird
there was a difference, for suddenly she made up her mind,
and, thrusting her bill into the nest, raked up four
eggs all together — shovelled them up, perhaps, I should
say — till they rested against her breast, then gently
assisted them out of the nest. I, alas, not being fully
awake, thought she was merely making a space inside the
nest in which to plant her great splay feet before arranging
herself upon the eggs, and thus lost my best chance of a
curious photograph. Having done this she seemed in
two minds and unable to come to any decision. After

MALLARD DUCK REMOVING HER EGGS. 67

some moments of intent gazing in my direction she ven-
tured on to the nest, but as every movement still betrayed
her anxiety, I dropped the shutter and secured a portrait
in this attitude (Plate 2). With infinite care and caution
I managed to change my plate almost noiselessly, during
which process, however, she slipped off and crouched at a
distance, but soon returned and commenced pulling down
and material out of the nest and arranging it under the
eggs that were removed. She then settled down to brood
over these four eggs, eyeing those in the nest all the while
and frequently pulling out more down . More cautiously even
than before I removed the plate, focussed afresh, and photo-
graphed her (Fig. 1). She then took fright and went away.

As a gale of wind was blowing all the time, I had to
come out and remove bits of loose reed which had blown
across my path ; I also replaced the four eggs and down
inside the nest, returned to my shelter, and waited. It
was just two hours before the duck came back ; mean-
while some reeds had blown down, but these I dared not
remove, as the bird was always near at hand. She then
began taking out the eggs one at a time by pushing them
under her chin (Fig. 2), guiding them with her bill down
the soft slope of her breast, and so " easing " them to the
ground. It was all so quickly done ; four more were
removed in as many seconds, and these she then pushed
one by one along the narrow trackway that most marsh-
birds make to and from their nests, tiU about eighteen
inches away, and well within the shady rushes. There
she brooded over them with her tail towards me. I waited
some time, but nothing happened, neither did she worry
about the six neglected eggs in her nest ; birds have
curious limitations, which vary with individuals.

As the situation was now duU and uninteresting I
went home to lunch, first replacing the eggs. On my
return at 2.30 she had again removed four to the same
spot, which I as persistently put back into the nest, and
waited till 5.30, but she would not show herself, so,
partially covering up the eggs, I left her.

68

BRITISH BIRDS.

On June 29th all the eggs were as usual in the nest and
warm, and the duck close at hand, but though I waited
four hours on that and two successive days, she did not
once venture near, though eventually returning to the nest
after I left. She was sitting closely till to-day, July 8th,
when either her patience is exhausted or the almost un-
paralleled rise of water for the time of year has flooded her out.

FIG. 1. MALLARD DUCK BROODING BEHIND ITS NEST.
(Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner.)

These instances, frequently recorded, of birds
removing eggs or young, while simply pointing to the
fact that, like human beings, they are subject to attacks
of " nerves," nevertheless have an added interest,
because they prove that there is almost as great an
individuality amongst birds, even of the same species,
as amongst men. Snipe, for instance, will usually fly

MALLARD DUCK REMOVING HER EGGS. 69

straight from the nest at the faintest sound made by the
photographer; yet, on May 12th and 16th, I sat most
of the day three feet from a Snipe, waiting for her to hatch
off. Nothing I could do short of actually emerging from
my shelter and putting her up, would induce that bird to
stir. I wrote letters, ate my lunch, took photographs of her
and changed plates with more or less noise, struck matches

FIG. 2. MALLARD DUCK REMOVING AN EGG.
{Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner.)

and barked like a dog, but she bore it all with the utmost
serenity. No two birds will ever behave exactly alike
under the same circumstances. Heredity and tradition
hold them in a tight grip, yet each individual has a certain
amount of " play," and one can never lay down hard and
fast rules for birds — of all nature's children the most erratic.

ON THE DOWN-PLUMAGE AND MOUTH-
COLORATION OF NESTLING BIRDS.^
I.

BY

C. B. TICEHURST, M.A., M.R.C.S., M.B.O.U.

ROBIN.f

Correction. — Outer supra-orbital tract is present as well as
inner supra-orbital.

NIGHTINGALE. Daulias luscinia (L.).

Down. Colour. — Greyish-black.

Character. — Long and plentiful on the head ; long on the
spinal and scanty on the humeral tracts.

Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, and
spinal, the latter a few tufts in centre only.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, orange-yellow ; no tongue-
spots ; externally, flanges very pale yellow.

BLACKCAP. Sylvia atricapilla (L.).

Down. J Absent.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, bright pink ; two long,

oval, symmetrical brownish spots at base of tongue ;

externally, flanges whitish.

BRITISH GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. Regulus regulus
anglorum, Hartert.

Down. Colour. — Dark grey.

Character. — Short and scanty.

Distribution. — -Inner supra-orbital, occipital.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, yellow ; no tongue-spots ;
externally, flanges whitish.

* For previous papers and notes on this subject, see Index Vol. III.,
under " Nestlings."
t Cf. Vol. II., p. 189.
+ Gf. Vol. III., p. 153.

C. B. TICEHURST: PLUMAGES. 71

BRITISH DIPPER. Cinclus cinclus hritannicus, Tschusi.

Down. Colour. — Smoky-grey.

Character. — Very long and plentiful on all the tracts.

Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral and

spinal.
Coloration of Mouth. Inside, pinkish-flesh coloured ; no

tongue-spots ; externally, flanges fairly large and pale

yellow.

BRITISH TREE-CREEPER. Certhia familiaris hritannica,

Ridgway.

Down. Colour. — Blackish-grey.

Character. — ^Long and plentiful.

Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital and occipital.
Coloration of Mouth.* Inside, yellow ; no tongue-spots ;

externally, flanges whitish.

HOUSE-MARTIN. Chelidon urbica.

Down. Colour. — Wliite.

Character. — Rather scanty on all the tracts.

Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, spinal

and femoral.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside orange-yellow, no tongue-
spots ; externally, flanges pale yellow.

LINNET. Linota cannabina (L.).t

Down. Colour. — Grey.

Character. — Fairly long and plentiful, except on the ventral,

femoral and crural tracts.

Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, spinal,

ulnar, femoral, ventral and crural.
Coloration of Mouth. Inside, reddish ; no tongue-spots ;

externally, flanges whitish, red at the angles.

CROSSBILL. Loxia curvirostra curvirostra, L.

Down. Colour. — Very dark grey.

Character. — ^Fairly long and plentiful, except on the outer

supra-orbital, ventral and crural tracts.

Distribution. Inner and outer supra-orbital, occipital,

humeral, spinal, ulnar, femoral, ventral and crural.
Coloration of Mouth. Inside, partly violet-pink, partly

yellow ; no tongue-spots ; externally, flanges pale yellow.
Bill. — Short, thick ; bright yellow.

* Of. Vol. II., p. 195.
t Of. Vol. III., p. 154.

72 BRITISH BIRDS.

CORN-BUNTING. Emberiza miliaria, L.

Down. Colour. — Dirty greyish-buff.

Character. — Moderate length, tracts well marked.
Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, spinal,
ulnar, femoral, filaments on the greater wing-coverts.
Crural and ventral tracts apparently absent.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, flesh-coloured ; no tongue-
spots ; externally, gape pale yellow.

YELLOW BUNTING. Emberiza citrinella, L.*

Down. Colour. — Grey.

Character. — Long and plentiful, except on the ventral and
crural tracts.

Distribution. — Inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, spinal,
ulnar, femoral, ventral and crural.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, pale yellow ; no tongue-
spots ; externally, flanges pale yellow.

BRITISH JAY. Garrulus glandarius rufitergum, Hartert.

Down. Absent.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, pink ; no tongue-spots ;
externally, flanges pinkish.

MAGPIE. Pica pica (L.).
Down. Absent.

WRYNECK. lynx torquilla, L.

Down. Absent.

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, pink ; tongue long, " tele-
scopic," serrated subterminally and dark at tip ; externally,
flanges pale.

KINGFISHER. Alcedo ispida, L.

Down. Absent. f

Coloration of Mouth. Inside, pinkish ; no tongue-spots ;

externally, the flanges are practically non-existent in this

species.

I am indebted to Messrs. H. S. Gladstone, J. Walpole-Bond
and H. F. Witherby for some of the specimens.

* Of. Vol. III., pp. 154, 417 ; Vol. IV., p. 23.
t Cf. Vol. XL, p. 194.

A. G. LEIGH: PLUMAGES. 73

II.

By A. G. Leigh.

In connection with Mr. Dewar's note on the change of the
mouth-coloration of the nestling Yellow Bunting (Vol. IV.,
p. 23) it is interesting to note that a similar change takes place
in the Tree-Pipit [Anthus trivialis) ; in a previous note (Vol.
III., p. 154) I stated that the mouth-coloration was lemon-
yellow, changing in four days' time to deep carmine ; this
year I have examined nestlings from the day they hatched,
and the change was as follows : — Newly hatched, deep orange ;
two days old, pale orange ; four days old, turning crimson ;
six days old, crimson ; seven days old, full carmine. There
was no sign of spots at any age, but at four days old the tongue-
spurs were noticeably lighter. {N.B. — The nestlings examined
last year were probably about two days old).

SEDGE-WARBLER, Acrocephalus phragmitis (Bechst.).
Down. Absent.

Coloration of Mouth. Pale orange, black spots on tongue-
spurs.

ROOK. Corvus fugilegus, L.
Down. Colour. — Dusky grey ; skin of body black.
Distribution. — Humeral, spinal, ulnar and femoral.

Coloration of Mouth. Bright crimson ; tongue-spurs pale
orange.

OTES

MARKING BIRDS.

PROGRESS OF THE " BRITISH BIRDS' " SCHEME.

I AM glad to be able to report that so far as the number of
birds marked is concerned, the results to date are extremely
satisfactory. The demands for rings largely exceeded my
expectations, and I regret that it was not always possible
to supply them immediately in the quantities required.
Between ten and eleven thousand rings have been sent out
this year, and schedules recording the marking of between
five and six thousand birds have already been returned.

When all the schedules have been sent in, I hope to give
further details of the number of birds marked ; meanwhile I
take the opportunity of sincerely tlianking those who have
spent so much time and labour in marking.

It is to be hoped that those into whose hands ringed birds
fall will record their finds. It would greatly assist the enquiry
if every reader of British Birds would advertise as widely
as possible the fact that these birds have been ringed, and
would point out that it is essential that we should be
informed of (1) the number on the ring ; (2) the place where
found, and (3) the date when found of every marked bird
recovered.

H. F. WiTHERBY.

SONG-THRUSH BUILDING IN A HEAP OF BRICKS.

The nest shown in the accompanying photograph is that of
a Song-Thrush {Turdus m-w^tCMs), and was buOt in a heap of
bricks at Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on the road-side. The
nest was found in April, 1910, but the young were not
hatched.

F. C. Hill.

NOTES.

75

NEST OF A SONG-THRUSH IX A HEAP OF BRICKS AT
SKELMERSDALE, LANCS.

BLACKBIRDS AND SONG-THRUSHES NESTING ON
THE GROUND.

Every now and then instances of Blackbirds {Turdus merula)
and Song-Thrushes {T. musicus) nesting on the ground are
recorded as though this habit were something very unusual.
In the Wealden district of Kent and Sussex this habit is not
at all unusual and I have long been familiar with nests on the
ground in such situations as the sides of hedgerow-banks and
in the sides of ditches. Indeed, in this district such nests are
quite common. Another situation, which is also quite common,
is on the " stubs " in the coppice- woods, which abound all
over the Weald, and on which the nests are seldom raised more
than an inch or two from the ground-level and are often at
ground-level. Rather more favourable opportunities this

76

BRITISH BIRDS.

year for making observations enable me to offer some explana-
tion for this " low-nesting " habit. The early nests of
these species are often built before the leaf is out, and are
almost always three or four feet from the ground in coppice,
hedgerow or on a " stake and binder " fence, and it is a matter
of experience that very few of the eggs laid in them escape
the notice of the Jays (and perhaps other predatory birds or
mammals) that abound throughout the woodlands. As a

blackbird's nest in a clump of grass.

{Photographed by N. F. Ticehurst.)

general rule the low-built nests are the later ones, built towards
the middle of May, they often contain no more than three eggs,
and are evidently second or even third attempts at breeding.
It is very suggestive, therefore, that the birds are becoming
aware that greater concealment is necessary, if they are to
nest successfully, and thus this low-building habit is gradu-
ally being acquired, and may in time become general.

NOTES. 77

The accompanying photograph is of a Blackbird's nest in a
tuft of grass in the middle of an open orchard, and was taken in
the district above referred to. N. F. Ticehurst.

LATE RING-OUZEL IN KENT.

It may be of interest to record that on June 7th, 1910, I saw
a single male Ring-Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) at Edenbridge,
Kent. There was no sign of a pair of birds, but in any case
this would appear to be an unusually late date for this species
on migration. H. H. Earwig.

REDSTART AND BLUE TIT LAYING IN THE SAME

NEST.
On May 19tli, 1910, I was surprised to find a nest at Eastwell,
Kent, containing eggs of both the Redstart {Ruticilla fhoeni-
curus) and the Blue Tit {Parus coeruleus). There were six
eggs of each species. After watching the tree for about five
minutes I saw a pair of Blue Tits fly into the branches, and
almost at the same time the female Redstart went into the
hole and stayed there. The Blue Tits afterwards flew away.
The nest was evidently built by the Redstart, judging from
the materials used in its construction. Both the eggs of the
Redstart and those of the Blue Tit seemed perfectly fresh.
Unfortunately I was unable to visit the spot again, but
thought the note might perhaps interest your readers.

H. R. TuTT.
[A good many instances are on record in which Redstarts'
eggs have been found together with those of other species.
Among these may be mentioned the Great Tit (Parus major),
Blue Tit {Parus coeruleus), Penduline Tit {JEgithalus pendu-
linus), Robin {Erithacus rubecula) and Pied Flycatcher
{Muscicapa atricapilla) . As a rule the Redstart is ejected by
its fellow lodger, and it would have been interesting to know
by which species the young were finally reared. — F.C.R.J.]

TWO BROODS REARED IN THE SAME HEDGE-
SPARROW'S NEST.
Near the end of May I found at Worcester Park, Surrey, a
nest of a Hedge-Sparrow {Accentor modularis) with three
young and one egg. A couple of days later the young flew.
About a fortnight later, on examining the nest again, I found
a Hedge-Sparrow sitting upon three freshly-laid eggs and the
old addled one which had been left in the nest. I have no
proof that this bird is the same individual which reared the
first brood in this same nest, but it seems likely that this is
the case. T. R. Ward.

78

BRITISH BIRDS.

THREE LONG-TAILED TITS FEEDING YOUNG IN
ONE NEST.

This spring (1910) I had a nest of a Long-tailed Tit {Acredula
caudata) pointed out to me ; the nest was situated in a gorse-
bush about three feet from the ground. On April 30th the
young were hatched out ; the day was rather dull for photo-
graphy, so I decided to visit the nest again. Just as I was

ONE OF THREE ADULT LONG-TAILED TITS FEEDING YOUNG

AT THE SAME NEST.

{Photographed by Smith Whiting.)

leaving my photographing tent, however, I noticed two birds
in the gorse-bush, and I distinctly heard a " cheep cheep "
on my left close to the tent ! This aroused my curiosity.

On May 4th I again put up the tent, and I then was able
to confirm my suspicions about three birds feeding at the same

NOTES. 79

nest. I am not certain about the sexes, but one bird with an
extra long tail (photograph enclosed) I took to be a cock, and
two others, which also fed assiduously, I thought were hens.

On coming out of the tent I laid up close to the nest and
distinctly saw all the three bu'ds near the nest at the same
time with food. Smith Whiting.

[Cases of four adult Long-tailed Tits at one nest were
referred to in Vol. I., pp. 32 and 62. Instances of three birds
in attendance on the young in one nest have come under my
notice, both in the case of the Long-tailed Tit, and the Swallow
{Hirundo rustica). In both cases the number of young was
normal. — F.C.R.J.]

GOLDEN ORIOLES IN DERBYSHIRE, WESTMORLAND
AND FIFESHIRE.

On May 20th, 1910, I received a letter from Mr. C. H. WeUs,
in which he informed me that a pair of Golden Orioles {Oriolus
galbula L.) had been seen at Cratcliff Tor, near Bakewell, and
that the male bird had unfortunately been killed. Sub-
sequent inquiry showed that the two birds were seen on May
14th ; the male was killed by a small boy, but had been bat-
tered about the head by Jackdaws which were pursuing it.
The other bird disappeared and has not been seen since. On
examining the cock bird I found that it was not in fully adult
plumage, but retained the median stripes on the breast-
feathers, and had the back washed with dusky-olive instead
of bright golden-yellow. F. C. R. Jourdain.

[An immature male was picked up dead at Brathay, near
Windermere, on May 16th, 1909 (D. L. Thorpe and L. E.
Hope, Zool., 1910, p. 184). This appears to be the first
recorded occurrence of this bird in Westmorland. It will
be remembered that a Golden Oriole was got in Dumfriesshire
on April 30th, 1909 (c/. Vol. III., p. 379). An adult was found
dead on May 16th, 1910, in the policies of Dhuloch House,
Inverkeithing, Fifeshire (W. Eagle Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat.
Hist., 1910, p. 182).— H.F.W.]

A RED-BACKED SHRIKE'S "LARDER."

On June 19tli, 1910, I went with a gamekeeper into a wood
at Castle Rising, Norfolk, to see a nest which he had found
of a Red-backed Shrike [Lanius collurio). The nest was in
an elder bush and was about five feet from the ground, and
contained five eggs, which had been incubated for about a
week. The keeper had not found the " larder," but after a few
minutes' search we found it in a hawthorn tree about twenty-

80 BRITISH BIRDS.

five yards from the nest. The " larder " consisted of a young,
almost fully-fledged, Blue Tit, two young Pheasants, which
had not been touched, and two more young Pheasants which
were half eaten, and the remains of several other young birds
which were too far gone to be identified, only a few feathers
remaining sticking to the thorns ; in every case the birds
were impaled by the thorns running through their throats.
Although I looked carefully I could not see any beetles, or
anything else but young birds. The birds were not grouped
together, but were scattered about nearly all round the tree.
On July 5th I visited the nest again, and found that in the
meantime the eggs had been taken ; on going to look at the
" larder," I found that all the young birds had disappeared,
with the exception of one of the young Pheasants, which had
been untouched at my first visit, and of which now only a
leg and a few feathers remained. I saw the keeper again
before I left, and he told me that he had seen the Shrikes
several times in the hawthorn tree since we first discovered the
"larder." N. Tracy.

RED-BACKED SHRIKE IN NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE.

On June 20th, when on an expedition with my friend
Mr. Masefield near Whiston (a village in North Staffs.), we
came across the nest of a Red-backed Shrike [Lanius collurio),
containing four young birds almost ready to leave the nest,
and also an addled egg. The nest was in a very exposed
position, characteristic of this species, and we had very little
difficulty in ringing and photographing the occupants. These
birds rarely visit the northern part of the county, and are
very irregular in their appearance in the more hilly districts,
so that this occurrence is quite worth noting.

T. Smith.
[Formerly a pair bred annually about seven miles north-
north-east of Whiston, just across the Staffordshire boundary,
in the parish of Thorpe, but I regret to say that owing to
persecution the birds have abandoned the locality of late years.
A pair is also recorded as breeding near Cheadle in 1908
{N. Staffs. F. Club Eep., Vol. XLIV., p. 71).— F.C.R.J.]

GREENFINCH SWALLOWING F^CES OF YOUNG.

Whilst photographing a Greenfinch {Ligurinus chloris) feeding
young, I saw the hen deliberately swallow the fceces of the
young.

There was no doubt about this, for on one occasion there

NOTES. 81

were two to be disposed of, and after swallowing them the
hen bird stayed some time at the nest.

H. W. Ford-Lindsay.
[The habit of swallowing the fceces of the young is, of course,
common in many species, and has often been recorded, but
it is interesting to have definite records of this habit in various
species. Whether the bhd sometimes swallows and some-
times carries away the fceces or regularly does either should
be noted. — Eds.]

LATE STAY OF A BR AMBLING IN IRELAND.

On June 13th, 1910, near the sea coast at Ballywalter, co.
Down, I observed and watched at close quarters a male
Brambling {Fringilla rnontifringilla). It was feeding amongst
Chaffinches on manure by the roadside. It was very tame,
but was perfect in plumage, and had not been in confinement,
at any rate recently, I should say.

I several times heard what I took to be another bird
answering the harsh, characteristic call of the bird seen.
This second bird was, however, some little distance away,
and as I could not get a view of it, I am unable to say with
certainty that it was another Brambling, although I am fairly
confident that it was one.

This appears to be a very late date for this bird.

J. Beddall Smith.

[Mr. R. J. Ussher {Birds of Ireland, p. 63) has no record for
a Brambling later than April in Ireland. — Eds.]

CROSSBILLS NESTING.

In Essex.

I HAVE already reported (Vol. III., p. 409) that two pairs
of Crossbills thought to be breeding were seen at Bardfield
{not Bradfield) at the end of March, 1910. I am now able to
confirm the nesting, as two nests w^ere found during April.
From one of these the young had flown. The other nest,,
although completed, was never tenanted.

J. Beddall Smith,

In Gloucestershire.

I THINK it will be of interest to put on record that Crossbills
bred in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham this year (1910).
I have heard of several nests and obtained one with eggs in
April. It was built in a Scotch fir. Two young birds were
being fed by their parents in the same tree in which was the
nest with eggs. E. T. Clarke.

82 BRITISH BIRDS.

In Kent.

On May 20tli, 1910, in company with Mr. C. Stedman, of
Ashford, Kent, I investigated a spot where we thought Cross-
bills might possibly be breeding. A narrow wood borders
a marsh beneath the North Downs, not far from Ashford,
and the wood is margined on either side with a belt of Scotch
pines. Cones, newly worked by Crossbills, were beneath
several trees, and soon we located five or six birds in one
tree, all busy working at the cones. In the tree next this
we found a typical Crossbill's nest, placed at the end of a
branch from fifteen to tAventy feet in length, and about
seven feet from ground-level, but overhanging a ditch with
banks four feet deep. There were no eggs, but the nest
appeared to be just finished. On May 22nd there were two
eggs. Mr. Stedman visited the nest on the 25th, as I was
unable to go, and reported that there were five eggs.

H. R. TuTT.
In Norfolk.

The Crossbills (reported antea, j). 22) still seem to be fanly
plentiful in the Castle Rising district. On June 19th I paid
a visit to the wood where the Crossbill's nest was found, and
had a chat with the keeper who found it. He told me that
about six weeks ago he saw a good many family parties of
young Crossbills in the wood, and on several occasions he
watched them being fed by the parent birds. So there
evidently must have been several other nests besides the one
I recorded. Wliile I was in the wood I heard some Crossbills.
Later on in the morning I met another keeper, and he told
me that they seemed to be forming into flocks again, and that
he had seen flocks of sixteen or seventeen for the last three
mo nings. Both of these keepers are most reliable men, and
are both quite familiar with the Crossbill — in fact, they were
the first to notice their presence at Castle Rising. The Cross-
bills have now been in this locality for quite a year.

N. Tracy,
In Sussex.

On April 24th, 1910, in the neighbourhood of East Grinstead
I discovered two young Crossbills about six or eight days
out of the nest, the call-note being very similar to that of
the adult. They appeared to be of a duU brown plumage,
the breast being streaked and spotted with a darker tint.
Although I remained some little time in the vicinity nothing
was to be seen of the parent birds. H. H. Farwig.

NOTES. 83

IRRUPTION OF CROSSBILLS.

Kent. — On June 26th, 1910, I saw three lots of Crossbills in
the same locality near Tenterden, as those referred to
by Dr. C. B. Ticehurst {antea, p. 53). Two of the lots
were small, containing seven and four birds respectively ;
while the third was a flock of some twenty birds. They
were all wild and restless, feeding for a few minutes only
at one spot, and then flying off for some distance ; their
habits in this respect differing markedly from those
watched early in the year, and suggesting that the birds
were on the move and their visit merely that of passing
migrants {N. F. Ticehurst).

Norfolk. — On May 30th, 1910, I saw twenty-six Crossbills
near Potter Heigham {E. L. Turner). They appear to
have left the S waff ham district, the last being seen on
June 15th (Rev. E. T. Daubeney).

St. Kilda. — Immediately on my arrival at St. Kilda on
July 7th, 1910, I saw a child playing with a small bird.
On examination this proved to be a Crossbill in a starved
condition. The child told me that he had found it on
the shore a few minutes before I landed. It was so
weak from want of food that it was not able to fly. One
of the natives told me that there were plenty of the same
kind of birds on the island, but I found that he thought
it was a Sparrow with a deformed beak ! I think this is
the first record for the Crossbill on St. Kilda [0. G. Pike).

Surrey. — A party of four on the North Downs near Wolding-
ham on June 26th, 1910, and two at Limpsfield on July
17th [Howard Bentham).

Warwickshire. — A flock of fifteen in the Earlswood district
(no date). A flock on December 18th, 1909, at Stratford-
on-Avon (F. Coburn, North Staffs. F. Club Rep., Vol.
XLIV., p. 113).

Worcestershire. — Plentiful at Stourport (no date) (F.
Coburn, North Staffs. F. Club Rep., Vol. XLIV., p. 113).

Westmorland. — A pair on April 30th, 1910, one on May 2nd
and a flock of fifteen to twenty about May 10th at Ray-
rigg Wood, Windermere {D. G. Garnett).

LARGE CLUTCH OF EGGS OF THE WRYNECK.

The large number of fourteen eggs was laid by a Wryneck
[lynx torquilla) this season at Pett, Sussex, all of which were
duly hatched out, but, unfortunately, the hole in the tree
being very small, the young were nearly all suffocated, only
five being eventually reared. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

84 BRITISH BIRDS.

A GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER'S NESTING-
HOLE.

In the early part of June, 1910, I had an opportunity of
observing in Kent a Great Spotted Woodpecker {Dendrocopus
major) preparing its nesting-hole. The site chosen was the
bole of a beech-tree. The cavity was he\Mi by the bu-d in dead
wood, which, however, was not decayed, and which was so
hard that little or no impression could be made upon it by
the finger-nail. Notwithstanding the hardness of the wood,
the excavation was completed, from start to finish, in about
eight days. The mass of white wood-chips resulting from the
bird's operations presented a remarkable appearance, and
closely resembled a snow-drift, extending a couple of yards
from the base of the tree. Unfortunately, the Woodpecker
was evicted by a Starling as soon as the nesting-site had been
completed, but before she left the locality the Woodpecker
laid one egg a short distance from the nesting-tree.

Edward Eaele.

TAWNY OWL NESTING IN A RABBIT-BURROW.

A Tawny Owl [Syrnium aluco) nested in a rabbit-hole this
year at Sheringham, Norfolk, and brought off four young ones.
The hole had a large mouth and the nest was about three feet
down. H. M. Upcher.

THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE BRITISH KITE.

A FEW years ago the continued existence of the Kite {Milvus
ictinus) as a British species seemed doomed. The bird (except
for a rare straggler at long intervals) was, and indeed still is,
confined to Wales, and in 1905 the total number surviving
was believed to be only five. Those who had up to that time
done their best to keep the Kites alive were fain to admit
that their doom seemed sealed, and some even suggested
that eggs should be imported from the Continent and jjlaced
in the nests of Buzzards ! Had this been done, and had the
experiment been successful, it need hardly be pointed out
that the Kite as an indigenous species would have imme-
diately been lost, and been replaced by an introduced bird.
Fortunately, in 1905, Mr. E. G. B. Meade- Waldo took up the
duty of protecting the Kites on behalf of the British Ornitho-
logists' Club, and the result of five years of unremitting care,
and the expenditure of much money, has been that the British
Kite, if not now safe, is at all events so far increased in numbers
that its extinction is unlikely. A little while ago Mr. Meade-

NOTES. 85

Waldo reported progress to the members of the British Orni-
thologists' Club (c/. Bull. B.O.C., XXV., pp. 82-3). In 1905
four young were reared, raising the total to nine. In 1906
three young were knouTi to be reared, raising the total to
twelve. In 1907 the Kites appear to have increased by four ;
while in 1908 six nests were known, yet no young seem to
have been reared owing to mishaps. In 1909 seven pairs
were kno\ATi, but only one young one appears to have fledged.
Thus in 1909 fifteen bu-ds in any case were known to exist,
and there may very well have been more in the wild country
they frequent. This year Mr. Meade- Waldo tells me the good
news that out of four nests watched six young ones are safe,
and we may hope that the other pairs have been equally for-
tunate. Thus in five years the number of Kites has been
raised from five to well over twenty.

It is painful to have to admit that this result has only been
achieved by force. That is to say, the nests have been watched
night and day to prevent their being robbed by the collector
of rare British eggs or his agent. The extinction of any
creature in any area is a deplorable loss to science, yet many
of those Avho would not hesitate to jeopardise the existence of
any rare British breeding-bird by taking its eggs have the
audacity to call themselves scientific, and it has become
necessary for those who take a more correct view to spend
their time and money in protecting ornithology from " orni-
thologists " !

The collecting of " British taken " eggs is a mania, and it
can be called nothing else, which is an undoubted and
dangerous menace to the science of ornithology.

H. F. WiTHERBY.

ON THE FOOD OF THE COMMON HERON.

On June 6th, 1910, I visited a well-knoA^Ti heronry and found
that the nests contained young in all stages of growth and
some eggs not yet hatched. On leaving the trees some of
the old birds vomited up half-digested food, and two specimens
which I examined consisted of eels and moles. The stomach of
a bird about a week old contained two eels, each six inches
long, the remains of what appeared to be water-beetles, and
several shrimps ; the latter had been turned quite pink by
the digestive process. There were also in the stomach several
long pieces of grass and some macerated wood-fibre, as well
as two dead, but freshly-swallowed, oak-twigs, the larger

86 BRITISH BIRDS.

being about 50 by 3 mm., the other much, smaller. \Miether
these twigs were swallowed accidentally or whether they aid
digestion, as do stones and grit in graminivorous birds, it is
bard to say. Claud B. Ticehurst,

INLAND NESTING OF THE SHELD-DUCK IN
CHESHIRE.

Although the Sheld-Duck [Tadorna cornuta) has been kno\\Ti
to nest at a distance from salt-water, and in some parts of
its range is said to do so regularly, it is usually spoken of as
entirely maritime in its breeding-habits. In Cheshire the bird
has greatly increased in numbers during the last few years,
and pairs now nest regularly at some distance from the coast.
For four years paii-s have nested on the sandy banks of Oak-
mere, a water in Delamere Forest, eight miles distant from the
Mersey Estuary, the nearest salt-water. In or about the year
1900 a pair first selected this site ; the eggs were dug out of
the rabbit-burrow and put under a hen, but only two young
birds were reared, and they were subsequently killed by foxes.
In the springs of 1907, 1908 and 1909, I saw Sheld-Ducks
on several occasions on Oakmere, but it was not until this
year that I learnt that birds had nested in each of these three
seasons. Each j^ear the eggs were either taken for sitting or
were robbed by collectors ; in no case were young brought off.
Early in April, 1910, one, and sometimes two, pair of birds
frequented the mere ; I frequently saw them during April,
May and early June, but I never felt sure that two ducks
were sitting. On June 18th I saw a duck fly in from the north,
as if she had come from the sea, and almost at once enter her
burrow. Five young were seen outside the hole on the 23rd ,
and four were captured by the gamekeeper ; when I saw
them on the 25th they were feeding well and looked healthy,
but two died on the 26tli and a third on the 27th ; the fourth
was doing well when I last saw it — on July 16th. The game-
keeper saw a pair of old birds with seven young on the water
on June 27th, but within two or three days both young and
old had vanished ; he concluded that these were the brood
of the second pau% but it is possible that he did not see all
the young on the 23rd. I cannot say what became of the
birds ; it is possible that the parents started to walk them to
the sea, an almost impossible feat attempted by a pair which
nested on the banks of the Weaver, four miles inland, in
1907 ; but it is more likely that foxes, which abound in the
neighbourhood, destroyed all the young. T. A. Coward.

NOTES. 87

AMERICAN WIGEON IN ANGLESEY.
On June 21st, 1910, and again on June 23rd I spent several
hours with Mr. J. Steele Elliott and the Rev. D. Edmondes
Owen watching an American Wigeon (Mareca americana)
on the lake at Presaddfed, near Holyhead. The bird usually
consorted with a bunch of Teal, and, whether in the company
of the other ducks or alone, was full of nervous activity,
constantly on the alert, and rose on the wing at the least
alarm. It was indeed only by careful stalking that we were
able to approach it, and everything in its appearance and
behaviour negatived the idea that it had escaped from cap-
tivity. Strong as it was on the wing, it had some difficulty
in keeping up with the Teal when the birds Mere in full flight,
and generally lagged, the last bird in the bunch. Aided by
binoculars and a telescope we were able on each day to get
near enough to the Wigeon to study its plumage in detail
and to identify it with certainty. An adult drake, it seemed
to be in full breeding-dress, and its intense black under tail-
coverts as yet showed no sign of the white feathering that
marks the assumption of the eclipse-plumage. The crown
was very pale grey — in some lights almost white, though not
the pure white of the patch in front of the black under tail-
coverts, a patch which was seen to extend from the belly
right over the rump when the bird raised its wings. The
sides of the head and the neck were hoary, and a broad ill-
defined green streak extended from the eye backwards and
then downwards. The bill was greyish-blue with a black
tip. The lower neck, breast, back and sides were vinaceous ;
the belly white ; the primaries and rectrices very dark grey,
appearing at a distance to be quite black. The pale shoulders
and the white on the wing-coverts, which formed a conspicuous
broad bar across the wing when the bird was in flight, were
concealed by the vinaceous feathers of the flanks when it was
at rest on the water. Chas. Oldha^i.

WOOD-SANDPIPER AND RUFFS IN KENT IN JUNE.

As it is unusual, perhaps, for Wood-Sandpij^ers {Totanus
glareola) and Ruffs {Machetes pugnax) to be present in the
south of England in June, it may be worth noting that when
watching birds in company with other ornithologists in west
Kent on June lltli, 1910, we saw in two places a Wood-
SandpijDer (it may possibly have been only one bird) and three
Ruffs and one Reeve. Two of the Ruffs were in full summer-
plumage and the third had an incomplete " frill." We also
saw a flock of five other bu'ds which we thought were Ruffs,
but they were too Avild to enable us to identify them with any
certainty. H. F. Witherby.

88 BRITISH BIRDS.

CURLEW NESTING IN NORFOLK.

A NEST of the Curlew (Numenius arquaia) was found on May
I5th, 1910, on a fen in west Norfolk. The nest contamed
four eggs, which had been incubated for about a week, and
although I did not see the nest myself, I know the gentleman
who found it, and can vouch for its authenticity. I am also
familiar with the locality, and have seen the pair of Curlew
there several times since the nest was found.

N. Tracy.

BLACK TERN IN BEDFORDSHIRE.

When at Woburn on May 17th, 1910, with Mr. H. Boyd Watt,
I saw a Black Tern {Hydrochelidon nigra) at one of the ponds
there. John Paterson.

MARKED SANDWICH TERN APPARENTLY
NESTING IN ITS FIRST YEAR.

The watcher over the Sandwich Terns {Sterna cantiaca) at
Ravenglass, Cumberland, informs me that early in June, 1910,
he watched, through his glasses, a Sandwich Tern uj)on its
nest, containing two eggs, and distinctly saw a metal ring
upon its leg as it approached its nest. Mr. Smalley and
I marked forty-two Sandwich Terns as nestlings at this
colony last summer, and as the keeper is quite certain that
no Sandwich Terns were marked there in any previous year,
it seems almost equally certain that this is one of those which
we marked there as a nestling last year, and, if so, is interest-
ing in showing that the birds are apparently in adult plumage
and breed in their first year and also that the young return
to their birth-place to uest. H. W. Robinson.

FOOD OF THE NESTING LESSER BLACK-
BACKED GULL.

During two visits paid to a nesting- colony of Lesser Black-
backed Gulls [Larus fuscus) in W^estmorland I made
an examination of the nature of the food of these birds and
found it to be of a most miscellaneous character. Garbage,
entrails and other slaughter-house refuse comprised the greater
part of the food found on the nesting-site, but the remains
of small crabs were also found in large numbers, as well as
the small pink shells of the tellen {Macoma halthica = Tellina
solidula), either deposited in heaps in a complete condition,

NOTES. 89

as if disgorged from the crop, or found ground up in the
excreta. No other shells were seen, which is interesting in
view of the fact that the species is said to be very destructive
to cockles, which it is said to obtain by treading the sand
until they come to the surface. In view of this statement
I searched diligently for such shells, without any success
whatsoever.

The fish remains were not too numerous, although a fair
number of eels' skeletons were in evidence, and some of small
flounders, and also the remains of three small sea-trout of
about a pound to two j^ounds in weight. Garbage picked off
the shore was found in the form of a few dead rats, kittens,
Guillemots, etc., and upon our first visit we were very much
struck by the number of heads of domestic poultry, as many
as seven being found together on one small feeding " table,"
and the birds must have discovered some place where a large
number of poultry had been killed for the market. We saw
also the remains of a few young rabbits, and although such
miscellaneous articles as tallow-candles do not seem to be
despised as an article of food, these Gulls do not seem to prey
upon the toads and vipers which appear to flourish among
them. It is interesting to note that a brood of Pheasants
was found almost in the midst of the colony, and that the keeper
rears Pheasants on its borders without any trouble from the
Gulls, although I know for a fact that they can be very destruc-
tive to young Pheasants when other food is scarce. Some
heaps of very large dead earthworms were also found. There are
recognised feeding "tables" throughout the colony, where
the grass and heather are trodden flat, and to which paths
lead from all directions through the thick heather and under-
growth. On our first visit to the colony, on June 24th, the
young were in all stages of development, a few being already
on the wing and a few eggs yet unhatched ; but on July 8th,
when I visited them again, all the eggs had hatched and all
the young seen were fully feathered, with the exception of
three or four, whose heads were still in the do\\-n although
the birds were almost full gro\Mi. The mortality among the
young is very small, only four young ones and one adult being
found dead, the latter being found on the occasion of my
last visit.

We only managed to ring one hundred and five of the young,
because our first visit was unfortunately made on a pouring
wet day, when many of the young looked more dead than
alive, and were not marked for that reason.

H. W. Robinson,

90 BRITISH BIRDS.

ON THE FOOD AND FEEDING-HABITS OF THE
RAZORBILL.

On June 30th, 1909, I visited one of the loftiest stack of rocks
of the Scilly group for the purpose of watching the various
sea-birds which breed there. LTpon reaching the summit,
some 140 feet high, I found myself in the midst of a colony
of Razorbills (Alca torda). Many of these birds sat in rows
on the great rugged boulders piled up one above the other,
which formed innumerable suitable recesses for nesting ;

RAZORBILL CARRYING SAND-EELS TO YOUNG.
{Drawn by F. W. Frohawk.)

in these I found many young birds in down, of various
sizes, but none more than half grown. The old birds appeared
fearless of my presence ; they sat quite still in rows only a few
feet away, simply staring at me. A large number were con-
tinually arriving and leaving the rocks, and several brought
in fish for their young ; now and again these fortunately
settled close to me, when they gave me excellent opportunities
for observation. I counted as many as twelve small fish in

NOTES. 91

the bill of one bird at a time, all arranged in a regular row
at right angles to the bill, in the manner shown in the accom-
panying drawing, from a sketch I made soon after watching
the birds.

In every instance I noted the only fish carried to the young
were sand-eels or launce [Ammodytes lanceolatus) .

It is stated by Howard Saunders in his Manual, that the food
of the Razorbill " consists of small fish, which are carried
diagonally in the bill — not at right-angles, as in the Puffin."
And Dr. Patten, in his Aquatic Birds of Great Britain and
Ireland, also remarks that sprats, carried diagonally in the
beak, form the principal diet.

The sand-eel forms the chief food of the Razorbill and
Puffin at the Scilly Islands, and it may be that only this
particular kind of fish is held by the Razorbill in the way
shown in the drawing, which is the only position I have seen it
held by both the Puffin and Razorbill. It would be very
interesting to learn ho\\; the Razorbill contrives to fill its
bill with so many fish at once. Does it catch and kill or
disable one before catching another ? If they are held alive
how does it manage to catch one after the other without
loosing the hold of those already in the bill ? Considering
that sand-eels are remarkably rapid in their movements, it
must require even greater rapidity and skill on the part of
the Razorbill to catch them in the way it does.

Unlike the Cormorant, Shag, and many other aquatic birds,
the Razorbill uses its wings under water ; in fact, while fishing
it flies under the surface, and this is a great aid in securing its
prey. The disproportionately small size of the wings of the
Razorbill, Guillemot, and Puffin renders them especially
well adapted for use under water. Although the wings of
these birds are so small in proportion to the bulk and weight
of their bodies, it is remarkable how rapidly they fly when once
well on the wing, but in rising from the surface of the water
they spread out their feet laterally. The following weights
and measurements of these three species I took directly after
shooting them : —

Razorbill." — Expanse of wing varying from 25 inches to
27J inches ; wing from carpal joint to tip of longest primary
from 7 1 inches to 8 inches ; total length from 16 inches to
16J inches ; weight from 1 lb. 3^^ ozs. to 1 lb. 6 ozs.

Guillemot. — Expanse of wing varying from 24| inches to
27J inches ; wing from 7^ inches to 7f inches ; total length
from 16 inches to 17 J inches ; weight from 1 lb. 11 ozs. to
1 lb. 13 ozs.

92 BRITISH BIRDS.

Puffin. — Expanse of wing varying from 21;^ inches to
21| inches ; wing from 6^ inches to 6J inches ; total length
from 11| inches to 12^ inches ; weight from 11 J ozs. to
14J ozs.

The Common Tern has an expanse of wing of 31 inches,
and weighs 4 ozs. Yet with this comparatively great extent
of wing its flight is much less rapid in a direct line than that
of the species mentioned above. F. W. Feohawk.

Late Fieldfare in Kent. — ^Mr. Collingwood Ingram saw
a single Turdus pilaris flying over Thanet on May 17th, 1910
{ZooL, 1910, p. 227).

Nesting-Habits of the Wren. — Captain R. B. Campbell
writes to the {Field, June 25tli, 1910, p. 1112) giving details of a
case in which a " cock's nest " of a Wren {Troglodytes parvulus)
built while incubation was proceeding, was left unlined for
quite six weeks and then lined and eggs deposited in it. In
the issue for July 2nd (p. 52) Mr. H. S. Davenport remarks
that he has always found that some " cock's nests " are
lined and used for breeding purposes after a period of a
month or six weeks, while others are merely used for roosting
purposes and remain unlined. The object of the well-kno\^'n
" cock's nests " has always been a debateable point
but there is no doubt that they are frequently occupied for
roosting purposes in autumn and winter. Mr. J. Wliitaker
{Notes on the Birds of Notts, p. 55) mentions a case where a
nest was left untouched for seven weeks after completion
before eggs were laid, and that this nest was used again in the
follomng season !

Blije-headed Wagtail Breeding in Wiltshire. — In
Vol. I., p. 89, we published an interesting observation by
Mr. G. Dent on Motacilla flava flava breeding near Marlborough
in 1907. It is satisfactory to learn from the Report of the
Marlborough College Natural History Society for 1909 that a
pair of these birds was again discovered in 1909 in the same
meadows by Mr. Dent, and that although he failed to locate
the nest, he subsequently saw the young after they were
fledged.

Probable Black-headed Wagtail in Norfolk. — Mr. J.
Rudge Harding has sent us an account (which he has already
communicated to the Field, 2, vii., 1910, p. 52) of a Yellow
Wagtail which he saw on June 17th, 1910, and again on
June 19th in north Norfolk. Mr. Harding describes the
bird as apparently like the YeUow Wagtail {M. raii),

NOTES. 93

but with a jet-black head. In subsequent correspondence
Mr. Hardmg gives the following observations : — " The bird
flew for a moment to a wire-fence and I had just time to get
my glasses on it, before it flew again. All I could see wasjthe
striking black head, which extended quite to the nape . . .
I was so amazed at this unexpected sight that details as to
chin or eye-stripe escaped me. The bird otherwise seemed to
be practically a Yellow Wagtail, of which there were many in
the marshes where this one appeared. Two days later I walked
across the same stretch of marsh accompanied by a friend.
Suddenly the black-headed Wagtail flew j^ast us, within three
hundred yards of where I had seen it before, and we exclaimed
simultaneously, ' There he is — a jet-black head ! ' " We
think there is little doubt that the bird seen by Mr. Rudge
Harding was an example of Motacilla flava melanocephala.

Wryneck in Cumberland. — An example of lynx torquilla
was killed against telegraph-wires near Drumburgh on June
27th, 1909 (D. L. Thorpe and L. E. Hope, Zool., 1910, p. 184).
During the time Dr. Heysham lived in Carlisle (1778-1834),
and up to about 1865, the bird was a regular summer- visitor
to Lakeland ; from then until 1892 it became a rare straggler
(c/. H. A. Macpherson, Fauna of Lakeland, p. 167). The
authors above quoted say that it has only been recorded
twice in Cumberland during the last fifty years.

Short-eared Owl Nesting in Essex. — In 1896 Mr. E. A.
Fitcli recorded the nesting of the Short-eared Owl [Asio accipi-
trinus) in Essex (c/. Vol. I., p. 314). The same observer now
records (Zool., 1910, p. 270) the nesting of a pair in 1910 in a
marsh near Northey. Unfortunately eight out of the brood
of nine were killed by a mowing machine which cut into the
nest.

Supposed occurrence of the Swallow- tailed Kite in
Surrey. — Mr. T. Parkin has discovered a specimen of Elanoides
furcatus at Guildford, which is said to have been shot some
years ago at Chiddingfold (Zool., 1910, p. 270), but the history
of the specimen is incomplete and unsatisfactory.

Garganey on the Solway. — A male example of Quer-
quedula circia in eclipse-plumage is reported as shot " on
Solway," presumably on the Cumberland side, on August
14th, 1909 (D. L. Thorpe and L. E. Hope, Zool., 1910, p. 190).
The Garganey is a very rare bird on the Solway, and we believe
that Sir Richard Graham has during the last few years been
breeding this species at Netherby. It is possible therefore that
the specimen referred to was an escape.

94 BRITISH BIRDS.

Food of the Wood-Pigeon. — The crops of two Wood-
Pigeons {Columha palumhus) sent to the Editor of the Field
by Colonel C. B. Reynardson, were found to be full of the
caterpillars of two species of moths, the dotted border {Hy-
hernia progemmaria) and the mottled umber [H. defoliaria).
Both species are said by the Editor to be destructive to forest-
trees, and Colonel Reynardson remarks that he has often
found Wood-Pigeons to be full of these pests in May and
June [Field, 18,vi.,1910, p. 1098).

Stone-Curlews in Bedfordshire and Cumberland. —
Mr. J. Steele Elliott saw a single (Edicnemus scolopax on May
loth, 1910, at Sandy. The bird used to breed in Bedford-
shire, but since 1890 it appears not to have done so, and indeed
only to have visited the county twice {ZooL, 1910, p. 227).
One is also recorded as seen on March 27th, 1909, by Mr.
D. Losh Thorpe near Carlisle {t.c, 1909, p. 197, and' 1910,
p. 187).

Black Terns in Yorkshire.— On May 20th, 1910, Mr.
Oxley Grabham saw six Hydrochelidon nigra near York, in a
locality which is visited every year by this species [N^at., 1910,
p. 278).

m/fW5

The British Bird Book. Edited by F. B. Kirkman, B.A.
Illustrated in colour and monochrome. 4to. Vol. I.,
pp. XX + 156. (T. C. & E. C. Jack.) 10s. 6d. net.

The principal object of this work, which is to be issued in
twelve " sections," is to " bring together from every source,
foreign and native, all the available information of any im-
portance concerning the habits of British birds." Various
writers are employed in this task, and each is solely responsible
for the work under his signature — consequently we have
varied styles of treatment and, more important, a varying
quality of discrimination.

The plan of the work is to give for each species what are here
termed "Preliminary classified notes," which provide a brief
description of the bird and short accounts of its distribution,
migration, nest and eggs, food and song-period. A family
having been dealt with thus in brief, a full account is given in
one chapter of the habits of all its members. Great advantages
are claimed for this plan, but although we approve of the idea
of the " classified notes," which are much in the style of the
volumes in AIUti's Naturalists' Library, the discussion of the
habits of a number of species together is a plan which must
surely fail. However good the promised index may be, it
will always be necessary to read through many pages in order
to learn what are the habits of any one species. In this section,
for example, seventy-three pages are devoted in one long
chapter without a break to the " Finches," and we note, as
an example, that the Crossbill is referred to in the first page
and in the last, as well as in many in between.

The " classified " notes, for which Messrs. Kirkman, W. P.
Pycraft, A. L. Thomson and the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain are
responsible, seem to be well and carefully done so far as they
go, but the information is not so detailed as, for instance, in
so compressed a work as Saunders' Manual. The descriptions
seem to us too meagre and general to enable anyone who did
not know the bird to identify it satisfactorily, while the accounts
of distribution are often inadequate, as, for example, in the
Twite, whose distribution is local and requires detailed treat-
ment, but is here described in too general a way ; and,
incidentally, the bird is said to be absent from the east of
England. The descriptions of the nests and eggs are,
however, much more thoroughly done.

96 BRITISH BIRDS.

As to nomenclature, the Editor does not seem to have grasped
the significance of the use of trinomials. It is stated that "the
use of trinomials has been avoided except in the rare cases
where two races of the same species occur in this country."
Yet the Jay and the Goldfinch are given only two names
in the headings, although it is stated that immigrants from the
Continent occur ; the distinct Scottish Crossbill is recognised
in the text but is treated with the Common Crossbill under the
name of Loxia curvirostra, L. ; in the case of the Bullfinch,
although the typical form has fairly frequently occurred and
the British race is recognised in the text, the bird is named in
the heading Pyrrhula pyrrhula (L.), while, on the other hand,
the Redpolls are treated trinomially. This is inconsistent as well
as inaccurate, for if the local races are recognised, then why put
them under names which belong to the typical races ? It should
now be obvious that it is of the utmost importance to recognise
the differences between some of our breeding-birds and those
of the same species which breed on the Continent, and if we
are to advance, it behoves the authors of works dealing with
the birds of these islands to emphasize this point and to treat
of these races separately under trinomials.

Turning again to the main feature of the book — the accounts
of the habits — we have first some pleasing essays on the Crow
family by the Editor, who has had the wisdom to depart some-
what from his OAvn plan and to treat of the Raven and the
Chough separately and the other species in pairs ! The bulk
of this " section " is, however, devoted to the " Finches "
by Mr. Edmund Selous, whose seventy- three pages are more
in the style of a diffuse and extravagantly worded magazine-
article than a serious work, and further criticism of them
is, we think, unneedful.

The illustrations in black are mostly from useful photo-
graphs showing the structure and position of nests. The
coloured illustrations by various artists are for the most part
pleasing and fairly accurate. H. F. W.

BRITISnDIRDS

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

assisted by

Rfv. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norman F.
ticehurst, m.a., f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Numbek 4, Vol. IV. September 1, 1910.

Sequence of Plumages in British Birds. VI. — The British

Long-tailed, Great, Coal, Marsh and Blue Titmice, by H. F,

Witherby . .

Recent Records from Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcester

by Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain and H. F. Witherby
Notes : —

Recovery of Marked Birds

Unequal Wing-Strokes in Flight (F. W. Headley)

Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes Nesting on the Ground

(T. Smith)

Ring-Ouzel and Blackbird interbreeding in Kent (J. Lewis
Bonhote) . .

Rock-Thrush in Orkney (H. F. W.)

Unusual Nesting-Sites for the Goldcrest (A. W. H. Harvey and

F. A. Monckton)
Willow- Wren feigning Injury (C. Kingsley Siddall) . .
Grasshopper-Warbler in Cornwall (A. W. H. Harvey)
Golden Oriole in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay)
Great Tit laying in a Hawfinch's deserted Nest (Major F. W.

Proctor) . .
Spotted Flycatcher building in old Nests (A. G. Leigh)
Crossbills nesting : — Probable in Lincolnshire (Rev. F.
Blathwayt)

In Somerset
Crossbill Irruption

Increase of the Starling in Cornwall (A. W. H. Harvey)
Rough-legged Buzzards in Sussex and Berkshire (Herbert

Langton and Norman H. Joy)
Kestrel Nesting near London (Jos. F. Green) . .
Increase of the Tufted Duck in Cheshire (M. V. Wenner)
Green Sandpipers in Berkshire and Derbyshire (Norman H

Joy and Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain)
A new Nesting-Colony of Black-headed Gulls in Montgomery

shire (H. E. Forrest)
On the Food of the Herring-Gull (H. W. Robinson) . .
Unusual situation for a Little Grebe's Nest (M. V. Wenner)
Short Notes : — Red-spotted Bluethroat in the Clyde Area,
Lesser Whitethroat in the Clyde Area. A Peeblesshire Chough
Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Scotland. Supposed Bee-eater
in Norfolk. American Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Argyllshire,
Little Bittern in Cornwall. Eider Ducks in the Clyde Area .
Letter : — The British Bird Book

98

104

113
115

116

116

117

117
118
119
119

119
120

121
121
122
122

122
123
123

123

124
124
124

125
127

( 98 )
SEQUENCE OF PLUMAGES IN BRITISH BIRDS.

VI. THE BRITISH LONG-TAILED, GREAT, COAL, MARSH

AND BLUE TITMICE.

BY
H. F. WITHERBY.

THE BRITISH LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE.

Acredula caudata rosea (Blyth).

Male and Female.

Down-Plumage, Not examined.

Juvenile Plumage. Acquired while in the nest, the Down-
Plumage being completely moulted.

Feathers of the crown white, some being lightly tipped with brown,
especially on the forehead ; lores, superciliary stripe, ear-coverts, hind-
neck, mantle, back, rump and tipper tail-coverts dark chocolate-brown ;
scapulars the same, but tipped with white ; under-side white, except
some of the flank- feathers, which have a buff tinge, and the vent and
under tail-coverts, which are pink ; axillaries white ; tail-feathers black,
the outer pair with a white outer web, the next pair the same, except
at the base, where the outer web is black, the next pair with faint
white markings on the oiiter web near the tip ; wing- feathers blackish-
brown, the inner secondaries being emarginated with white ; primary-
coverts blackish-brown ; all the wing-coverts dark brown, the inner
greater coverts being emarginated with white like the inner secondaries.

FmsT Winter-Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult.

Forehead, lores, centre of crown and hind-neck dull white, marked
here and there with black ; superciliary stripe extending from a little
in front of the eye to the mantle, black ; ear-coverts grey, streaked with
brown ; mantle black ; back black, with more or less pink ; scapulars
and rump pink, with the tijDS of some of the feathers white and some
black ; upper tail-coverts black ; chin and throat white ; an indistinct
band on the upper-breast formed by small brown tips to some of the
feathers ; centre of breast and belly white, the sides, flanks and under
tail-coverts jjink, the feathers being tipped with white ; tail-feathers
black, the outer two pairs having white outer webs, with the white
extending across the inner web in a slanting line towards the tip of the
feathers, the next pair the same, but with the outer web at the base
black and only fringed with white, the next pair with a little white on
the outer web towards the tip ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white ;
wing-feathers blackish-brown, the four innermost secondaries paler brown
and margined with white or buflfish-white, the next two with narrow
white edgings to the outer webs ; wing-coverts black, except the
innermost greater coverts, which are brown, tijiped with white, and
margined with pink and white.

First Summer-Plumage. Acquii-ed by abrasion. The
plumage is like that of the First Winter, except that it is
abraded, the tail especially becoming very ragged.

H. F. WITHERBY: PLUMAGES. 99

Adult WmTER-PLUMAGE. Acquired by a complete moult.
The plumage is like that of the First Winter.

N.B. — I can detect no difference between males and females in any
plumage, except that the males average rather larger : wing-measure-
ment (average), male 61 mm. ; female 59 mm.

BRITISH GREAT TITMOUSE.
Par us major newtoni, Prazjik.

Down-Plumage. Wliitish-grey. Distribution — Inner supra-
orbital, occipital, humeral and spinal {fide C. B. Ticehurst,
Vol. II., p. 190).

JuvENELE Plumage. Acquked while in the nest, the Dowti-
Plumage being completely moulted.

MALE. Forehead, lores, crown and nape dull greyish-black ; nuchal
spot yellowisli-white ; mantle, scapulars, and back olive-green ; rump and
upper tail-coverts smoke-grey ; ear-coverts, cheeks and sides of neck
yello wish- white ; chin and throat, greyish-black and a narrowing
line of the same colour down the middle of the breast and belly ; rest
of breast, belly and flanks pale yellow ; under tail-coverts white ; tail-
feathers (except the central pair, which are dull blue-grey with black
shaft-streaks) brownish-black, the outer pair having the outer webs
white and a varying portion of the inner webs from the tip in a
wedge-shape white, the next two pairs having blue-grey outer webs
and small white tips on the outer webs, the rest with blue-grey outer
webs ; under wing-coverts white ; axillaries pale yellow ; primaries
brownish-black, with narrow blue-grey edges to the outer, and narrow
white edges to the inner, webs ; secondaries brownish-black, with
broad yellowish-green edges to the outer, and white edges to the inner,
webs, the two innermost secondaries with broader yellowish edges ;
primary-coverts like the primaries, but with the edges duller ; greater-
coverts smoke-grey, with greenish edges and pale yellow tips ; median
and lesser-coverts smoke-grey, with faint greenish edges.

FEMALE. Like the male, but with the head and chin browner
black, and the primary -coverts browner and with greenish, not such
blue-grey, edgings.

First Winter- Plum age. Acquired by a complete moult,
with the exception of the remiges (two and occasionally three
of the innermost secondaries are moulted), primary-coverts,
and rectrices, except the central pair which are moulted.

MALE. Forehead, lores, crown and nape glossy blue-black ; nuchal
spot white ; upper mantle greenish-yellow ; rest of mantle, scapulars and
back yellowish-green ; rximp and upper tail-coverts blue-grey ; ear-coverts
and cheeks white ; sides of neck blue-black (some of the feathers with
green tips), extending backwards and forwards and joining the blue-
black nape and throat and upper breast, which are also blue-black ;
chin black ; centre of breast and belly black, becoming more extended
on the belly ; sides of breast and flanks deei^ yellow ; vent and under
tail-coverts black in centre, white at sides ; tail-feathers as in the
Juvenile, but the central pair a brighter blue-grey ; under wing-coverts
black and white ; axillaries pale yellow ; primaries and secondaries as

100 BRITISH BIRDS.

in the Juvenile, but the moulted inner secondaries black, not brownish-
black ; primary -coverts as in the Juvenile ; greater-coverts black, with
blue edges to the outer webs and white tips (the three or four innermost
with yellowish tips) ; median and lesser-coverts blue.

FEMALE. Like the male, but duller, the black of the head being
less glossy and less blue ; the throat and tipper breast brownish-black,
not blue-black ; the black on the breast and belly browner and lesser
extensive ; the primary-coverts browner ; the greater-coverts tinged with
green ; central tail-feathers not so bright.

FmsT Summer-Plumage. Acquired by abrasion and
fading.

There is no marked difference between this plumage and that of the
First Winter. The head and throat are not so glossy ; the blue-black
on the sides of the neck is wider, through the wearing off of some of
the green tips to the lower feathers ; the tips of the greater coverts are
smaller and whiter; the remiges and prim,ary -coverts are browner and
their edgings narrower.

Adult Winter- Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult.

MALE. Like that of the First Winter, but the remiges are blacker,
with brighter blue edgings to the primaries and primary-coverts, and
blue, not green, edges to the secondaries, except the innermost, which
are like those in the First Winter.

FEMALE. Like that of the First Winter, but the same changes as
in the male.

Adult Summer-Plumage. Acquired in the same manner
as the First Summer-Plumage and differs from the adult
Winter-Plumage in the same way.

THE BRITISH COAL-TITMOUSE.

Parus ater britannicus , Sharpe and Dresser.

Male and Female.

Down-Plumage. Greyish. Distribution — Inner supra-
orbital, occipital, humeral and spinal {fide C. B. Ticehurst,
Vol. II., p. 190).

Juvenile Plumage. Acquired while in the nest, the Down-
Plumage being completely moulted.

Forehead, lores, crown and sides of hind-neck sooty-black ; middle of hind-
neck, extending on to the mantle, yellowish-white ; m,antle, scapidars,
back, rump and upper tail-coverts dull olive-green ; ear-coverts, cheeks
and sides of neck yellow ; chin and upper-throat sooty-black ; breast
and belly pale yellow ; flanks and under tail-coverts yellowish-buff ;
tail-feathers brownish-black, with oUve-green edges to the outer webs ;
under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; primaries and secondaries
brownish-black, with olive-green edges to the outer webs and white
edges to the inner webs, the two innermost secondaries with the inner
webs pale and with broad pale tijjs, the next three with narrow pale
tips ; primary-coverts like the primaries ; greater and Tnedian coverts
brownish-black, with broad olive-green edges and yellowish-white tips ;
lesser-coverts brownish-black, tinged with olive-green.

H. F. WITHERBY: PLUMAGES. 101

First Winter- Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult,
with the exception of the remiges, primary-coverts and
rectrices.

Forehead, lores and crown glossy blue-black ; sides of hind-neck,
extending on to the mantle, jet-black ; middle of hind-neck, extending
on to the m,antle, white ; scapulars and back grey, washed with olive-
buff ; rump and upper tail-coverts olive-buff ; ear-coverts, cheeks and
sides of neck white ; chin, throat and tipper-breast black, with white
tips to a few of the feathers ; breast and centre of belly white ; sides of
belly, flanks and under tail-coverts buff ; under wing -coverts and axillaries
white tinged with buff ; tail-feathers, primaries and secondaries and
primary-coverts as in the Juvenile ; greater and median coverts brownish-
black, with narrow blue -grey edges and white tips ; lesser coverts
brownish-black, with long blue-grey fringes and occasionally tipped
with buff.

N.B. — The tips to the innermost median wing-coverts are often buff
or tinged with buff, and the intensity of the buff colour on the back
and flanks varies individually.

First Summer-Plumage. Acquired by abrasion and fading.

The black of the head becomes duller- and less glossy ; the back
becomes blue-grey and the rump more greenish ; the throat and upper-
breast become blacker through the abrasion of the white tips ; the flanks
become paler ; the white tips of the secondaries become worn off and
those of the wing-coverts become much reduced in size.

N.B. — The differences between this plumage and the First Winter-
Plumage are most marked in much-worn specimens, which often closely
resemble Parus ater ater in the colour of the back.

Adult Winter- Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult,
and cannot be distinguished from the First Winter-Plumage.

Adult Summer-Plumage. Acquired in the same manner
as the First Summer-Plumage, and cannot be distinguished
from it.

N.B. — Females differ from males in all plumages by the black on the
throat being narrower and not extending so far down the upper-breast.
Wings of females average 58*3 mm. ; of males 60 '3 mm.

THE BRITISH MARSH-TITMOUSE.

Parus palustris dresseri, Stejneger.
Male and Female.

Down-Plumage. Grey. Distribution — Inner supra-orbital,
occipital, humeral and spinal {fide C. B. Ticehurst, Vol. II.,
p. 190).

Juvenile Plumage. Acquired while in the nest, the Do^v^l-
Plumage being completely moulted.

Forehead, lores, crown and nape dull, sooty-black, extending on
to the mantle ; mantle, scapulars, back, rump and upper tail-coverts
greyish-brown ; ear-coverts, cheeks and sides of neck white ; chin and
throat brownish-black, the feathers of the throat being tipped with white ;

102 BRITISH BIRDS.

breast and belly yellowish-white ; flanks and under tail-coverts pale buff ;
tail-feathers dark brown, with olive-brown edges to the outer webs ;
under wing-coverts white ; axillaries pale buff ; primaries and
secondaries dark brown, edged on the outer webs with olive-brown,
and on the inner webs with white, the innermost secondaries
pale brown ; primary-coverts dark brown, edged with ohve-brown ;
all the wing-coverts ohve-brown.

First Winter- Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult,
with the exception of the remiges, primary-coverts and
rectrices.

Much like that of the Juvenile, but the whole of the top of the head
and nape glossy black ; the rest of the upjoer-parts darker brown ;
chin and throat black ; flanks deeper buff.

First Summer- Plumage. Acquired by abrasion.

The black on the throat is a little more intense through the wearing off
of some of the white tips to the feathers, but otherwise no difference
can be detected between Summer- and Winter-Plumage.

Adult Winter-Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult,
and cannot be distinguished from the First Winter-Plumage.

Adult Summer-Plumage. Acquired in the same manner
as the First Summer-Plumage, and cannot be distinguished
from it.

N.B. — I can detect no difference between male and female in any
plumage, nor is there any appreciable difference in wing-measurement.

BRITISH BLUE TITMOUSE.

Parus cceruleus obscurus, Prazak.

Down-Plumage. White. Distribution — Inner supra-
orbital, occipital, and humeral {fide. C. B. Ticehurst, Vol. II.,
p. 190).

Juvenile Plumage. Acquired Avhile in the nest, the Dowti-
Plumage being completely moulted.

MALE. Forehead yellow ; crown dull greenish-brown, a black line
running from the base of the bill to and behind the eye ; superciliary
stripe white over the eye, extending backwards in a yellow stripe, which
continues round the nape ; hind-neck like the crown ; nuchal spot pale
yellow ; mantle, scapulars, back, rump and upper tail-coverts dull
olive-green ; ear-coverts, cheeks (a small patch immediately below the eye
is white), sides of throat, breast, belly, flanks and under tail-coverts yellow ;
a narrow line of dull greenish-brown in the centre of the throat passes
backwards below the ear-coverts and joins the hind-neck (this line is ill-
defined on the throat) ; tail-feathers blue, tinged with greenish, the
outer pair with a narrow white edge to the outer webs ; under wing-
coverts yellowish-white ; axillaries yellow ; primaries and secondaries
brown, with blue-green edges to the outer webs, the innermost four
secondaries greyish-brown, with green fringes to the outer webs and dull
white tips, larger on the two innermost ; primary-coverts bluish-green.

H. F. WITHERBY: PLUMAGES. 103

witli brownish-black shaft-stripes ; greater-coverts grey, with yellowish-
white tips and narrow blue-green edgings to the outer ones ; median
and lesser coverts French grey.

FEMALE. Similar to the male, but with the tail-feathers more dull
coloured ; the outer webs of the primaries and secondaries greener and
duller, not so blue, and the prim,ary-coverts browner.

First Winter- Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult,
with the exception of the remiges (two, and occasionally
three, of the innermost secondaries are moulted), primary-
coverts and rectrices.

MALE. Forehead white ; crown bright blue, a black line running
from the base of the bill to and behind the eye ; superciliary stripe
white and continued round the nape in a narrow white band ; hind-
neck and sides of neck dark blue ; nuchal spot greyish-white ; m,antle,
scaptilars and back yellowish-green ; rump yellower green ; upper tail-
coverts blue ; ear-coverts, cheeks and sides of throat white ; a black
line in the centre of the throat (the feathers tipped with white), widening
at the base of the throat and passing backwards under the ear-coverts
and joining the blue of the sides of the neck ; breast, flanks and under
tail-coverts yellow ; middle of lower-breast and belly white, with a patch
of blackish-blue in the centre ; tail-feathers as in the Juvenile ; under
wing-coverts white ; axillaries pale yellow ; primaries and secondaries
as in the Juvenile, but the innermost secondaries tinged with blue and
with larger white tips ; primary -coverts as in the Juvenile ; greater-
coverts blue, tipped with white ; median and lesser -coverts blue.

FEMALE. Considerably duller in coloration, especially in the
blue of the head, tail, primaries and wing -coverts, the secondaries greener
on the outer webs, the primary -coverts browner.

First Summer-Plumage. Acquired by abrasion.

MALE. The blue of the crown becomes brighter and the black of the
throat wider and more intense ; the tail-feathers, primaries, secondaries
and wing-coverts become bluer owing to the wearing off of the narrow
green fringes ; the white tips to the greater coverts become smaller.

FEMALE. The blue of the crown and tail becomes brighter and the
black of the throat wider and more intense ; wing-feathers and primary-
coverts become browner ; the white tips to the greater coverts become
smaller.

Adult Winter- Plumage. Acquired by a complete moult.

MALE. Like that of the First Winter, but brighter, especially in
tlie blue of the crown, tail and wings ; the primary -coverts are bright
blue, and the outer webs of primaries and secondaries are much bluer,
the innermost secondaries are of a brighter blue.

FEMALE. Brighter and bluer than the First Winter, but not so
Ijright as the adult male, and the primary-coverts and outer webs of
the secondaries more greenish-blue than the adult male.

Adult Summer- Plum age. Acquired by abrasion.

MALE AND FEMALE. The blue of the crown, wings and tail becomes
brighter and the black of the throat wider.

( 104 )

RECENT RECORDS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE,
WARWICKSHIRE AND WORCESTER.

BY
Rev. F. C. R. JOURDAIN and H. F. WITHERBY.

The study of Staffordshire ornithology presents especial
difficulties, as the only recent works on the birds of the county
are somewhat inaccessible. Dr. Macaldowie's treatise was
published in the Beport and Transactions of the North
Staffordshire Field Club for 1893, but only a few copies
were separately printed ; while Mr. J. R. B. Masefield's
paper on the birds of the county in the Victoria
County History, though published in 1908, was wTitten
some years previously, with only a brief appendix, in which
some of the more important later records were inserted ;
this work is also practically unobtainable separately, and
must be read in conjunction with the Reports of the N.S.F.C.
from 1905 onwards. Unfortunately, these zoological reports
do not deal with the species referred to in any scientific order,
so that records of each species must be searched for throughout
the whole series of reports. A re-arrangement of the notes
in scientific order would render these reports much more
accessible for reference and increase their value enormously.*
The Annual Beport and Transactions of the N.S.F.C.
for 1909-10 (Vol. XLIV.), which has lately been sent to us,
contains, in addition to Mr. Masefield's " Annual Report "
(Aves, pp. 67-71), and Mr. W. Wells Bladen's " Bird Notes
from Stone " (pp. 74-83), a long illustrated paper by
Mr. F. Coburn (pp. 85-128) " On the Rarer Birds of Stafford-
shire and their Migration across the County, with Notes
from adjoining Counties " {i.e., Worcester and Warwick).
Most of these records are from Norton Pool, Chasetown,

* For Warwickshire the latest autliority is the late R. F. Tomes'
article in the Vict. Hist, of Warwickshire, Vol. I. (1904), and for
Worcester the same writer's list in the Vict. Hist, of Worcester (1901).

RECORDS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE. 105

Staffordshire, a fruitful, but previously unworked, locality,
except tlirough the exertions of Mr. G. H. Clarke, to whom
most of these records are primarily due. Brief notes on some
of these occurrences appeared in Mr. Masefield's report for
1908-09, but these may be treated together, as they were,
we believe, derived from Mr. Coburn, to whom we must be
thankful for rescuing some of these records from probable
oblivion.

Although we cannot agree with many of Mr. Coburn's
conclusions with regard to migration, the facts he narrates,
taken in conjunction with other records, such as those of
Mr. Ward at Gailey Pools, show in a remarkable way that
there is a far larger and more regular stream of migrants
between the Trent and the Severn than was previously sup-
posed, and open a most interesting field of observation to local
ornithologists, of which we trust they will take advantage.

Before dealing with the records seriatim, we should like
to call attention to a " very extraordinary migration " which
took place in the middle of May, 1891, during a heavy snowfall
followed by hard frost. Mr. Coburn says that on May 17th " the
whole district was teeming " with Stonechats. They differed
from others seen earlier in the season, being " paler in colour,
more slender in build and their actions different." No speci-
mens were shot, and next day all had disappeared. From
later investigations he is " quite satisfied that these were
Siberian Stonechats, Pratincola maura " ! We quote this as
an instance of very remarkable optimism before proceeding
to deal with the more important records in detail.

All localities referred to are in Staffordshire unless otherwise
stated, and the order of Saunders' Manual has been followed.

[Bearded Tit {Panurus biarmicus). ^Two said to have
been shot at ChasetowTi in the winter of 1896 by Mr. G. H.
Clarke. Previous evidence of its occurrence in Staffordshire
is far from satisfactory. The nest in a gorse-bush, referred
to in the Vict. Hist, of Stafford (Vol. I., p. 144), was more
probably that of a Long-tailed Tit ! ]

106 BRITISH BIRDS.

Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula). — One shot near Great
Barr in April, 1908, in the possession of Mr. R. W. Chase.
The thu'd occurrence in the county.

Rose-coloured Stahling {Pastor roseus). — One immature
female shot on November 10th, 1890, at the Streetly end of
Sutton Park on the border of Warwick and Stafford. Only
one previous record for Stafford and two for War\\'ick.

Roller {Coracias garrulus). — One shot by a keeper in
June, 1908, at Patshull (Hon. G. Legge). The first authentic
record, though an example is said to have been seen at
Berkeley.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). — A frequent visitor to
Norton Pool, and also recorded from Warwickshire.

Shag (P. graculus). — One captured on August 28tli, 1908,
at Saltley, War\\ickshire.

Gannet {Sula bassana). — Two caught in Worcestershire
(no dates given).

[Flamingo {Phoenicopterus roseus). — One shot during a fog
on December 22nd, 1909, at the Smethwick end of Warley,
close to the Worcestershire boundary. Mr. Coburn devotes
a couple of pages to trying to prove that this bird was a genuine
migrant. One of his arguments is, that the Duchess of Bedford
informed him that in her opinion, if the bird had escaped
from Woburn (whence none had been lost for some months),
its fate would have been sealed much nearer home than
Staffordshire. With this Mr. Coburn agrees, and thinks that
the birds from the London Zoological Gardens (which had
escaped recently) would also have been shot. He proceeds
to argue that the escaped birds, whose death has not been
reported, must have got safely out of the country, and that
if they can find their way out, they can also find their way in !
Mr. Seth-Smith writes to us : "I have no doubt that the
Flamingo shot on December 22nd, 1909, in Staffordshire
was one of those which escaped from here [London Zoological
Gardens] about that time. They were in first-rate plumage
and condition, and I doubt if anyone could have told for
certain that they were not wild birds." We quite agree
with Mr. Coburn that such birds kept in captivity should be
marked ; we suggest with rings. WTiile on this subject we
should like to remark that we are of opinion that the previous
Staffordshire record of a bird captured alive in September,
1881, although accepted by the late Howard Saunders, is
open to similar objection.]

Grey Lag-Goose {Anser cinereus). — One at PatshuU,
January 26th, 1904 (Hon. G. Legge).

White-fronted Goose {A. albifrons). — One shot by

RECORDS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE. 107

Mr. P. Baker at Earlswood, Warwickshire, and others reported.
No dates given. Mr. R. F. Tomes in the Vict. Hist, of Warwick,
I., p. 201, described this bird as " formerly an occasional visitor,
but now unknown."

[Lesser White-fronted Goose (^4. erythropus) . — One shot
near Chasetown, October 11th, 1906, and cooked, but identified
by Mr. Coburn from one foot and a number of feathers subse-
quently recovered. Tliis species is not on the Staffordshire list.]

Pink-footed Goose [A. hrachyrhynchus) . — An immature
bird shot by Mr. G. H. Clarke on Norton Pool, now in the
collection of Mr. Wilson, of Norton Canes. No date given.

Brent Goose {Bernicla brenta). — A bird believed to be of
this species seen on Norton Pool in January, 1908, by the
Rev. C. R. Brain ; five seen by Mr. G. H. Clarke at the same
place on February 4th, 1910. Two previous records only.

Black Brent Goose {Bernicla hreyita nigricans). — Mr.
J. H. Gurney has already recorded the occurrence of this bird
on Mr. Coburn's authority in Norfolk (c/. antea, p. 27), and
Mr. Coburn here gives further details. He says that since
he has studied this bird in America, he has been able to identify
one in the collection of Mr. W. L. Ward, shot on Gailey Pool
on November 23rd, 1895, and the following in his own collec-
tion : — One shot at Earlswood (Warwickshire) on November
5th, 1897, one at King's Lynn (Norfolk) on February 14th,
1902, another on January IStli, 1907, and those already
referred to on page 27.

Mr. Coburn says that he has collected very full material
in America, and on this he bases the distinctions already
pointed out [antea, p. 27). He does not agree with Mr.
Alpheraky that the white on the neck always meets in front,
while he adds that it very rarely meets at the back, of the neck.
Mr. Coburn states that the white-bellied form {B. b. glauco-
gaster) is only the female oi B. b. brenta ; but this cannot be
so unless a number of birds have been wrongly sexed. Measure-
ments are given of a number ol B. b. 7iigricans, showing that
six adult males measured — Wing, 330-337 mm. ; average,
330 (= 13 inches). Tarsus, 52-58 mm.; average, 55-56
(= 2-2 inches). Culmen, 35-39 mm. ; average, 36 (= 1-4
inch). From which it would appear that there is not much
difference in size between this and the typical form.

Common Sheld-Duck {Tadorna cornuta). — A regular visitor
to Norton Pool ; twenty-five occurrences in the season of
1908-09 (F. Coburn).

Gadwall [Anas strepera). — One at Patshull, September 7th,
1905 ; another from October to December, 1908 (Hon. G.
Legge). Only one previous record.

108 BRITISH BIRDS.

Shoveler [Spatula clypeata). — In addition to the localities
already given for the breeding of this species in Staffordshire
(c/. Vol. II., p. 95 ; III., p. 58), Mr. Coburn states that it
bred near Green Pit and at Plant Swag, Chasetown, in 1909 ;
while the Hon. G. Legge records it as nesting regularly at
Patshull.

Pintail (Dafila acuta). — Additional records are given by
Messrs. Coburn and Wells Bladen.

Pochard (Fiiligula ferina). — Common winter visitor to
Norton Pool (F. Coburn) ; also recorded from Patshull (Hon.
G. Legge) and Birmingham district (WarAvickshire).

Tufted Dfck {F. cristata). — Breeds regularly at Patshull
(Hon. G. Legge), Hilton Park (W, Wells Bladen), and probably
Gailey Pool " this season" (F, Coburn).

ScAUP-DucK (F. marila). — One at Patshull, October 26th,
1906 (Hon. G. Legge) ; fairly frequent visitor to Norton Pool
(F. Coburn). Two records from Warwickshire (F. Coburn).

Goldeneye (Clangula glaucion). — Recorded from Patshull
(Hon. G. Legge) ; frequent visitor to Norton Pool, etc. (F.
Coburn).

Long-tailed Duck {Harelda glacialis). — An immature
female shot by G. H. Clarke on Norton Pool, November 18th,
1907. Another shot, but not preserved. Only one previous
record.

Common Scoter (CEdemia nigra). — Frequent visitor to
Norton Pool (F. Coburn) ; recorded from Patshull, October
15th, 1905, and November, 1906 (Hon. G. Legge).

Velvet-Scoter [QiJ. fusca). — One seen on Norton Pool on
April 10th, 1910, by Mr. Wilson ; one shot on Rotton Park
Reservoir (Warwick), apparently the only record ; and one
near Craven Arms (Salop) on December 12th, 1890 (F.
Coburn).

Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator). — Two shot
on Norton Pool, March 2nd, 1904, by G. H. Clarke and two
in Mr. Wilson's collection at Norton Canes, besides another
shot and several seen ; also noted at Patshull. Only one
previous definite record for Staffordshire. One seen and
another shot in Warwickshire, where it is very scarce (F.
Coburn).

Smew [M. alhellus). — Four additional records from Gailey
and Norton Pools (F. Coburn).

[Pallas's Sand-Grouse [Syrrhaptes paradoxus). — One
believed to have been seen by the Rev. J. 0. Coussmaker
at Hamstall Ridware on December 18th, 1908.]

Spotted Crake [Porzana maruetta). — One shot on Cannock

RECORDS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE. 109

Chase about five years ago (G. H. Clarke). Also said to have
occurred in Warwick and Worcester.

Ringed Plover {jEgialitis hiaticola). — Regular and common
visitor to Cannock Chase ; also to the Birmingham district and
Earlswood (Warwick) and Barnt Green, Worcestershire
(F. Coburn).

Grey Plover {Squatarola helvetica). — Regular and fairly
common visitor to the Cannock Chase district, and definitely
recorded in 1908 and 1909 (G. H. Clarke). No previous
authentic record.

Turnstone {Strepsilas inter pres). — Frequent autumn visitor
to Norton Pool ; many obtained by G. H. Clarke in August,
1904, August, 1907, and August 17th, 1908, etc. Only one
previous indefinite record.

Oyster-catcher {Hcematopus ostralegus). — Common visitor
to Norton Pool in August and September (F. Coburn) ; also
recorded from Patshull (Hon. G. Legge).

Dunlin [Tringa alpina). — Regular and sometimes abundant
visitor to the Cannock Chase and Birmingham districts
(Warwick) and Barnt Green, Worcestershire (F. Coburn).

Little Stint {T. minuta). — "Almost a regular visitor,
sometimes in considerable flocks, on the autumn and spring
migrations, to Norton Pool." Many specimens secured by
G. H. Clarke ; one shot at Norton Pool, August 10th, 1904.
Although a note appeared in the " Zoological Report " of the
North Staffordshire Field Club Report for 1904-05 (p. 64) that
three Little Stints were shot near Stafford, we are now informed
that this was an error, and that the birds in question proved
to be Dunlins (J. R. B. Masefield in litt.). This is therefore
the first Staffordshire record ; while the occurrence of one at
Earlswood Lake seen by Mr. Coburn, appears to be the earliest
notice from Warwickshire.

Temminck's Stint {T. temminchi) . — One shot by G. H.
Clarke several years ago and lost sight of, but re-discovered
in a farmhouse at Wyrley : presumably shot at Norton Pool.
This is the first Staffordshire record.

Sanderling {Calidris arenaria). — Regular and fairly
common visitor to Norton Pool in small flocks in autumn and
spring. Three specimens in Mr. Coburn's possession, and
several seen, mostly in May, of which details are given. Only
three previously recorded.

Ruff {Machetes pugnax). — One at Norton Pool, July 10th,
1897 (G. H. Clarke). A Reeve also shot about forty years
ago at Streetly. Only two previously recorded.

[Greater Yellowshank [Totanus melanoleucus) . — On
November 22nd, 1907, the keeper at Sutton Park (Warwick-

110 BRITISH BIRDS.

shire) noticed three strange birds which were very noisy and
not particularly shy. One of these he shot and forwarded to
the office of the Birmingham Daily Mail for Mr. Coburn to
name. Subsequently the bird was purchased by Mr. Coburn,
who was much surprised to find that " such an extraordinary
rarity had been shot within about ten miles of the city of
Birmingham." Mr. Coburn further states that he purposely
delayed publishing his notes on the bird until a sufficient time
had elapsed for the survivors to get safely out of the country !
A doubtfully humane and certainly not scientific reason.
Mr. Coburn thinks that the birds made a sort of grand tour,
coming to England via Greenland and Iceland, looking in at
Birmingham en route, and then, after making their way to
the Land's End, taking passage across the Atlantic home again !
Mr. Coburn points out also that he had in 1904 studied this
species in central British Columbia, where he procured many
specimens. Here we may perhaps be allowed to protest
against this method of recording the presence of rare birds.
Surely it would have been possible for Mr. Coburn to have
submitted the specimen in the flesh to some qualified and dis-
interested ornithologist, avIio would be able to confirm his
identification, even if he were unwilling to exhibit the specimen
at one of the B.O.C. meetings, a usual procedure in the case
of the capture of a rare species.]

Green Sandpiper {T. ochropus). — A frequent visitor to
Norton Pool (G. H. Clarke) and other parts of the district
(F. Coburn).

[Spotted Redshank {T. fuscus). — Seen once in Warwick-
shire and once in Worcestershire, but no dates given (F.
Coburn). This species is not recorded by R. F. Tomes.]

Greenshank {T. canescens). — A very frequent visitor,
especially to Norton Pool ; also recorded from Bloxwich and
Stafford. Only once seen at Earlswood (Warwick).

Curlew {Numenius arquata). — Common and regular visitor
to Norton Pool ; also to Barnt Green (Worcester), and less so
to Earlswood (Warwick).

Whimbrel {N. phceopus). — Common on migration at Norton
Pool (G. H. Clarke) ; also frequent at Barnt Green (Worcester)
and Earlswood (Warwick). Not recorded by R. F. Tomes for
Warwick.

Black Tern {Hydrochelidon nigra).— One of the commonest
of the Terns at Norton Pool, sometimes in great numbers ;
and also common at Earlswood (Warwick) and Barnt Green
(Worcester). Most of the spring visitors are adult, while the

RECORDS FROM STAFFORDSHIRE. Ill

bulk of the autumn birds are immature. Also three seen at
Stretton on May 6th (F. A. Monckton).

Sandwich Tern [Sterna cantiaca). — [Three are said to have
been seen in September, 1909, by Mr. G. H. Clarke on Norton
Pool, but we do not consider the identification satisfactory.]
Mr. Coburn states that he has seen it several times at Earls-
wood (Warwick) and that one was shot there (no date).

Common and Arctic Terns {S. fluviatilis and ^S*. macrura).
Described as common and regular visitors to the pools and
reservoirs in the district, including all three counties.

Lesser Tern {8. minuta). — Less common than the pre-
ceding species, but still frequent at Norton Pool.

Common Gull [Larus canus), Herring-Gull {L. argentatus).
Lesser Black-backed Gull [L. fuscus), Great Black-
backed Gull {L. marinus) and Kittiwake [Rissa tridactyla)
are all regarded as more or less frequent visitors to Norton
Pool and other sheets of water in the district.

Great Skua {Megalesfris catarrhactes). — One shot by
Messrs. Powell and Clarke on Norton Pool in September or
October, 1896. The specimen was lost sight of, but recovered
in a much-damaged condition. A most interesting piece of
confirmatory evidence is furnished by Mr. L. Ward, who
contributed some notes from a diary on the birds of Gailey
Pool to the Report of the N.S.F.C. for 1905-06, p. 51. On
September 7th, 1896, he noted a " large bro\\'n GuU," in all
probability this same bird, at Gailey Pool. This species is
new to the Staffordshire list. Another specimen was killed
at Fillongley, near Coventry, Warwick, and brought to Mr.
Coburn on September 7th, 1909. This species is not included
in Mr. Tomes' list.

Richardson's Skua (Stercorarius crepidatus). — One
captured at Aldridge on September 2nd or 3rd, 1909, and
another picked up at Ladywood, Birmingham, on October,
1891. The third Staffordshire and second Warwickshire
records.

Buffon's Skua {S. parasiticus). — One shot in Shenley
Fields, Northfield, Worcester, on October 17th, 1886. Not
mentioned in Mr. Tomes' list.

Razorbill [Alca torda). — One found dead at Harborne,
July 25th, 1890. This locality is strictly in Warwickshire,
where the bird has already been recorded, so that it cannot
be regarded as an addition to the Staffordshire list.

Great Northern Diver [Colymbus glacialis). — Fairly
common winter visitor to Norton Pool and the Birmingham
district.

112 BRITISH BIRDS.

Black-throated Diver (C. arcticus). — One shot on Norton
Pool, December 7th, 1902, by Mr. G. H. Clarke ; the second
record for the county. Also one on March 5th, 1881, at
Breedon Cross, and one shot on Lifford Reservoir (no date),
both in Worcestershire. Not recorded for the latter county
by Mr. Tomes.

Slavonian Grebe (Podicipes auritus). — Two shot "about
eight years ago " on Norton Pool by Mr. G. H. Clarke. Said
to be a regular visitor on migration to Earlswood and Barnt
Green (Warwick and Worcester) ; only one recent record for
Staffordshire.

Black-necked Grebe (P. nigricollis). — An immature bird
shot on September 20th, 1907, by Mr. G. H. Clarke at Norton
Pool ; two seen and one shot, September 28th, 1908 ; the
latter was striped with white on the upper parts. Another
shot at the same place on September 30th, 1909, and a fifth
seen on October 21st, 1909. This species is new to the Stafford-
shire list. Mr, Coburn also states that he saw two birds at
Earlswood (Warwick) on September 26th, 1908, evidently
the same as those recorded above.

Manx Shearwater {Puffinus anglorum) and Fork-tailed
Petrel {Oceanodroma leucorrhoa) are said to occur frequently
at Norton Pool and also in Warwickshire, and the Storm-
Petrel {Procellaria pelagica) has often been obtained near
Birmingham (Warwick).

In conclusion, we note that Mr. Masefield regards ten species
as new to the Staffordshire ornis ; but the evidence with
regard to the Lesser WTiite-fronted Goose and the Sandwich
Tern we should regard as necessitating square brackets. The
Spotted Redshank was seen by Mr. Coburn in Worcester and
Warwick, but not in Staffordshire at all, and the locality
given for the Razorbill is also in Warwickshire. The natural
boundaries of our faunal areas are, of course, water-partings,
and the limits of our counties are purely artificial, but to
prevent duplication of records it is desirable that these limits
should be respected, and if records from outside are admitted
to a county-fauna the fact that the bird has been observed
or obtained beyond the border cannot be too clearly pointed
out. The only exception is perhaps in the case of a river-
boundary, where the record can be claimed with equal right
by both counties.

OTES

RECOVERY OF MARKED BIRDS.

Blackbirds {Turdus merula). — B.B., No. 6204, marked by Mr.
R. Oswald Blyth at Skelmorlie, Ayrshire, on August 8th,

1909. Recovered at the same place on July 19th, 1910.
The bird was caught in the same fruit-nets where it was
captured and marked as an adult a year before.

B.B., No. 2049, marked by Mr. R. Oswald Blyth at Skel-
morlie, Ayrshire, on June 6th, 1909. Recovered at the
same place on August 8th, 1910. The bird was caught
in the same fruit-nets where it was captured and marked
as an adult a year before.
Song-Thrush {Turdus musicus).^B.B., No. 4998, marked
by Mr. J. Steele Elliott at Dowles, Salop, on May 26th,

1910. Recovered at Bewdley, Worcestershire, on the
25th June, 1910. The bird was shot in a fruit-field, and
was reported by Mr. R. Crump.

Cuckoo [Cuculus canorus). — B.B., No. 7152, marked by Mr.
R. Oswald Blyth at Goathland, Yorkshire, on June 29th,
1910, as a nestling, in a Meadow-Pipit's nest. Recovered
at Southend-on-Sea on August 2nd, 1910. The bird
was caught in a cricket net, and kept by Mr. G. Larman,
who reported the occurrence to me, until August 3rd,
when the ring was replaced and the bird released.

Woodcock {Scolopax rusticula). — B.B., No. 334, marked by
Mr. E. G. B. Meade- Waldo at Hever, Kent, on June 1st,
1909, as a nestling. Recovered in the same wood on
January 6th, 1910. The bird was shot, and was kindly
reported by Mr. Meade- Waldo.

Great Black-backed Gull {Larus marinus). — B.B., No. 518,
marked by Lord William Percy at Monreith, WigtoAvn-
shire, on June 2nd, 1909, as a nestling. Recovered at
Glenluce, Wigtownshire, on May 5th, 1910. The bird
was shot, and was reported by Mr. D. J. Matthews-
Frederick.

Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridibundus). — B.B., No. 8820,
marked by Mr. J. S. T. Walton at Denton Fell, Cumber-

114 BRITISH BIRDS.

land, on May 22nd, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered at

Carsethorn, Solway Firth, on July 18th, 1910. The bird

was found by Mr. John Kirkpatrick caught in a fish-net,

and droA\'ned by the following tide.

B.B., No. 9591, marked by Major H. A. F. Magrath on

Loch Spynie, near Elgin, on June 4th, 1910, as a nestling.

Recovered at Cossiemouth on July 20th, 1910. The bird

was reported by Mr. Brown.

B.B., No. 30732, marked by Messrs. Robinson & Smalley

at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910, as

a nestling. Recovered on the River Wyre, Lancashire,

on July 18tli, 1910. The bird was found disabled or

diseased by Captain R. F. Rodger.

B.B., No. 30411, marked by Messrs. Robinson & Smalley

at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 11th, 1910, as a

nestling. Recovered at Maryport, Cumberland, on July

20th, 1910. The bird was killed by flying against the

gate of a goods-yard. The recovery Avas reported to me

by the Rev. C. T. PhiUips.

B.B., No. 30843, marked by Messrs. Robinson & Smalley

at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910, as a

nestling. Recovered at Maryport, Cumberland, on July

30th, 1910. The bird was apparently unwell, and was

caught by a dog. The recovery was reported by Mr.

Joseph Henderson.

B.B., No. 31126, marked by Messrs. Robinson & Smalley

at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 26th, 1910, as a

nestling. Recovered at Thornton Hough, Chester, on

July 21st, 1910. The bird was found dead on a lake,

and reported by Mr. H. Whittle.

B.B., No. 31034, marked by Messrs. Robinson & Smalley

at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 25th, 1910, as a

nestling. Recovered at Bispham, near Blackpool, on

August 8th, 1910. The bird was shot, and was reported

by Mr. William Riding.

B.B., No. 30713, marked by Messrs. Robinson & Smalley

at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910, as a

nestHng. Recovered (shot) on the River Usk at

Newport, Mon., on August 15th, 1910. The recovery was

reported by Mr. Rogers.

B.B., No. 9473, marked by Mr. J. Murray, near Durisdeer,

Dumfriesshire, on June 29th, 1910. Recovered at Paisley

(Glasgow), on August 1st, 1910. The bird was shot, and

was reported by Mr. Hector Buchanan.

NOTES.

Hi

UNEQUAL WING-STROKES IN FLIGHT.

The photographs here reproduced sliow that, when a Pigeon
flies the two wings are not always in corresponding positions,

but that they sometimes,
for steering or balancing
purposes, give unequal or
different strokes.

In Figure 1 the Pigeon
is in very liurried flight.
The riglitwing is raised and
the left wing is lowered.

In Figure 2 the lower
bird on the right is just
starting to fly from the
window-ledge.

Figure 3 Pigeon alight-
ing ; the left wing is higher
Fig. 1. — PIGEON IN HURRIED FLIGHT than tlic right.

SHOWING ONE WING RAISED AND THE -pi vy^ HFAnTFV

OTHER LOWERED. . VV .

FiG. 2, THE LOWER PIGEON ON THE lUrMlT IS

STARTING TO FLY AND SHOWS UNEQUAL POSITION
OF THE WINGS.

116 BRITISH BIRDS.

Fig. 3. — pigeon alighting, the left wing is
higher than the eight.

BLACKBIRDS AND SONG-THRUSHES NESTING ON
THE GROUND.

With regard to the notes on this subject (antea, pp. 74, 75),
it is by no means unusual to come across instances of both
Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes nesting on the bare ground
among the moorlands of north Staffordshire. On the rough
common they generally select a favourable site amidst the
numerous heaps of quarry-stone, or beneath an overhanging
ledge or rock, like the Ring-Ouzel.

More rarely, but not by any means unusually, they will be
seen nesting far out on the open moor, sometimes at the base
of a small fir tree. Where rushes abound, however, one finds
many nests — some on the ground, others among the stems
very low down — from early April onwards ; they are mostly
those of Blackbirds, and, being well hidden, are in many
cases undisturbed. During the past spring alone, I saw five,
all within fifty yards, in a very small rushy valley near my
home at Whiston. T. Smith.

RING-OUZEL AND BLACKBIRD INTERBREEDING IN

KENT.

On page 77 of the last issue Mr. Earwig notes the occurrence
of a Ring-Ouzel {Turdus torquatus) in Kent on June 7th, so

NOTES. 117

it may interest your readers to know that in Cage Birds of
July 14th, 1910, Dr. A. G. Butler records a case of hybridism
between this species and a Blackbird {T. merula) at Beckenliam
in Kent. On writing to Dr. Butler for further particulars
he tells me that the Ring-Ouzel was the hen. The first nest
was built some seven or eight feet from the ground, and five
young (two cocks and three hens apparently) were reared. A
second nest was built in a Dorothy Perkins rambler in June, 1910,
and by the 6th July two young birds had left the nest. At
this date the young of the first brood were still about the
garden, and Dr. Butler describes their plumage as follows : —
" One male bird had three white spots on each side of the lower
throat, the chin and throat otherwise buff, and the breast
still more or less spotted ; the mantle showed strong indica-
tions of ashy edging to the feathers, giving a laced character
to the plumage. The second male had no decided white
on the lower throat, but a narrow crescent paler than the chin
and upper throat. In the females the chin and throat were
pale buff. Of course, as with all young Thrushes, the breast
was more or less spotted." It is most unfortunate that Dr.
Butler did not procure one of these most interesting birds.
The Ring-Ouzel, according to Dr. Ticehurst, has only been
known to nest in the county on three occasions, although it
occurs regularly on migration, and has once been recorded
as staying so late as June 21st. It may be noted that wild
hybrids are most likely to occur when one of the species is
on the edge of its breeding-range, and is therefore unable to
find a mate of its own kind. Paget's Pochard, the hybrid
between the White-eyed Duck and Pochard, has generally
been taken under such conditions. J. Lewis Bonhote.

ROCK-THRUSH IN ORKNEY.

Mr. W. Eagle Clarke records in the Annals of Scottish
Natural History (1910, pp. 148-9) the occurrence of an adult
male of the Rock-Thrush {Monticola saxatilis) at the Pentland
Skerries lighthouse on May 17th, 1910. There is only one
previous authentic record of this species in the British Isles,
namely, the one shot on May 19th, 1843, in Hertfordshire.
Probably both these occurrences were due to the birds getting
out of their course during their spring-migration.

H. F. W.

UNUSUAL NESTING-SITES FOR THE GOLDCREST.

The photograph on p. 46 of the current volume of British
Birds suggests nothing unusual to me, though I have no
doubt that in other parts of the country the site chosen may

118

BRITISH BIRDS.

be unusual. Though I have found dozens of nests of the
Golderest in Cornwall I have never yet seen one in the situa-
tions mentioned as usual in many bird-books, e.g., in firs, pines
and yews, though there are a good many of the two former
in this neighbourhood (Penzance). I have, however,
frequently found the nest in hawthorns, either in the bush
itself or in honeysuckle growing over it. I can recollect at
least six nests in such situations. Another common site is
the side of an elm tree covered with ivy or honeysuckle,
where I have found seven nests at least. I have also found the
nest in an ash tree and several times in furze bushes. I was
looking recently at three nests taken in this district — two
were from furze bushes and had long prickles still attached
to the outside of the nests, and the other was from a haw-
thorn. A. W. H. Harvey.

Some years ago I saw a nest of the Golden-crested Wren in
a very similar position to that photographed by your corre-
spondent, Mr. H. E. Forrest. It was hidden in a long streamer
of ivy which hung down from a crab tree over a pool of water
in the middle of a covert. The nest was about five feet above
the surface of the water, and the position was all the more
remarkable as the covert was mostly composed of ash trees,
with only a few spruce trees. j^, A, Monckton.

WILLOW-WREN FEIGNING INJURY.

DIAGEAMMATIC SKETCH OF THE ATTITUDE
OF THE WILLOW-WKESr FEIGNING INJURY.

On July 14th I came
unexpectedly upon a
Willow-Wren [PMjllo-
scopus trochilus) with
young, which were
scarcely able to fly.
The bird was evidently
quite unprepared and
much startled. To
hold my attention
^^'hile the young es-
T caped, she flew on to
[j some wooden palings
■ and most realistically
feigned injury. Stand-
ing on her right leg,
she trailed the left

NOTES. 119

behind her. The right wing was allowed to hang open, as
if the humerus were broken, and the tail-feathers were spread
out. The feathers at the throat and rump were puffed out,
the liead thrown on one side and the bill slightly opened.
The bird gave several curious squeaky little calls, which were
quite unlike the Willow-Wren's plaintive notes of alarm.
She allowed me to watch her movements from a distance of
a few feet, and did not assume an ordinary attitude until the
young birds had taken cover in a dense potato -patch. As soon
as she judged the danger to be past, she flew off into a small
fruit-tree near by, and called to them in the usual way.

C. KiNGSLEY SiDDALL.

GRASSHOPPER- WARBLER IN CORNWALL.

As there seems to be some doubt as to the occurrence of the
Grasshopper- Warbler {Locustella ncevia) in west Cornwall,
I write to say that it is a regular summer migrant to the
Penzance district, being plentiful in suitable localities every
year.

I have seen eggs taken in the district and found a nest
containing five eggs near Marazion on June 30th, 1907. I
have also obtained the bird. A. W. H. Harvey.

GOLDEN ORIOLE IN SUSSEX.

On May 14th, 1910, an example of the Golden Oriole (Oriolus
galhula) was seen at Pett, and from the direction of the wind,
and condition of bird (which had not the usual shy habits
of the species), we concluded it had only just arrived. Keeping
in the locality, it was observed on several dates until June
19th, when it was most unfortunately shot at Udimore, a
village about five miles from Pett.

Mr. Bristow, of St. Leonards, had the bird for preservation,
and it f)roved to be a male in fine condition.

H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

GREAT TIT LAYING IN A HAWFINCH'S DESERTED

NEST.

About May 10th, 1910, I found a newly-built nest of the
Hawfinch {Coccothraustes vulgaris) in a plane tree about
thirty feet from the ground, near Maidenhead, Berkshire.

120 BRITISH BIRDS.

The nest was lined and appeared ready for eggs. A week
later (May 17tli) the Hawfinches were not at the nest (the
weather had been wet and stormy). On that day I found
another Hawfinch's nest with five fresh eggs two hundred yards
away, built in a similar tree, very well hidden at the end of a
lateral branch (the usual situation here). I believe this nest
was made by the same birds.

On May 21st I was passing the old nest when my attention
was drawn to a pair of Great Tits {Parus major) hovering
round the nest, which was close to a well-frequented path.
I climbed up and found that the Tits had added a good thick
lining of moss, fine grass and felted rabbits' fur and a little
horse-hair to the nest, and laid therein eight perfectly fresh
eggs. There are very few hollow trees or holes suitable for
tits in this particular locality, and the Great Tit is quite
abundant.

I have found the Crested Tit building in old Kites' nests
in the pine-forests of south Spain. I have also found Great
Tits' eggs in Robins' nests, and once found an odd egg of a
tit of some kind in a Thrush's open nest, but this is the first
time I have found the Great Tit building in a perfectly open
nest high up from the ground, and had I not watched the birds
I should never have suspected such a thing.

The Hawfinches round this district seem frequently to
build one or more nests and not use them ; perhaps others
have noticed this. F. W. Proctor.

[In default of suitable nest-holes, it is not uncommon to
find both Great and Blue Tits nesting inside open nests of
other birds. I find notes of nests of the former species built
inside nests of Song-Thrush, Blackbird and Hedge- Sparrow,
while the Blue Tit has been found building inside nests of
Song-Thrush, Blackbird, Hedge-Sparrow and Greenfinch.
Botli species also breed not infrequently in the foundations
of large nests, such as those of the Rook, Magpie, Sparrow-
Hawk and squirrel. I am not aware that there is any previous
notice of a Great Tit breeding in a Hawfinch's nest. A good
photograph of a Great Tit's nest inside that of a Song-Thrush
will be found in Nelson's Birds of Yorkshire, I., p. 110. —
F.C.R.J.]

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER BUILDING IN OLD NESTS.

Instances have already been recorded of the Spotted Fly-
catcher (Muscicapa grisola) using old nests of the Greenfinch
and Swallow for nesting-purposes {Field, 1897, pp. 222 and
307) ; but in both these cases no building-material was added.

NOTES. 121

It may therefore be worth recordmg that on July 14th, 1910,
while examining some Swallows' nests on the horizontal
beams of an old barn I was surprised to find three young
Spotted Flycatchers occupying one of the old nests ; on
July 17th, the young having flown, I examined this carefully,
and found quite a large quantity of fresh moss had been added,
together with a little hay and wool and some feathers as lining.

On the same date I found, in some ivy covering a railway-
bridge, a second nest which had as its foundation an old
Song-Thrush's nest, the cup of which was filled up with a
large stone ; in this case the Flycatcher's nest was quite
complete and of the ordinary type and materials, simply
resting on the Thrush's nest. A. G. Leigh.

[Instances of the Spotted Flycatcher utilising old nests of
other species for nesting-purposes are very numerous, but in
most cases some building-material is added. Among those
species whose nests have been utilised Ave may mention :
Song-Thrush, Blackbird, Mistle-Thrush, Greenfinch, Gold-
finch, Hawfinch (on at least two occasions). Chaffinch and
Swallow. Even in ordinary nests the amount of material
used varies greatly, and one nest in a hollow behind the hinge
of a stable-door consisted merely of a few tiny fragments of
moss round the edge. — F.C.R.J.]

CROSSBILLS NESTING.

Probable Nesting in Lincolnshire.

The Crossbills reported as seen by me in the Hartsholme
Woods, near Lincoln (Vol. III., p. 410), appear to have
remained in the district throughout June, 1910, though none
seem to have been noticed during July. I have been hoping to
get proof of the species having nested, as I know of no records
of the finding of a nest in the county. A keeper to whom I
pointed out the birds, and who has been observing them since
last April, tells me that in May he watched a Crossbill gathering
dry grass from the roadside and flying with it into the thick
fir woods. It is, therefore, practically certain that the species
has nested in these woods this year, though further proof is
perhaps desirable. F. L. Blathwayt.

In Somerset.

A nest and four eggs are reported by Mr. W. J. Kempe {Field,
4. vi. 10, p. 994) to have been found in a larch plantation in
the village of Long Ashton, near Bristol, Somerset, on April
28th, 1910.

122 BRITISH BIRDS.

CROSSBILL IRRUPTION.

Scotland. — In March and April, 1910, there was a marked
increase of Crossbills in the neighbourhood of Meikleour
(Perthshire), although Crossbills [probably of the
Scottish race] are generally present there (Duchess of
Bedford, A7in. S.N.H., 1910, p. 181). A party of
seven seen on December 15th, 1909, in the Sinclair
Hills (north-east coast) (W. Stewart-Menzies, t.c, p. 182).

INCREASE OF THE STARLING IN CORNWALL.

The Starling {Sturnus vulgaris) has been increasing in the
Penzance district for many years, though, contrary to what
I have seen stated, it bred here at least fifteen years ago, and
has done so in increasing numbers ever since.

This year there have been many nests in the town itself, and
its habit of blocking up water-pipes will doubtless soon make
it what Carew terms " an over-familiar harm."

A. W. H. Harvey.

ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARDS IN SUSSEX AND
BERKSHIRE.

On March 20tli, 1910, while walking on the dowTis between
Falmer and Lewes with my two daughters and my friend
Captain Copp, I saw a Rough-legged Buzzard {Buteo lagopus)
circling round ; after observing it for some time it settled
in some high thorn bushes about two or three hundred yards
from where we were standing. On getting up again it was
joined by a second bird, which, after circling round with the
original bird for a very short time, flew away in the direction
of Stanmer Park. The first, after flying round again, settled
on a small tree farther away than its first resting-place. I was
particularly struck by the first bird's extremely white head ;
it was, I think, a female, as the second bird seemed slightly
smaller. This bkd was observed by several people during
a long stay — some weeks, I believe, but I cannot find anyone
who saw the two, except my own party. I went over the same
ground five or six times within a short time, but saw nothing
of the birds. Curiously enough, on going down to examine
the ground over which the birds had been flying I found a
breast-feather, and exactly a month later, about a couple of
miles from the original place, I picked up a second feather,
apparently recently dropped. I did not report the appearance
of these birds at the time, as I thought there might be a very
remote chance of their staying to breed. It seems curious

NOTES. 123

that the bird should have contmued to remam in one place,
as it undoubtedly did, for some weeks during its breeding-
season, and on one occasion at least had a mate with it. I may
add that it was seen both before and after I saw it.

Herbert Langton.

On August 1st, 1910, I had a very clear view of a Rough-
legged Buzzard at Beenham near Reading. Judging by its
light colour I should presume it was an old bird. This seems
an unusually early date for the appearance of this species.
I have seen the Rough-legged Buzzard before in Berkshire : at
Bradfield on October 19tli, 1898, and a Buzzard, probably
of this species, on July 27th, 1908. Norman H. Joy.

[The birds reported by Mr. Langton do not appear to have
been present during their breeding-season, which begins in the
second half of May and early June. — Eds.]

KESTREL NESTING NEAR LONDON.

It may be of interest to put on record that at " The Cedars,"
Lee, S.E., an estate only five miles from London Bridge,
a pair of Kestrels {Falco tinnunculus) and a pair of Carrion-
Crows {Corvus corone), this year (1910), nested and successfully
brought off their young. Kestrels and Carrion-Crows are to
be seen at " The Cedars " every year, but I never located their
nests before. Jos. F. Green.

INCREASE OF THE TUFTED DUCK IN
CHESHIRE.

The Tufted Duck {Fuligula cristata) is annually extending its
breeding-range in Cheshire. Three or four pairs have
frequented Radnor all spring, and though the best efforts of
Mr. F. S. Graves and myself to find a nest have been unsuccess-
ful, a brood of eight are on the mere at the present time
(July, 1910), in charge of an exceedingly watchful mother. It
is very interesting to observe the restless activity of the
youngsters ; they are constantly diving and splashing.

M. V. Wenner.

GREEN SANDPIPERS IN BERKSHIRE AND
DERBYSHIRE.

On July 24th, 1910, I flushed a Green Sandpiper {Totanus
ochropus) from a ditch by the River Pang at Bradfield. The
chief interest in this record is the unusually early date. One
or two Green Sandpipers have haunted this part of the Pang
throughout the last few winters. Norman H. Joy.

124 BRITISH BIRDS.

A SINGLE Green Sandpiper was put up by me from the banks
of the River Dove between Rocester and Norbury, Derbyshire,
on July 12th, 1910. This is not, however, the earliest date
on which I have seen this species in the district, for on July
lOtli, 1908, I flushed another from the side of one of the
ponds at Osmaston Manor. There seems to be little doubt
that, as in the case of many other waders, these stragglers
are non-breeding birds. F. C. R. Jourdain.

A NEW NESTING-COLONY OF BLACK-HEADED GULLS
IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE.

When my Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales was issued, no
breeding-place of Larus ridihundus Mas known to exist in
the county of Montgomery. I have just learnt, however,
from my friend Mr. Vincent P. Lort, tliat quite recently a
breeding-colony has come into existence by the lakes at
Llanllugan — a remote spot amongst the hills. Up to this time
the Black-headed Gull had only been kno'W'n there as a casual
visitor in stormy weather. If unmolested, this new colony
wiU doubtless rapidly increase. H. E. Forrest.

ON THE POOD OF THE HERRING-GULL.

On July 23rd and 25th, 1910, 1 crossed a patch of marsh where
a large stand of Herring-Gulls (Larus argentatus) had been
resting and found that their excreta and disgorgements
consisted entirely of the shells of immature mussels, although
I do not think for a moment that this food is their usual diet
for the greater part of the year, but that it varies with the
season, as I hope to show later when I have more fully
investigated the subject. H. W. Robinson.

UNUSUAL SITUATION FOR A LITTLE GREBE'S

NEST.

The photograph here reproduced of the nest of a Little Grebe
{Podicipes fluviatilis) is interesting on account of the unusual
situation of the nest. The photograph was taken on May 8th,
1910, at Radnor Mere, Cheshire, and shows the nest moored
to some sticks rising from the bottom of the lake just inside
the entrance to a little-used boathouse. Curiously enough,
the only other Dabchick's nest containing eggs on the mere at
the same time was in a similar situation — inside another
boathouse. The former nest was subsequently destroyed
owing to the boat being taken out, but no such misfortune over-
took the latter, and the eggs were safely hatched.

M. V. Wenner.

NOTES.

125

NEST OF A LITTLE GREBE IN A BOAT-HOUSE ON RADNOR MERE.

Red-spotted Bluethroat in the Clyde Area. — On
May 14th, 1910, Mr. G. Stout saw a specimen of Cyanecula
suecica near Carmyle in the Clyde valley {An7i. S.N.H., 1910,
p. 182). Mr. Stout is perfectly familiar with the bird through
his work on Fair Isle. This is said to be an addition to the birds
of the Clyde area and the second spring record for the Scottish
mainland.

Lesser Whitethroat in the Clyde Area. — On May 20th,
1910, Mr. G. Stout saw an example of Sylvia curruca near
Rouken Glen {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 183).

A Peeblesshire Chough. — Mr. W. Evans writes to the
Annals of Scottish Natural History (1910, p. 181) that he has
a specimen of Pyrrhocorax graculus, said to have been shot near
West Linton about 1872.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Scotland. — The follow-
ing occurrences of Dendrocopus major, of which form is not
stated, are recorded in the Annals of Scottish Natural History,
1910:— One December 15th, 1909, Sinclair Hills (north-east
coast) (p. 182) ; an adult male on June 25tli, 1910, in the
Dunkeld district (Perthshire) (p. 183) ; one, from the middle
of March to May at Brora (Sutherland) (p. 183).

126 BRITISH BIRDS.

Supposed Bee-eater in Norfolk. — In the Field (28. v. 1910,
p. 949) there was a note from Captain S. E. Hollond concerning
a bird which he and some friends had watched on May 13th,
1910, at Mundesley, Norfolk (c/. Field, 18. vi. 1910, p. 1098).
An editorial appended to the note pronounced that it was
" evident " from Captain Hollond's description and a sketch
which he had provided, that the bird was " a Bee-eater,
M. apiaster." As the only description of the bird given in
the note was to the effect that it " had no yellow at all and
no red," I did not feel satisfied with the identification, and
wrote to Captain Hollond for further particulars. These he
has most kindly supplied as fully as he is able, and has also
sent me his original sketch, from which it is at once evident
that the bird was not an example of Merops apiaster, since the
whole of the upper parts of the bird are marked as being green,
with the exception of the crown, Avhich is marked " dark
blue." From the sketch and Captain Hollond's description of
the bird's habits — " The flight was hawk-like ; the wings
were narrow. The bird took short flights, generally returning
to the same tree " — it appears to have been a Bee-eater of
some kind, and the colouring noted on the sketch fits that of
Merops persicus very nearly, while the fact that " under the
wings in flight could be seen rich chestnut," also points to the
possibility that this was the species. I have sent skins of
Merops apiaster and M. persicus to Captain Hollond, who
writes me that " the bird was certainly not Merops apiaster,"
and that it was much like M. persicus, but appeared to differ
in several details. It is impossible to say what the bird really
was, and I have discussed the subject in detail only to show
that this cannot be accepted as a record of the occurrence of
Merops apiaster in Norfolk. — H.F.W.

American Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Argyllshire. —
Mr. H. S. Gladstone records {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 184) that a
specimen of Coccyzus americanus Avas found near the centre
of the island of Colonsay on November 6th, 1904, and is now
in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.).

Little Bittern in Cornwall. — Mr. H. J. Welch records
in the Field (23. vii. 1910, p. 200) that he has a male adult
specimen of Ardetta minuta which was caught by a dog near
Land's End in April, 1910.

Eider Ducks in the Clyde Area. — Mr. J. A. Harvie-
Brown notes [Ann. 8.N.H., 1910, p. 183) the extension of
Somateria mollissima to Loch Fyne, where several were observed
in the winter of 1909 and spring of 1910, and remarks on the
southward extension of this species.

LETM5

To the Editors of British Birds.

THE BRITISH BIRD BOOK.

Sirs, — I ask yovx to permit me to point oiit that one of the comments
in the review on the above work, pubUshed in the last number of British
Birds, is worded in such a way as to mislead your readers as to the
actual facts. It is with the facts, and not with your reviewer's opinions,
that I beg leave here to deal.

I refer to the statement that the information given in the " Classified
Notes " that appear at the head of the chapters in the British Bird Book
" is not so detailed as, for instance, in so compressed a work as
Saunders' Manual.''' Anyone who examines the " Classified Notes "
will, in the first place, find that, though as much, if not more compressed,
than the chapters in the Manual, they give more information, especially
in respect to migration and nesting habits. It is true that less detailed
information is given about distribution ; but your reviewer omits to
mention that in the preface I state that " a detailed account of the
geographical distribution of our birds lies outside the scope of the work,
which professes to deal comprehensively only with their habits." The
reviewer says, further, that the descriptions of the species " seem " too
meagre, but again he omits to mention that these descriptions, unlike
those of Howard Saunders, are supplemented by coloiu-ed plates, and
makes no comment upon the method adopted in the British Bird Book^
but not by H. Saunders, of giving prominence to the most characteristic
external features of each species. Some of the descriptions are and will
be more detailed than those in the Manual. Again, mention of the
migration notes is entirely omitted. I content myself with inviting
your readers to compare these with what is said on the same subject
by H. Saunders. The reviewer again omits to point ovit that the notes
on nests and eggs contain in a systematic form information which is not
given in the Manual, and which no one has ever attempted to collate
in this systematic way before.

Turning to the only other point I have space to deal with, I wish to
state that the nomenclature was in the very efficient hands of Mr.
F. C. R. Jourdain, who, it is fair to add, has not been able to go as far
as he could have wished. Whether it would have been wiser to go
further is a question about which the highest authorities in this country
would differ. In answer to the reviewer's detailed comments I beg to point
out that in every case where the British form differs in the least from the
typical race, the name of our lor J sub-species is given in the Classified

128 BRITISH BIRDS.

Notes, usually under the head of distribution. The amount of emphasis
to be given to sub-specific distinctions is, of course, a matter of opinion,
with which I am not here concerned. Descriptions of rare sub-species
wUl be found in the Rare Bird section.

F. B. KiRKMAN,

Editor of the British Bird Book.
Letch worth, Herts.
August 9th, 1910,

[Mr. Kirkman's claim that the " Classified Xotes " in the British
Bird Book are as much or more compressed yet contain more informa-
tion than the chapters in Saunders' well-known Manual is indeed a
bold one. My comparison was made to give the reader an idea of
the scope of this part of the new work and the amount of detail Ukely
to be found there, and on re-examination I think my statement is
perfectly fair and correct. I did not intend that the comparison should
be taken as meaning that in every particular there was less detail nor
that the information was the same. The comparison was instituted
as a criticism of the plan of the book, and ilr. Kirkman's claun of
compression is in reality an admission of the whole point of my criticism.
The need for comjDression in a single small volume like the Manual
is at once apparent, but why compress and thus sacrifice detail in a
large work of this kind ? Mr. Kirkman's claim astonishes me. If
space was needed, a tithe of that occupied by irrelevant discursions in
large type in the Finch chapter would have provided sufficient.

With regard to the question of nomenclatiu-e, had Mr. Jourdain
been allowed " to go as far as he could have wished " in the matter of
trinomials, I am sure that I should have had no complaint to make
because Mr. Jovudain is in perfect agreement with me as to the im-
portance of the full recognition of geographical forms and the necessity
of their separate treatment. We cannot, however, expect too much,
and perhaps we should be thankful that i\Ir. Jourdain has, at all events,
been allowed to go so far as he has. — H.F.W.]

BRITISnDIPsDS

EDITED BY H. E. WITHERBY, E.Z.S., M B.O.l\

assisted by

Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norman F.
ticehurst, m.a., f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 5, Vol. IV. October 1, 1910.

Notes on Various Species of British Birds (from Part VI. of the
Vfigel d. palaarkt. Fauna) by Dr. E. Hartert

On Incubation, by Eric B. Dunlop . .

The Notes of the British Willow -Tit, by C. J. Alexander

Notes : —

Arctic Bluethroat in Norfolk in Spring (Clifford Borrer)
Extraordinary Devotion of a pair of Lesser Whitethroats to

their Nest (H. W. Ford-Lindsay)

Yellow-browed Warbler in Suffolk (Rev. J. G. Tuck). .
Pied Flycatchers in Sussex (Dr. N. F. Ticehurst)
Aggressiveness of a Buzzard in Westmorland, and a Golden

Eagle in Inverness-shire (Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain) . .
Abnormally coloured Gannet (Jasper Atkinson)
Food of the Common Heron (F. W. Frohawk) . .
Common Scoter breeding in Ireland (Major H. Trevelyan)
Velvet Scoters in Caithness in Summer (C. Cairnie) . .
Four Egos in a Wood-Pigeon's Nest (Dr. M. W^inzar Compton
LTnequal Wing-strokes in Flight (A. W. Seaby) . .
Quail at Stornoway, Outer Hebrides (W. H. Workman)
Manoeuvres of Lapwing in defence of Yoimg (Commander H

Lynes, R.N.) . .
Further Notes on Tame Snipe (H. Wormald) . .
Black Tern in Surrey (H. Bentham)

Review : — The Glasgow Naturalist . .

PAGE
129

137
146

148

148
151
151

152
152
153
154
154
155
156
156

157
157
158
159

NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES OF BRITISH BIRDS

(From Part VI. of the Vogel d. pal. Fauna).
BY

ernst hartert.

The Correct Name of White's Thrush.

Instead of under the " familiar " name Turdus varius,

White's Thrush appears on p. 642 of my Vogel der

PaldarUischen Fauna as Turdus dauma aureus. My

130 BRITISH BIRDS.

British friends are horrified, because they are, in opposition
to the ancient Gauls whom Csesar described as " rerum
novarum cupidi," somewhat too conservative, at any rate
in matters of nomenclature. Let us see why this change
of a name has been made. Holandre described the bird
distinctly in 1825 {Annuaire de la Moselle, p. 60) as
T Urdus aureus, while Pallas' name appeared in the
Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I, p. 449, a work which was not
issued before 1827, although most examples bear on the
title-page the date 1811, and some writers quote it as
1831, a date which is found on the title-page of some
copies. The correct date should be 1827 (see V'og. pal.
Fauna, I, p. 277, footnote, and K. E. v. Baer, Berichte iiber die
Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., 1831, pp. 16, 22, 23). Therefore the
name aureus appeared before that of varius, and this bird,
being a very closely allied sub-species of T. dauma, the
correct name is T. dauma aureus. But the question now
arises : will British Ornithologists allow their attachment
to old friends to be their guiding rule in nomenclature,
instead of the laws and rules adopted by Zoologists
generally ? Will they follow in the footsteps of the
Ornithologists of a generation ago, who did what I do
now — i.e., accept the name aureus instead of varius,
as Newton, Tweeddale, Dresser, Seebohm, Sharpe and
others accepted varius instead of Whitei, which was
formerly the " familiar " name used by Eyton, Gould,
Blasius, Yarrell, Temminck, Schlegel, Gray, Naumann
and others, or will they consider their present convenience
instead of that of future generations and continue to call
the bird Turdus varius ? Let us wait and see !

The Proper Najvie of the Song-Thrush and Red-
wing.

Linnaeus {Syst. Nat. Ed., X, 1758, p. 169) described the
Redwing under the name of Turdus musicus. The
diagnosis " alis subtus ferrugineis, linea superc. alhicante "
is clearly that of the Redwing. Therefore the Redwing
should be called Turdus musicus. The name Turdus

NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 131

iliacus of 1758, on the other hand, is not available, because
under that heading appears a mixture of descriptions of
the Song-Thrush, Redwing and Mistle-Thrush, while
in 1766 the name iliacus was transferred to the species
formerly named T. musicus. The Song-Thrush was
described by Brehm in 1831 as Turdus philomelos, and
therefore it must henceforth be called by that name. The
British form of the Song-Thrush, which is darker and
more olive-coloured, as acknowledged {in litt.) by many
of my friends and correspondents, such as Messrs. Eagle-
Clarke, Bonhote and Drs. N. F. and C. B. Ticehurst, was
described by me as Turdus philomelos clarkei (see Vog.
pal. Fauna, p. 651).

On the Black-throated and Eared Wheatears.

These two birds, generally known as Saxicola stapazina
and S. aurita, are one and the same species, but the male
appears in two forms, one with a black, the other with a
whitish throat, and the females, too, have sometimes
blackish, sometimes white throats. Pastor Kleinschmidt
was the first recent author who threw out a hint that
they might be one species, and the interesting observations
by Dr. Schiebel and Herr Reiser in south-eastern
Europe have shown that the two supposed species do
not differ in any way in their habits or in their nests
and eggs, and have left hardly any doubt that they are
one and the same bird, especially as black-throated males
do not always pair with dark-throated females and
vice versa.

An unbiassed and careful study of a large series of
skins, and last, but not least, my own personal observa-
tions in company with the Hon. W. Rothschild in Algeria,
have confirmed Pastor Kleinschmidt's suspicion, and the
observations of Messrs. Schiebel and Reiser.

This dimorphic plumage is found alike in the western
form, S. hispanica hispanica, and in the eastern sub-
species, S. hispanica xanthomelaena. Neither the name
8. stapazina, nor that of 8. aurita need henceforth be used

182 BRITISH BIRDS.

for this species, for Linnaeus named it " Motacilla
hispanica " in the Syst. Nat., Ed. X, p. 186. His
description is solely based on Edwards {Orn. nov., I,
PI. 31 and letterpress), who figured and described a
black-throated and a white-throated male. Although
rightly believing them to be specifically identical, he
erroneously described them as male and female.

A similar dimorphism occurs in Saxicola pleschanka,
the white -throated form of which has been described as
a different species under the name of ;S^. vittata. On
October 19th, 1909, this bird was added to the British
list. {Cf. antea, Vol. III., p. 296.)

The Name of the Black Redstart.

The Black Redstart is now generally known as Ruticilla
tithys, but its correct name is Phoenicurus ochruros
g ihr altar iensis. The description of Motacilla titys
(Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, p. 187) is that of a female
of Phoenicurus phoenicurus, the Common Redstart. Not
only is this evident when one carefull}^ peruses the
diagnosis, but in Ed. XII (1766) Linnaeus himself says
that his titys is the female of the Common Redstart.

It is, therefore, an impossible and unscientific proceed-
ing to retain the name titys, and it must be replaced by
the next oldest name, which is gihraUar iensis Gmelin,
1789. Seebohm {Catalogue Birds Br. Mus., V, p. 339)
accepted Scopoli's name tithys of 1769, but this proceeding
is of course quite unjustifiable, as the name had already
been used by Linnaeus in another sense, although
Saunders and others have adopted kSeebohm's nomen-
clature.

Unfortunately, this is not aU, but as our Black Redstart
is a sub-species of the Caucasian form, which was already
named Motacilla ochruros in 1774, our bird becomes
Phoenicurus ochruros gihraltariensis.

With regard to the generic name, it is known, and now
generally accepted, that Phoenicurus antedates Ruticilla.

NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 133

It is most regrettable that the wrong name, titys
(occasionally spelt tithys, tytis, tythis, litis, thytis, thitis,
tites !) has been used so long. The reason must have been
either that nobody carefully read Linnaeus' descriptions
of 1758 and 1766, or was familiar with the plumages of
female Common Redstarts.

The Wrens of the British Isles.

Much discrepancy has recently existed in the writings
of various authors concerning the generic name of the
European Wrens ; the term Troglodytes having been
restricted to a group of American Wrens with rather
longer bills and tails, while the European (and some
American] Wrens, which had been erroneously called
Anorthura by Sharpe, were baptized Olbiorchilus by
Mr. Oberholser, until Professor Lonnberg found out
that they had ah'eady received the name Nannus from
Billberg. All this trouble is, in my opinion, unnecessary,
because the generic separation of Troglodytes and Nannus
rests on such slight grounds, that the two supposed genera
are much better united, and in that case Troglodytes
remains as the oldest name of the genus.

Studying the Wrens inhabiting the British Isles I
came to the following conclusions :

Specimens from England, Scotland and Ireland are
alike and cannot be separated from the continental
form.

The Wrens from the Shetland Islands are very different,
being very much larger, and therefore much nearer to
the forms inhabiting St. Kilda, the Faeroes, and Iceland.
The bill is as long as in T. troglodytes islandicus, the culmen
measuring 15-16 mm., but the wing is shorter ; those
of three males measuring only 52-53-3 mm., that of a
female 48-1 mm., against a wing of 57*5 to 61 mm. in
T. t. islandicus. The colour of the upper- side, especially
of the head and wings, is darker than in T. t. borealis
(from the Faeroes) and in T. t. islandicus, and the under-

134 BRITISH BIRDS.

side is also slightly darker. From T. t. horealis they also
differ by their much larger bills, and from T. t. hirtensis in
the darker colour of their plumage, especially on the under
surface.

I have, therefore, named this very distinct form
Troglodytes troglodytes zetlandicus on p. 777 of my book.
The specimens which I examined, including the type,
are in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh.

The Wrens from the Hebrides and from Pair Isle have
been a great puzzle to me. They stand between T. t.
troglodytes, the common British Wren, and T. t. zetlandicus ,
and some seem to me to be indistinguishable from some
T. t. horealis. The individual variation being rather
great, and the specimens which I have been able to examine
not very numerous, I have deferred judgment about
this form, hoping that I or someone else may in future
be able to study a better series. It must also be
remembered, that it is quite possible that in autumn
single specimens may be blown southwards from one
island to another, and, therefore, a series obtained in the
breeding-season should be examined.

I may here remark that there does not appear to exist
an adequate series of T. t. hirtensis in any museum,
while series of eggs are to be found in many collections,
and clutches are constantly offered for sale in dealers'
shops and figure in many of Stevens' sale lists. We are
now sufficiently aware that the eggs from St. Kilda are
larger, and nothing is gained by the collecting of larger
series of clutches, while the few skins in museums are
mostly from spirits, and a good description can hardly
be made from them. I have only been able to measure
three adult birds in fairly good condition.

The British Dippers.

The British, and especially Irish, Dippers have often
puzzled ornithologists. Dresser, in 1874, said that he
had not been able to examine an English-killed specimen
of the Scandinavian form (which he called C. melano-

NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 135

gaster), while he referred, a bird from Ireland to the latter,
because it " agrees closely with specimens from Sweden."

In 1881 Sharpe cautioned his readers against the above
statement, declaring that " the specimens " (Dresser
mentioned only one !) referred to by Mr. Dresser were
only young birds of the year of the ordinary C. aquaticus
after their first moult, at which time they were hardly
distinguishable from C. cinclus (the Scandinavian form).

Sharpe 's view was repeated and generalized by Seebohm
two years later. The same author then added that birds
from the Peak of Derbyshire, 1,500 feet above the sea,
were darker than those which are found lower down the
valleys, a statement afterwards repeated by various
authors, among others by Saunders, who makes a similar
observation with regard to the Dippers in the Pyrenees.

Sharpe, in 1894, called the British Dippers Cinclus
aquaticus, and admitted C. cinclus from Scandinavia as a
visitor to the eastern counties of England. In 1902
Tschusi separated the British Dipper as C. c. britannicus.

I have tried to examine as many British Dippers as
possible and have come to the following conclusions : —

Dresser, in 1874, was nearest to the truth, when he
considered the Irish Dipper to be different from those
of England and Scotland. Sharpe, on the other hand,
had apparently not seen the specimen on which Dresser
based his statement, for young British Dippers do not
look like adult birds of the Irish form.

Seebohm's statement, that birds from the Peak of
Derbyshire were different from those of lower altitudes,
and more like Swedish ones, was apparently based on the
comparison of one or two specimens and generalized
without any reason whatever. Saunders' assertions,
that Pyrenean birds from higher elevations differed from
those of the valleys, and that the Pyrenean form is hke
the Norwegian one, are not quite correct ; it is true that
the Pyrenean Dipper differs from that of Spain, but all
Pyrenean birds, as far as I have been able to ascertain,
belong to a distinct race, C. cinclus pyrenaicus of Dresser,

136 BRITISH BIRDS.

while those of Spain are almost exactly like the German
C. c. aquaticus, but up to the present the material from
the Iberian Peninsula has been inadequate for purposes
of comparison.

Irish Dippers, as I have said before, differ from English
and Scotch ones. They have wider black borders to the
feathers of the upper-side than C. c. cinclus and C. c.
hritannicus, so that the back appears almost uniform
black in freshly moulted examples, and the rufous pectoral
area is more restricted than in C. c. hritannicus, but
wider than in typical C. c. cinclus from Scandinavia. I
have been able to compare six Irish Dippers, which were
all distinguishable from twenty-three out of twenty-four
from Great Britain. Only one, a skin from Tillicoultry^ in
Scotland, agreed with the Irish Dippers in the black
upper, surface. Adding to my observations Dresser's
observation of 1874, I considered that I had sufficient
reason to separate this form, and I named it Cinclus
cinclus hibernicus on page 790 of my book.

The Generic Names of our Swallows.

The nomenclature of the SwaUows has been subjected
to most extraordinary treatment, the name of Chelidon
Forster, 1817, having been disregarded and Chelidon
Boie, 1822, which was based on no better grounds and
not diagnosed, accepted — Chelidon Forster being the
generic name for the British Swallow, Chelidon Boie
that for the House-Martin. But to make things still
worse, Riparia Forster (also 1817) has been accepted for
the Sand-Martins. It stands to reason that, if one of
Forster's names is valid, the other must be equally so,
and the case is really very simple ; Linnaeus and subsequent
authors called all Swallows Hirundo and included the
Swifts, but Forster, in 1817, divided them into Chelidon
(rustica), Hirundo (urbica) and Riparia (riparia), each
of these genera being monotypic. This nomenclature
must be accepted and supersedes all subsequent altera-
tions and shiftings of names.

( 1^37 )
ON INCUBATION.

BY
ERIC B. DUNLOP.

The majority of British birds do not commence to
incubate their eggs until the complement has been
deposited. This is obviously to their advantage, in most
cases, for if the powers of progression varied to any great
extent in nestlings of the same brood, the work of the
parents in tending and feeding them would certainly
be greatly increased.

For instance, take the case of the smaller Nidicolce.
Many enemies are ready to destroy them as soon as they
quit the nest ; the adult birds are taxed to the uttermost
to keep the young out of danger, but in spite of their
efforts numbers of nestlings do fall a prey to ever-watchful
carnivorous birds and beasts. Now, if there were four
or five days' difference in the age of the oldest and
youngest nestlings, there can be no question that the
difficulty of the parent birds' task would be enormously
increased, for a few days make a great difference to the
powers of flight of a young bird, and to keep all their
offspring under control would be beyond the powers of
the parents.

Similarly, in the case of the Nidifugce the dangers
would be greatly increased without any advantage
accruing. Take, for instance, the Partridge (P. cinerea).
Although the male is a careful parent, very few of the
young would reach maturity if the hatching-period
extended over a fortnight or three weeks ; for upon the
brood being threatened by danger their powers of escape
would be so varied that several of the young would be
inevitably lost. The Anatidce would suffer yet more
severely, for in most cases the drake does not assist the
duck to rear the young.

It is thus evident that in most instances it is to the benefit
of the species that the full clutch should be deposited
before incubation commences. However, even in those

138 BRITISH BIRDS.

species which normally lay the full clutch before com-
mencing to incubate we occasionally find individuals that
prove the exception to the rule. Also there are a few
species which habitually commence incubation with the
laying of the first egg. In these cases there is always some
factor which causes the habit to be beneficial to the
species, any disadvantages being outweighed. It is
with the latter class that this paper chiefly deals.

It may be well to give a few examples of the more general
type {i.e., in which incubation commences with the laying
of the last egg) for the sake of comparison with those
species which commence to incubate as soon as the first
egg has been laid.

A Jackdaw (C. monedula) laid five eggs, the last on April 26th ; on
that date incubation commenced. Four eggs hatched on May 14th ;
the fifth was not fertile.

A Song-Thrush (T. musiciis) which laid four eggs on consecutive
days, the last on April 18th ; commenced incubation on that date. All
four eggs hatched on May 2nd.

A Dipper (C. aquaticus) laid five eggs on consecutive days, the last
on April 30th, when incubation commenced. On May 16th four of the
eggs hatched, the fifth proving to be infertile.

The three foregoing cases are typical of their kind.

The following observations made on the nesting of a Great Tit (P.
■major) are exceptional : — The nest was found on May 23rd. It con-
tained seven eggs. The bird laid regularly one egg a day until she
had the large clutch of thii'teen. She, however, commenced to incubate
when tlie tenth egg had been laid, on May 26th. Six of the eggs proved
to be infertile ; six hatched on June 9th, and the last one on June 11th.

The Magpie (P. rustica) and Jackdaw are two species which normally
do not commence incubation until all the eggs have been laid, but I
have known an instance of each sjDecies commencing incubation with
the first egg.

We now come to those species which habitually incubate
on the laying of the first egg. From observations made
in previous years I suspected that the Rook (C. frugilegus)
was one of the number, I therefore kept some nests under
close supervision during the past spring. The result
was that my suspicions were confirmed, for each bird
commenced to sit as soon as the first egg had been
deposited. The following are some of the particulars
obtained : —

ON INCUBATION.

139

I.— April 4th,
April 5th,
April 6th,
April 7th,
Aiiril 8th,

II.— April 7th,
April 8th,
April 9th,

III.

IV.

-April 22nd,
April 23rd,
April 24th,
April 25th,

-Four eggs.
April 8th,
April 9th,
April 10th,
April 11th,

-Three eggs.
April 12th,
April 13th,
April 14th,
April 15th,

First egg laid.
Second egg laid.
No change.
Third egg laid.
Fourth egg laid.

First egg laid.
Second egg laid.
Third egg laid.

First egg laid.
Second egg laid.
No change.
Third egg laid.

First egg hatched.
Second egg hatched.
Third egg hatched.
Fourth egg hatched.

First egg hatched.
Second egg hatched.
No change.
Thii'd egg hatched.

The nest was visited at various
times of day, the bii'd being
on in every instance.

At whatever time the nest was
seen the bird was on.

The bird was always on the
nest when it was visited.

Why does the Rook incubate as soon as the first egg
has been laid ? The following explanation occurs to
me. Everybody knows what arrant thieves Rooks are
whilst nest-building is in progress ; they help themselves
to their neighbours' property whenever the opportunity
presents itself. Also they are well known to be egg-
thieves. We can hardly suppose that birds that help
themselves to the nesting-materials would leave the eggs
untouched if a chance of appropriating them occurred.

We have already seen in the case of species which
normally do not incubate until the full clutch has been
laid, that there are occasional exceptions — that individual
birds give way to the desire to brood as soon as the first
egg has been laid. At one time the Rook as a species
probably did not incubate until the whole clutch had
been laid, and no doubt the birds suffered severely from
the depredations of their own species. Any bird which
incubated with the laying of the first egg would reduce the
risk of losing her eggs to a 7ninimum, and thus gain a
great advantage over other Rooks ; birds hatched

140 BRITISH BIRDS.

from these eggs would inherit the tendency to sit as soon
as the first egg had been deposited, and in course of time
through the process of natural selection the species as
a whole would be affected. The very real benefit gained
would in all probability cause the time needed to bring about
the change to be short, that is, comparatively speaking.

It may be objected that the Jackdaw breeds in colonies
and is also an egg-stealer, but yet does not incubate until
the full clutch has been laid. The case, however, is
very different, for the eggs are not exposed, the nests
being in holes. The Jackdaw is a wary bird, and will
not venture off-hand into a hole that may be occupied
by one of the rightful tenants, and the risk of being taken
in the rear is also, without doubt, a deterrent. It is
significant that when the nest is found in the branches
of trees, it is frequently domed, if not already protected
by impending foliage.

It is well known that such birds as the Sparrow-Hawk
(A. nisus), Kestrel [F. tinnunculus), Long-eared Owl
{A. otus), and Short-eared Owl {A. accipitrinus) commence
incubation with the first egg. It is also well known that
an interval of a day or more occurs between the laying
of each egg. All these birds deposit their clutches
with no attempt at concealment, and to any of the Crows
passing overhead they would appear conspicuous objects
and would, of course, pay the penalty. Also, as the eggs
are not laid on consecutive days, the danger of being
discovered extends over a considerable period. Thus, it
is evident that birds of these species which incubate as
soon as the first egg is laid, are much more likely to
rear young than those which do not do so.

The case of the Barn-Owl (aS'. flammea) is rather different,
for the eggs are not exposed as are those of the birds
last mentioned, but the habit of covering the eggs is un-
doubtedly of great advantage to the species by protecting
the eggs from the attacks of rodents.

Another bird that certainly does not wait for the clutch
to be completed before commencing incubation is the

ON INCUBATION. 141

Heron {A. cinerea), for young birds in the same nest
exhibit considerable variation in size, and judging from
this, it seems probable, in some instances at all events,
that an interval of several days occurs between the laying
of the eggs. This species rears two broods in the season.
The first clutch is hatched in March or the beginning of
April. It seems certain that if the eggs were not covered
by the birds a large number would be spoilt by frost and
snow. Of course, in the earlier as well as the later laying,
the risk of losing the eggs through the attacks of the
Corvidce is much reduced by the Herons being constantly
on them.

I have known one or two cases in which Ravens {C.
corax) commenced incubation before the clutch had been
completed, but cannot say whether this is always the case.
Young Ravens were found during March of the past
spring (this, of course, is not unusual) in a nest in the face
of a crag situated high on the fell, and very much exposed
to the elements. Anyone who has experienced the snow-
storms and the occasional severity of the cold at these
altitudes during the early months of the year, will readily
realise that the eggs in a nest so situated would frequently
be rendered infertile if not covered by the bird as soon as
they were laid.

In this connection it is interesting to note that Naumann
states that the Crossbill {L. curvirostra) begins incubation
as soon as she has laid her first egg.

During a visit to a well-known guUery I was able to
make observations on the incubation of the Black-headed
Gull {L. ridibundus), Common Tern {8. fluviatilis), Sand-
wich Tern {S. caMiaca), and Little Tern {S. minuta).
Some of the results obtained are appended : —

Hatching of L. ridibundus.

I. — Two eggs. June 23rd, first hatched.
June 24th, second hatched.

II. — Three eggs. June 25th, first egg hatched.
June 26th, second egg hatched.
June 27th, no change.
June 28th, third egg hatched.

142 BRITISH BIRDS.

III. — Three eggs. June 27th, first egg hatched.

June 28th, second egg hatched.

June 29th, third egg hatched.
IV. — Two eggs. June 29th, first egg hatched,

June 30th, second egg hatched.

Hatching of S. fluviatilis.

I. — Two eggs. June 24th, first egg hatched.

June 25th, no change.

June 26th, second egg hatched.
II. — Three eggs. June 25th, first egg hatched.

June 26th, second egg hatched.

June 27th, third egg hatched.
III. — Two eggs. June 26th, first egg hatched

June 27th, second egg hatched.
IV. — Three eggs. June 27th, first egg hatched.

June 28th, second egg hatched.

June 29th, no change.

June 30th, third egg hatched.
V. — Three eggs. June 27th, first egg hatched.

June 28th, second egg hatched.

June 29th, no change.

June 30th, no change.

July 1st, third egg hatched.
VI. — Three eggs. June 28th, first egg hatched.

June 29th, second egg hatched.

June 30th, no change.

July 1st, third egg hatched.

Laying of S. fluviatilis.

VII. — June 25th. A bird was watched back on to a single egg.
On June 26th the nest contained the single egg at 10 a.m.,
but a second had been deposited by 1.30 p.m.
VIII. — Bird watched back on to single egg on June 27th. No change
on 28th. A second was laid on June 29th.
IX. — Bird watched back on to single egg on June 28th. No change
on 29th. Nest contained a second egg on June 30th.
X. — Watched bird back on to single egg on June 28th and again
watched it incubating on single egg, June 29th. A
second egg laid on June 30th.
XL — Contained one egg on June 22nd. Two on June 23rd. On
June 24th it still contained two eggs, but more material
had been added to the nest. June 25th, a third egg
laid.

Though hundreds of clutches were seen hatching off, no single instance
was noted of the eggs in a nest hatching at the same time.

Hatching of S. cantiaca.

I. — Two eggs. June 25th, first egg hatched. No change until
June 28th, when the second hatched.
II. — Two eggs. Jvme 26th, first egg hatched. No change until
June 29th, when the second hatched.
III. — Two eggs. June 24th, first egg hatched. No change until

Jime 26th, when the second hatched.
IV. — Two eggs. June 26th, first egg hatched. No change until
June 28th, when the second hatched.

ON INCUBATION. 143

It may be worth noting en passant that the Common
and Little Terns remove the shells of hatched eggs from
the vicinity of the nest, whereas the Sandwich Tern
apparently never does so.

It is certain that the habit of the Black-headed Gull,
Common and Sandwich Terns is to commence incubation
as soon as the first egg has been laid. Gulls are notorious
egg-stealers, and there can be no question that if the
Black-headed Gull has the opportunity it will rob the
nests of its own species. In several cases single eggs
disappeared from clutches of three ; they had evidently
been sucked. On one occasion I saw a Gull carrying a
large object in its beak, being pursued by another bird of
the same species ; the first dropped its booty. On
reaching the place I found it to be an egg of the Black-
headed GuU, almost on the point of hatching. It is when
the birds have been disturbed from their nests, I think, that
the opportunity is seized and the eggs taken.

Likewise, in the case of the Terns, several instances
were noted of eggs being sucked just after the birds had
been disturbed. Though the Black-headed GuUs were
never detected in the act, there is no doubt that they were
the culprits, for no other species of egg-sucking bird
ventured on to the Terns' nesting-ground. Frequently
the GuUs were chased off, but at other times little notice
appeared to be taken of them. As Terns usually nest
on Gull-haunted ground, there can be no doubt that the
covering of the eggs by the birds from the time the first
has been deposited is of great value to the species,
especially as the eggs are not laid on consecutive days,
for the risk of losing them is reduced to a minimum,
being in fact practically nil where the birds are left
undisturbed. This is most markedly the case with the
Sandwich Tern, for the eggs are very conspicuous, and
three days frequently elapse between laying.

Now, each of these three species is weU known to exhibit
a great range of variation in the colouring of its eggs.
I think we have here the explanation. It is evident that

144 BRITISH BIRDS.

in all three species there has been a strong tendency
towards individual variation in the colouring of the eggs.
As they are covered from the time they are laid, the
action of natural selection (in the form of egg-sucking
birds, which would otherwise check variation, by destroy-
ing all those eggs which departed from the type which
agreed most closely in colouring with the environment)
has been in abeyance, and therefore, as variation has
continued practically unchecked, we now have the
exceptional range of colouring shown in the eggs of the
Black-headed Gull, Common and Sandwich Terns.

Two other species noted for the wide range of variation
in the colouring of their eggs are the Razorbill {A. tarda)
and the Guillemot [U . troile). As these birds only deposit
a single egg, the case appears to be analogous with those
previously mentioned.

Only three nests of the Little Tern {S. minuta) were
noted hatching off, but these were of great interest.
In one clutch of two eggs the first hatched on June 29th,
the second was hatching on July 1st. In the two other
cases, each a clutch of two, the eggs hatched at the same
time. Further observation is needed, but it may be
suggested that as the species has not the physical force
of the Common and Sandwich Terns, it has suffered more
from the ravages of egg-sucking birds ; therefore a type
of egg has been evolved, the protective colouring of which
saves them from the keen vision of the birds that seek
them ; and so, in some cases at all events, the birds do
not incubate until the full clutch has been laid, for natural
selection working on other Hnes has caused it to be
immaterial that they should do so.

The eggs of the Curlew {N. arquata) are protected to
some extent by their coloration, as is the case with
other Limicoline birds. A nest found on April 26th, which
then contained two eggs, was visited daily ; it was not
until April 30th that the third and last egg was laid.
In the only other nest of this species that I have watched
there was also a considerable interval between the laying

ON INCUBATION. 145

of the eggs, but I did not ascertain precisely what it was.
If there is always a considerable interval (and this does
not seem unlikely when the size of the egg compared to
the bulk of the bird is taken into consideration), it is
evident that eggs left exposed in this manner run great
risks of being destroyed, and it is certain that any variation
which tended to make them at all conspicuous would
result in the whole clutch disappearing.

The range of variation in the colouring of the eggs
of such a species as the Black-headed Gull is very striking
when compared with the uniformity in the colouring of
the eggs of the Curlew.

( 146 )
THE NOTES OF THE BRITISH WILLOW-TIT.

BY
C. J. ALEXANDER.

For nearly three years, since the notices of the British
Willow-Tit {Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti) appeared
in the early numbers of British Birds, my brother, H. G.
Alexander, and I have paid special attention to the notes
of the black-capped Tits. In January, 1908, we heard
one of these birds singing in a manner similar to the
Alpine WiUow-Tit, which we had both of us heard in
Switzerland. This bird also made a deep plaintive note.
Since then we have repeatedly watched birds making this
note, at all times of the j^ear, and in no instance has the
same bird uttered either the common double note charac-
teristic of the British Marsh-Tit {Parus palustris dresseri)
or the succession of notes constituting the song of that
species : and the converse holds true.

Although we did not succeed in making out any certain
difference in plumage between the two species, we con-
sidered the evidence sufficient to allow us to assign the
notes above-mentioned to the Willow- and Marsh-Tits
respectively. However, a few months ago Colonel R. H.
Rattray, of Tonbridge, wTote to my brother that he had
heard the plaintive note and had caught the bird that was
making it : on comparing this with a Marsh-Tit he found
that aU the differences mentioned in Dr. Ticehurst's
Birds of Kent were distinguishable.

I therefore have now no hesitation in giving a comparison
of the notes of the two species.*

British Marsh-Tit (P. p. dresseri) : —

(1) Double note; the most usual; often followed by
a harsh note repeated several times. (The Great
Tit occasionally makes a precisely similar note.)

* This is slightly different from the account given in Dr. Ticehurst's
History of the Birds of Kent, that I sent him two years ago ; and as it
had not occurred to me that he would put it in his book, I did not
emphasize the fact that I was then not sufficiently siu-e of it to publish
it. I much regret that I should ha^-e been the means of introducing
any inacciu-acy into the book.

NOTES OF THE BRITISH WILLOW-TIT. 147

(2) Thin, sharp notes.

(3) Songs : (a) A loud clear note, repeated about
seven times ; the usual song, (b) Based on a more
liquid pronunciation of (1), but sometimes including
low notes of a different character.

British Willow-Tit (P. a. kleinschmicUi) : —

(1) Deep plaintive note, sometimes prefixed by one
or two thin notes.

(2) Thin, sharp notes ; more frequently uttered than
the corresponding notes of the Marsh-Tit.

(3) Song : Rich, Nightingale-hke notes, mingled with
a soft musical warbling.

The Marsh-Tit makes its song (a) only from December
to April, but regularly during most of that period ; the
song (6) is uttered occasionally during many of the summer
months. The WiUow-Tit's song-period extends from
January to April and July to September at any rate —
this corresponds in general to the song-periods of the
Coal and Blue Tits — but it only sings rarely.

I have now met with the WiUow-Tit in the following
places : — Kent — Wye and Tunbridge WeUs ; Sussex —
from Tunbridge Wells to Ashdown Forest ; Surrey —
Reigate and Leith Hill ; Hants. — Ecchinswell, close to
the Berks, boundary and the neighbourhood of Selborne ;
Berks. — Shinfield and Grazeley, near Reading ; Wilts. —
Little Bedwyn ; Oxon. — Checkendon, in the Chilterns ;
Herts. — Rothamsted, near Harpenden. My brother has
observed it at Capel Curig, North Wales, besides some
of the above localities ; he has not yet found it at Cam-
bridge, where the Marsh-Tit is decidedly uncommon.*
About Tunbridge Wells their numbers seem to be about
one-third or one-quarter those of the Marsh-Tit ; and near
Reading, perhaps about the same. At Wye and other
places in the east of Kent they seem to be rare. We have
nearly always met with them in weU-wooded districts.

* Mr. A. H. Ev^ans informs us that near Cambridge P. a. kleinschmidti
is the only species observed by hun, and that it is scarce and local
there. — [Eds.]

OTES

ARCTIC BLUETHROAT IN NORFOLK IN
SPRING.

An Arctic Bluethroat [Cyanecula suecica) was obtained,
during the third week in May last on the north coast of Norfolk.
It was shot in a garden facing the sea by a man who fired, at
it out of his dining-room window. A prevalence of easterly
winds at the time probably accounts for the occurrence, as
the Red-spotted Bluethroats appear to miss our coasts on
the spring migration to northern Europe to a great extent,
although one was recorded from near Newcastle as far back
as May 26th, 1826, and others have been obtained at Worthing
on May 2nd, 1853, and near Lowestoft in May, 1856, as well
as more recently in Norfolk on May 16th, 1906. There are
also at least two occurrences from the Scottish mainland and
one from the Pentland Skerries in the month of May.

Clifford Borrer.

EXTRAORDINARY DEVOTION OF A PAIR OF LESSER
WHITETHROATS TO THEIR NEST.

No doubt many will call to mind the unusual severity of the
gales during May, 1910, and the consequent effect on many
birds that were nesting. One case in particular seemed to
me to be beyond the usual perseverance of birds, and concerned
a pair of Lesser Whitethroats {Sylvia curruca). The nest
was built with no stronger support than stems of grass and
stinging nettles, and when I found it the whole structure was
exposed to view, and nearly blown away— in fact, the sides
had already given way. Notwithstanding the fact that
the hen bird was obliged to sit on the side of the nest, she
was actually using her wings to keep there at all. The first
photograph I took shows the nest with five eggs, and gives
some idea of the position, for, following my rule, nothing
was disturbed before taking the photograph.

Knowing it was useless to leave the nest in this position,
I decided to move it to more sheltered quarters, and placed
it some yards away under the shelter of a sloe bush.

NOTES.

149

FIG. 1. — LESSER WHITETHROAT'S NEST TORN AWAY FROM
ITS SUPPORTS BY THE WIND.

150

BRITISH BIRDS.

FIG. 2. — THE SAME NEST AS SHOWN IN FIG. 1 REMOVED TO
A SECURE POSITION, AND NOT DESERTED BY THE BIRD.

NOTES. 151

Visiting the spot on June 17th I was glad to find four healthy
young ia the nest, and my second photograph shows them
being fed in their new surroundings, and it can be distinctly
seen that the nest has been repaired.

The trials of these unfortunate birds seemed endless, for,
whilst taking my photograj)!!, I was discovered by a boy,
whom from past experiences I had every reason to fear, so had
to resort to a ruse to protect my proteges. Removing the nest,
I let the boy see me jiut rings on tlie young, then, telling him
I was taking them home with me, wished him good-day-
Wlien the young rascal was well out of sight, I held the nest
in my hand and enticed the old birds to a thick hedge, where
once more the nest was securely placed. Then I retreated a
short distance, and in less than five minutes both parents had
transferred the cateqjillars they had been holding during the
ringing, etc., to the young.

It was nearly a week later when the young left the nest, and
I had the satisfaction of seeing all four on the wing.

This incident shows how birds vary in temperament, for the
Lesser Whitethroat is as a rule one of our most timid birds.

H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER IN SUFFOLK.

On September 3rd, when walking along the edge of the low
cliffs about a mile to the north of Southwold, a small bird
rose almost at my feet, and settled on a plant a few yards
away, allowing me a short but very clear view. The bright
greenish-yellow colour, double bar on wings and eye-streak
showed that it was undoubtedly a Yellow-browed Warbler
{Phylloscopus superciliosus), a bird not previously recorded for
this county, though there are several Norfolk records. It flew
away, and I lost sight of it in a field of cabbages.

Julian G. Tuck.

PIED FLYCATCHERS IN SUSSEX.
Although it is probable that a few Pied Flycatchers
[Muscicapa atricapilla) pass through Sussex on the spring
migration every year, they have so seldom been detected that
individual records are still of value. It is only by the gradual
accumulation of these that we can hope to come to any definite
conclusion as to the status of the scarcer visitors in the county
and the routes they follow in their seasonal movements.

On April 29th I saw a single female at West St. Leonards
(the first Pied Flycatcher I have ever seen alive in Sussex),
and have since heard from Mr. Curtis Edwards that he has
this spring obtained an adult male from a boy at Rye Harbour,
who killed it with a stone there on May 18th. N. F. Ticehurst.

152 BRITISH BIRDS.

AGGRESSIVENESS OF A BUZZARD IN WESTMOR-
LAND AND A GOLDEN EAGLE IN INVERNESS-
SHIRE.

A REMARKABLE characteristic of the Buzzard {Buteo vulgaris)
is the difference in the behaviour of individual birds at the
nest. As a rule, it is a most inoffensive, not to say timid,
bird, and the approach of an intruder is the signal for the
parents to leave the nest at once fnd take to flight, with
plaintive mewings. At rare intervals, however, instances of
a decidedly combatative disposition occur. Mr. H. E. Forrest
{Vert. Fauna of N. Wales, p. 223) quotes three cases : one
when the Rev. C. Wolley Dod was attacked in Merioneth, and
the two occasions on which Mr. O. R. Owen was fiercely stooped
at for over an hour — also in North Wales. Last year the
daily papers contained an account of an attack on a visitor
to the Lake District by a " hawk of the Kestrel species,"
and during the present season another instance of aggressive
conduct by a Buzzard took place on July 4th. The Rev.
Hugh F. Lloyd was near the top of 111 Bell, when a Buzzard
appeared and stooped at him several times, but was kept off
with a stick. Soon after it was joined by its mate, and the
two repeatedly stooped to within a yard of his head, until he
turned and went down the side of the fell (H. F. Lloyd, in
litt.).

Another raptorial bird which rarely adopts aggressive
tactics is the Golden Eagle {Aquila chrysaetus). But Mr.
E. S. Gooch, writing from Banavie, Inverness, in the Field
for July 2nd, 1910, states that a Grouse, closely pursued by
an Eagle, took shelter between a keeper, who was seated on the
ground, and his retriever. The Eagle sheered off, but two
hours later, Avhile the same keeper Avas sheltering from a
thunder-shower by a burn, the Eagle swooped down on him
and fixed its talons in his ankle and was only killed Avitli
difficulty. F. C. R. Jourdain.

ABNORMALLY COLOURED GANNET.

DuRESTG a visit to the Bass Rock on July 14th, 1910, I noticed
on the wing a Gannet {Sula hassana) distinctly different from
its fellows, but could not locate its nesting- site. On a second
visit on July 31st and August 1st this was discovered, and
some time was spent by Mr. Riley Fortune and myself in
watching this bird and its normally coloured mate and in
photographing the pair. (Cf. Zoologist, 1910, p. 340.

Tlie feet, tail and wing primaries were normal ; the head and
neck were biscuit-coloured, distinctly darker than ordinary

NOTES. 153

birds and more inclined towards grey. The breast and upper
surface were dappled all over with buff and white, darker
towards the tail and lighter on the wing coverts.

The situation of the nesting ledge is on one of the sheer
precipitous sides. This, fortunately, will make it difficult for
the bird to be interfered with, but does not favour photo-
graphy. However, I hope the print will help the above attempt
at description. Jasper Atkinson.

VARIETY OF GANNET.

{Photographed by Jasper Atkinson.)

FOOD OF THE COMMON HERON.
In a note on this subject {antea, p. 85), Dr. C. B. Ticehurst
states that he found several shrimps turned quite pink by
the digestive process in the stomach of a Heron about a week
old.

I may add that, upon examining the contents of a Heron
shot December 27th, 1904, I found in the gullet and stomach

154 BRITISH BIRDS.

as many as eighty-four pra^^'ns {Leander serratus) ; all were
quite pink, as though they had been subjected to heat by
boiling. The bird was shot on marshes bordering the sea-
shore.

It appears to be generally believed that praA\Tis are distinct
from the common " pink shrimp," but as a matter of fact the
former are only large specimens. The common brown shrimp
belongs to a distinct family, the Crangonidce, and, unlike most
Crustacea, does not turn pink when cooked. F. W. Frohawk.

COMMON SCOTER BREEDING IN IRELAND.

A PAIR of Common Scoters {(Edemia nigra) have again nested
on the lough in Ireland, which they have frequented during
the nesting seasons since 1904 inclusive (c/. Vol. II., p. 86,
and III., p. 197). I saw a pair for the first time in 1910 on
April 29th, and on May 24th a male alone off the north shore
of an island. He seemed restless, but apparently unwilling
to rise. Shortly after I landed on the island a female Scoter
rose, and, on reaching the spot, I found one egg deposited on
some dry grass. The site was about twenty yards from the
water, somewhat open at this time to the east, but with cover
from view in other directions and from above. (All the
Scoters' nests on this lough that I have seen — five in number —
have had cover from view from above.) On visiting the nest
on June 5th there were eight eggs, cold, and covered with
dry grass. My man wrote me under date July 4th : "I
visited the nest on Sunday, July 3rd. Wlien I was passing the
island, the duck came on to the water off the nest, so I went
and looked at it. The eight young ones were sitting in the
nest. This was about 4 o'clock, and they were not quite dry,
so that they could not have been long hatched out. I went
away quietly from the place." Neither my man nor I have
seen the old or young birds since July 3rd.

Herbert Trevelyan.

VELVET SCOTERS IN CAITHNESS IN SUMMER.

On July 11th, 1910, in company with a friend, while boating
off the Caithness coast, I observed four male Velvet Scoters
{(Edemia fusca) flying northward, at no great distance above
the water. We were quite near enough to observe the red
legs and orange-tinted bills, and the conspicuous white patches
on the wings were very noticeable.

My friend, who is a resident of Dunbeath, was much surprised
as he has seldom seen these birds, even in wiater, in that
locality.

NOTES. 155

Two years ago, when in Scapa Sound, in Orkney, about the
middle of May, Velvet Scoters were in considerable numbers
and of both sexes. When swimming, the white wing patch
is almost entirely concealed, but the size is markedly greater
than that of the Common Scoter {(Edemia nigra).

Towards the end of May we found the Common Scoters
assembled in considerable numbers on the Caithness Dhu
lochs preparatory to breeding.

Tlie keepers report that the number of breeding birds is
increasing and their breeding-area extending.

Charles Cairnie.

FOUR EGGS IN A WOOD-PIGEON'S NEST.

On August 3rd, 1910, I found the nest of a Wood-Pigeon
{Columba palumbus) in Soutli Holderness containing two eggs.
On August 23rd a bird was shot at off this nest, in my presence,
and hard hit. Unfortunately, I did not, at this time, examine
the nest ; but on September 7th I was surprised to find that
it contained four eggs. The contents, as might be expected,
were highly decomposed. Two eggs had been within a day
or two of hatching ; the other two perhaps a week incubated.
Tliey might also be fairly said to present two types, since the
first pair measured 4-4 and 4-25 cm. respectively, in long
diameter, while the second pair measured 4-05 and 3-95 cm.
No doubt the cock had lost his mate when the eggs were
nearly hatched, and liad found a second partner who laid her
eggs in the same nest and was (probably) shot on the occasion
mentioned.

In this district I see more nests of C palumbus containing
eggs after the middle of July than before that date.

M. WlNZAR COMPTON.

[On one occasion I found four eggs in a Wood-Pigeon's nest
and believe them to have been the produce of one bird, but
two of the eggs were slightly discoloured and had apparently
been rendered infertile by frost. Probably the hen had laid
a second clutch after an interval, as the Woodcock has been
known to do. Mr. R. H. Read {Zoologist, 1889, p. 436)
mentions having found three eggs in a Wood-Pigeon's nest
and the remains of a fourth lying broken on the ground beneath ;
this seems to have been a similar case to that recorded by
Mr. Compton, as the eggs were of two different types. Dr.
N. F. Ticehurst informs me that he once found a Wood-
Pigeon incubating three eggs and on two occasions found
Stock Doves {Columba cenas) doing the same thing, while other
instances of Stock Doves laying three eggs are recorded in the

1 56 BRITISH BIRDS.

Zoologist, 1876, p. 4875, 1888, p. 393, and the Field, May 28th,
1898, and May 5th, 1900, so that in the case of the latter species
the normal clutch of two is, sometimes at any rate, exceeded. —
F.C.R.J.]

UNEQUAL WING-STROKES IN FLIGHT.

Mr. Headley's illustrations (a/i^ea, pp. 115, 116) of Pigeons
flying show the danger of judging from photographs. In Fig. 1
the bird may be parachuting, in which case the swaying from
side to side would account for the position of the wings, or it
may be turning and so be tilted dorsally towards the
spectator. In Fig. 3 the apparent slight inequality in the
height of the wings is due to perspective, and if a straight
edge be laid on the tips of the wings it will be found to
converge with the lines of the ledge, which we may assume
to be horizontal.

Allen W. Seaby.

QUAIL AT STORNOWAY, OUTER HEBRIDES.

On August 3rd, 1910, our yacht was lying in Stornoway
Harbour, and when taking a walk up to Goat Hill farm at
about 8 o'clock one evening, I was surprised to hear a Quail
{Coturnix communis) calling quite close to me in an uncut
hay-field. Not being sufficiently familiar with Quail to be
absolutely certain of the note. I brought a friend with me
the next evening, who knew QuaU and their ways M'ell, as
they come round his place every summer. He at once
recognised the call, with which he was so familiar. I went
into the field, but, as I expected, was unable to flush them.
An old man cutting hay told me that the reaping machine
had killed some little birds about the size of young Corncrakes
a few days before. These Avere very probably not Corncrakes
at all, but young Quail.

Mr. Bisshop, the Oban taxidermist, told me later that he
had never received any from Stornoway.

Messrs. C. V. A. Peel and J. A. Harvie Brown record them
from Barra, where they seem to have been not uncommon in
1893.

In the north of Ireland the call-note of this species is rendered
by the words " wet-my-foot," by which name the bird is
known amongst the country folk ; it is not a bad imitation
of the note.

It would be interesting to hear if any of your readers have
noted the Quail in Lewis.

W. H. Workman.

NOTES. 157

MANCEUVRES OF LAPWING IN DEFENCE OF YOUNG.

The following account of the manoeuvres of a Laj)wing
( Vanellus vulgaris) in defence of her chicks was communicated
to me by my father's gamekeeper, William Edwards, a very
observant man, and interested in all bird and animal life.

While occupied with his young pheasants in North Wales,
his attention was called to some Lapwings about a hundred
yards away, in a state of agitation. He went up towards the
spot and found a stoat close to the young chicks. The Lap-
wing was screaming close to the stoat and was gradually
decoying it away from the chicks, flapping on the ground as
if wounded and spreading its wings as if unable to fly, but
keeping just out of reach of the stoat all the time. The stoat
was trying to catch it, but the Lajjwing was quick enough to
keep just out of danger, and slackened its pace when the stoat
went more slowly. In this manner it was enticed away
from the chicks till it was about four hundred yards distant.
Edwards then crossed over to the stoat and killed it.

Altogether there were six old Lapwings present, and they
helped to lure the stoat away from the chicks. After the
stoat had been shot, Edwards went back to see if there were
any more about, and noticed three young chicks too young to
fly (there may have been more hiding in the grass). All six
birds returned to the spot where the young birds were after
the shot and ran about collecting the chicks.

Hubert Lynes.

FURTHER NOTES ON TAME SNIPE.

On August 6th, 1910, I caught a young Snipe {Gallinago
coslestis), which, as nearly as I could judge, was then almost
exactly three weeks old. I brought her (?) home and j)ut
her in my old Snipe's cage (I am glad to say he is still very
well and tamer than ever : cf. antea, Vol. II., pp. 249 — 258).
For the first few hours the young one did nothing but run after
the old bird, squeaking in a most irritating key, and tried to
snatch worms, etc., out of " John's " bill. This made me
think that Snipe must feed their young from the bill for
a very much longer period than I imagined, though I
was certain that they did so for a time. The young bird
would not attempt to feed herself although quite old enough
to do so ; but I suppose she was too shy and nervous ; how-
ever, the next day I saw her feeding all right, and the following
day, to my delight I found that the old Snipe had adopted
her, and watched him feeding her with great interest. He
would hardly eat anything himself, but held out all the food

158 BRITISH BIRDS.

to the young one. Meal-worms (a favourite " dish " of his)
were well beaten and probed until quite soft, and then held
out to the young one, who took them out of his bill. Maggots
and worms were also held out to her, although these latter
were not beaten unless the worm was rather a large one. I
never heard him call her up to feed ; I suppose because there
was no need, for the young one never let him get six inches
away from her for at least a week ! Now, August 26th, the
young one is fully grown and feathered ; indeed, she is larger
than " John," but he still feeds her at intervals if he finds
any particular delicacy and always gives her the meal-worms.
I have great hopes that the young one will prove to be a
female ; but there is no external way of telling the sex that
I know of. " John " has had three companions since he
was hatched (two years ago last May), and he has cordially
disliked them all. Two have died, and they both proved
cocks on dissection ; the other I liberated in the spring, as
he was beyond doubt also a cock. Should this young one
be a female, I see no reason why they should not breed, or
attempt to breed, as she is becoming very tame, though I do
not even hope that she will become as tame as he is. Each
spring " John " goes through his full nuptial display to me
whenever I go near his cage ; indeed, he starts his loud spring
caU directly he hears my step in the house, and it is a curious
fact that he has again started his spring call and display to
me, although in full moult, since the young one has been with
him ; but as far as I can judge, the display is for my benefit
and not the young bird's, as he does not " perform " unless I
am close to his cage or speak to him.

This year there are several late hatched Snipe about ; in
this neighbourhood (West Norfolk) all the early hatched ones
must have been drowned, so that probably accounts for so
many second broods. H. Wokmald.

BLACK TERN IN SURREY.

On July 31st last I watched at close quarters, at Frensham
Great Pond, an adult example of Hydrochelidon nigra. The
bird had just commenced to assume the winter-plumage,
the forehead being pure white, while the throat and sides of
face and neck were of a dirty white colour.

Although at one lime a fairly regular visitor to Surrey
(Bucknill, Birds of Svrrey, pp. 320-1), the Black Tern appears
to have been of less frequent occurrence during recent years,
judging from the smaU number of records which have come
to light . HowAED Bentham.

KTWW)

The Glasgow Naturalist. Vol. I., parts I-IV.; Vol. II., parts I-III.
Edited by D. A. Boyd and John Paterson.

This publication, which is the journal of the Natural History
Society of Glasgow, contains some interesting and useful
papers and notes upon birds, and generally reaches a higher
level of excellence than most publications of the kind. In
the first volume we find a useful paper on " The Birds of
Lendalfoot " (pp. 5-23) by the late Charles Berry, in which
we note that the Marsh-Titmouse is not uncommon and
breeds occasionally, and is far more numerous in winter. In
his paper on the " Birds of the Glasgow District " [vide infra)
Mr. Paterson remarks that the Marsh-Tit has a "puzzling,"
and apj)arently very local, distribution about Glasgow (Vol. II.,
p. 47). The Marsh-Tit is a rare bird in Scotland, and it
should be noted that apparently all the specimens procured
in the Forth and Moray areas proved to be Willow-Tits and
not Marsh-Tits at all (c/. Fauna Tay Basin, pp. 90 and 91,
footnotes) ; it would therefore seem advisable that the
Marsh-Tits from these districts should be carefully
examined. A Bittern mentioned as shot at Lendalfoot
contained six trout from four to six inches long. Two Glossy
Ibis are noted as seen near the same place on September 15th,
1889 ; a Turtle-Dove on November 28th, 1908 ; a Little Gull
on December 16th, 1902 ; an Iceland Gull on January 19th,

1903, while a Great Shearwater was found dead on October 3rd,

1904. In some "Jottings " (pp. 35-38) by the same writer,
we note the occurrence of a Song-Thrush and Blackbird inter-
breeding at Lendalfoot. Four young were hatched, but they
all apparently got killed, and Mr. Berry can only say that
he could see no difference in their appearance from young
Blackbirds. The increase and spread of the Stock-Dove in the
Clyde Area is treated by Messrs. R. S. and H. W. Wilson in
a useful paper (pp. 101-110), and a note on the same subject
is to be found in Volume II. (p. 30), while some evidence is
given of the recent occurrence of the Greater Spotted Wood-
pecker near Glasgow (p. 99).

In the " Notes " we find records of a pair of Gadwall
on April 25th, 1909, seen at Bishop Loch (Lanark) by
Mr. J. Paterson (p. 100) ; a Hoopoe picked up near Leadhills
(Lanarkshire) on June 1st, 1909 (p. 145) ; a Fulmar picked
up near Cambo (Fife) on July 4th, 1909 [I.e.) ; a Spotted

160 BRITISH BIRDS.

Redshank, a Black-tailed Godwit, and two Ruffs seen in east
Renfrew in the middle of September, 1909. In the two
summers (1906 and 1909) part of which Mr. J. Paterson has
spent in the east Neuk of Fife he has found the Quail not
rare in fields there (pp. 145-6).

In Volume II. we find t.ie Bar-tailed Godwit, which is very
rare inland in Scotland (as far as records go) , added to the fauna
of east Renfrew in September, 1909 (p. 30) ; some interesting
observations on the habits of Sedge-Warblers (pp. 1-8) by
Mr. W. Rennie ; a list of summer-birds of Shiskin, Arran
(pp. 20-24), by Mr. T. Thornton Mackeith ; a long and useful
paper " On the Birds of the Glasgow District " (pp. 43-61)
by one of the editors, Mr. John Paterson ; and some
" Summer Notes on the Birds of Garelochhead," by Mr. W.
R. Baxter (pp. 69-78). In Mr. Paterson's paper we note
that the only substantiated record for the Lesser Whitethroat
in the Glasgow district is that of an occurrence in August, 1908.
Since Mr. Gray wrote his account of the birds of the Glasgow
district for the meeting of tlie British Association in 1876
there are many changes to record. New information appears
under Black Redstart, Marsh-Titmouse, White Wagtail (a
familiar bird of passage), Blue-headed Wagtail, Great Spotted
Woodpecker, Bewick's Swa7i (regular in winter at Bishop
Loch), Gadwall, Tufted Duck (familiar in the nesting-season),
Stock-Dove (now well recognised in the nesting-season),
Spotted Crake, Grey Plover, Little Stint, Curlew-Sandpiper,
Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Green Sandpiper, Bar-tailed and
Black-tailed Godwits, Whimhrel, Black Tern, Lesser Black-
hacked Gull (now recognised as a summer-bird). Great Black-
hacked Gull, Kittiwake, Little Auk, Puffin, Black-throated
Diver, Eared Grebe, Storm-Petrel, Fork-tailed Petrel and
Manx Shearwater. In Mr. Baxter's paper it is interesting to
note that both the Carrion and Hooded Crows nest in the
district of Garelochhead. H. F. W.

BRITI5nDI[\D5

EDITED BY H. E. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M B.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norman F.
ticehurst, m.a., f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 6, Vol. IV. November 1, 1910.

On the Positions assumed by Birds in Flight — I. Starting. By

Bentley Beetham, F.Z.S 102

The " Life of William MacGillivray." Reviewed by W. H. Mullens 169

On a supposed Egg-daubing Habit occasionally exhibited by the

Jackdaw, by J. Wiglesworth, M.D. . . . . . . . . 176

Notes : — ■

Recovery of Marked Birds . . . . . . . . . . 178

On some Isle of Wight Birds (Rev. J. E. Kelsall) .. .. 181

Bluethroats in Norfolk (E. C. Arnold) 182

Blue-headed Wagtail in Carnarvonshire (T. A. Coward) . . 183

The Red-backed Shrike's " Larder " (F. W. Headley) . . 184

Pied Flycatchers in Sussex (Norman H. Joy) . . . . . . 184

Behaviour of the Greenfinch at the Nest (C. Kingsley Siddall) 184

The Crossbill Irruption . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Crossbills Nesting— In Suffolk and Norfolk (J. Beddall Smith) 187

In Surrey (C. W. Colthrup) 187

On the Late Nesting of the Cirl Bvmting in Soinerset

(H. W. Mapleton) 188

Ceremonial Gatherings of the Magpie (Walter Stewart) . . 188

The persistence of the right Ovaiy and its Duct in the

Sparrow-Hawk (C. B. Ticehurst) 188

Quails in Lewis, Outer Hebrides (W. M. Congreve) . . . . 189

Great Bustard in Hampshire (Philip W. Munn) . . . . 190

The Moult of the Great Bustard (Abel Chapman) . . . . 190

Black-headed Gull Capturing young Wheatear on the Wing

(H. W. Robinson) 191

Kittiwakes Swimming in very heavy Seas (Kenneth H. Jones) 191

Unequal Wing-strokes in Flight (F. W. Headley) . . . . 192

Short Notes : — Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes Nesting on the
Ground. Flocking of the Red-breasted Merganser in
Autumn. The Boundary of Staffordshire and

Warwickshire . . . . • • .... . . 192

Review: — " Birds of Ayrshire "' .. .. .. •• •• 194

Letter :— British Song-Thrushes 195

L

( 1^2 )

ON THE POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS
IN FLIGHT.

BY
BENTLEY BEETHAM, f.z.s.

I. STARTING.

The flight of birds must ever remain a source of interest
and inspiration to man, for should he eventually master
aerial, as successfully as he has terrestrial, locomotion,
birds would, by reason of their inherent sensibility to
gauge the varying air-currents, still remain vastly his
superior in the art, if not in actual pace at least in the
finer manipulations.

But whether we regard flight from the standpoint
of the ornithologist or the aviator, the actions of these
naturally-equipped performers cannot be too closely
regarded.

The great difficulty met with in studying the flight of
birds is the indefinite and almost inexpressible nature
of much of our observation. We see a bird make a sudden
turn or falter in its course : a little thing, yet even if
we could analyze its actions, which is improbable, it would
take a page or two of writing before we could be sure
that another would understand the positions and actions
as we saw them. In our present lack of intimacy with
the subject words are quite inefficient, and we must
largely rely on pictures, photographs by preference,
wherewith to record our observations.

The slower and individual movements of the wings
and tails of such large birds as Herons, Gulls, or Eagles
are easy to perceive, and in many cases their object or
result can be appreciated, if only one can get close enough.
Unfortunately, however, our near glimpses of large birds
on the wing are usually but momentary, and it is only
by piecing together little isolated scraps of observation
that we can get a consecutive idea of what has taken place.
Often the combination of our eyes and brain is far too

POSITIONS ASSUMED BV BIRDS LN FLIGHT. 163

slow to analyze and follow the different movements,
and the only impression the mind receives is one of rapid
beating motion, as is so noticeable in the flight of bees
and other insects. Too often is this the case when trying
to follow the flight of some small bird, the beating of the
little wings being quite too rapid for our senses. We will
here confine ourselves to those birds possessed of ample
expanse of wing, for, generally speaking, the larger the
wing the less rapid is the beating, and therefore the more
easily can we follow its movements.

To gain the velocity in order to create the resistance
necessary for the support of aU heavier-than-air
" machines," some birds run or swim, others simply
spring into the air and by the vigour of their flapping
achieve the same result ; while others, again, launch
themselves from some coign of vantage — a tree or rock — -
and in falling gain the desired resistance. In this article
I give some particulars regarding the latter method,
illustrated by photographs of the Gannet (Sula hassana).

Stepping to the cliff-edge, and, if there is no cause for
undue haste, having raised and partly unfolded its wings,
the bird prepares to dive into space. This dive, it should
be noted, is not directed downwards, but rather as
horizontally outwards from the cliff as may be (sometimes
it appears to have even an upward tendency). If the
bird is one possessed of broad large wings not much
altitude is lost, and it skims through the air in much the
same fashion as does a piece of cardboard thrown
horizontally. If, however, as in the case of Auks, the
wings are small and narrow and the body heavy, then the
bird at first drops nearly vertically, only being able to
gain a more horizontal course as its velocity increases.

Sometimes birds of this latter class, presumably through
misjudgment of the space they have to work in, do not
get the horizontal course in time, and crash into the
rocks or sea at the foot of the cliff. This is very noticeable
when a group of Puffins {Fratercula arctica) hurriedly
takes fiight from a steep boulder-strewn slope. Under

164

BRITISH BIRDS.

these circumstances I have frequently seen quite a number
of the birds come to grief on the rocks within thirty j^ards
of starting. Most of tliese, though somewhat dazed by
the impact, flutter and claw their way on to the top of some
big boulder, and after a moment's pause again dive forth,
but not infrequently with no better result. The first
failure is, I believe, often caused by their paying too much
attention to and looking behind at whatever startled
them, instead of gauging their proper angle.

FIGURE 1. — RAISING THE WINGS PREPARATORY TO GOING.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

The raising and unfolding of the wings is worthy of
a httle consideration. The former usually takes place
not after, but previous to, the diving or springing forward,
while generally the whole " foot " is at rest upon the rock.
Of course, when suddenly alarmed birds sometimes cast
themselves from the cliff without first raising their
wings, and in consequence fall rapidly.

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 165

In Figure 1 the Gannet has not even risen to its feet
prior to hfting the wings, but is sitting on the edge of the
nest. The apparent leg supporting it on the near side
is a dehision, for instead of being the metatarsus, as it
seems, it is really the closed webbed toes hanging down-
wards from the raised and hidden leg, only the claws
really touching the nest. The reason for this peculiar
position is the newly-hatched chick, hardly discernible.

FIGURE 2. — ABOUT TO DIVE FORTH.
[Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

lying in the nest, which would inevitably have been
crushed had the bird rested on its expanded foot.

This raising of the wings preparatory to diving forth
is perhaps more convincingly shown in Figure 2, as the
photograph is taken from a point on the same level as
the bird, and shows the wings held up far above the
bird's head. This picture, as also Figure 1, embraces

166

BRITISH BIRDS.

another and a more important point — that the unfolding
or straightening of the wing takes places, if again there
is no extreme haste, subsequent to the raising. This
especially refers to the pinion.

It will be noticed that although the humeri are raised
almost to meeting above the back (Figure 2), the ulnae

FIGURE 3. — GOING.
(Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

are not fully extended and in line with them, while the
pinions are little divergent from the latter, still making
an acute angle with them. Casually one might have
expected that, had there been any precedence, the pinion
being the most important factor, would have been the
first to assume the position requisite for flight, but if
these two photographs be carefully examined the reverse
appears to be the case. In short, it may be said that

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 167

the unfolding of the units of the wing seems to be
sequential, starting with the humerus, and not simul-
taneous.

This is, I fear, directly at variance with the writings
of many leading ornithologists and anatomists, and
I can only put forward the photographs in support of
my observations. Undoubtedly the arrangement and
articulation of the wing-bones appear to indicate that
the unfolding will take place mechanically throughout

FIGURE 4. — GONE.

[Photographed by Bentley Beetliani.)

on any one part being extended, but laboratory theories,
however much they may be upheld by inanimate evidence,
cannot pass unchallenged when they are found to be
in apparent contradiction to observation of the living
action supported by corroborative photographs.

Figure 3 shows the bird at the very moment it is diving
from the cliff, only the tips of its toes touching the rock,
and it will be noticed, as intimated before, that the slope
of the body is strongly upwards. The wings have not

168

BRITISH BIRDS.

even yet been full}^ straightened. This final unfolding
and stiffening appears, so far as I can ascertain, to take
place at the ver}' moment of departure, and had this
photograph been taken a minute fraction of a second
later it would no doubt have revealed the wings as fully
extended as in Figure 4.* Here the wings are just
beginning to feel the weight of what they are to support
and are commencing their first downward beat. And
now, though it has only travelled a few inches from the

FIGURE 5. — FAIRLY ON THE WING.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

rock and the feet have not yet been tucked away under
the tail, the Gannet is fairly on the wing, exasperatingly
able and wishful to go beyond the range of our lens or
even of our observation.

* The tip of the left wing of the bird in this figure has been retouched,
as owing to an accident a portion of the photograph (involving about
half of the primaries) had become obliterated. The other photographs
have not been retouched in any way and have been chosen to illustrate
the various points discussed rather than because they were good
photographs.

( 169 )

THE "LIFE OF WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY."^

Although William MacGillivray (1796-1852), the great
Scotch naturalist and author of the History of British Birds
(1837-1852), died nearly sixty years ago (in the autumn of
1852), the first pubHshed account of his life in book form
has but recently appeared. This work can, however, hardly
be said to have added much of interest or importance to the
somewhat scanty amount of information which was already
available regarding MacGillivray's life and writings.

The authors of the " Life " have divided their book into
tliree parts. The first dealing with MacGillivray's life ; the
second consisting of a " scientific appreciation " of his work ;
and the third containing extracts from his published writings
"descriptive of Bird Life, of Personal Adventure for Scientific
Investigation, of Picturesque Scenes, etc."

The few observations which follow must refer to the first
and certainly the most important portion of the book ; that
containing the " scientific appreciation " deals with little of
interest that could not have been included in the " Life," while
the extracts, thirty-five in number, consisting of one from his
Descriptions of the Eapacious Birds of Great Britain, p. 223
(1836) — the reference to which has been omitted — twenty-three
from the History of British Birds, and the remainder from the
Natural History of Deeside (1855), savour somewhat of the
nature of " padding." Mr. William MacGillivray, namesake
of the naturalist and author of the first part of the work,
had already printed for private circulation a Memorial Tribute
to William MacGillivray in 1901, in connection with the erec-
tion of memorials to the great ornithologist in Edinburgh and
Aberdeen.

Much of the information in the " Memorial Tribute "
is incorporated in the volume now under review, and Mr.
MacGillivray has also had access to two of the journals kept
by the naturalist, which will be presently referred to.
Although the " Life " by no means supplies the details which
the many admirers of MacGillivray had hoped for, it must

* Life of / William MacGillivray, / M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E. ; Ornitho-
logist ; professor of / natural history, Marisehal College and / University,
Aberdeen / by William MacGillivray, W.S. / author of "Rob Lindsay
and his school " etc. / with a scientific appreciation / by / Arthur
Thomson / Regius professor of natural history, Aberdeen University /
with illustrations / " in the eye of Nature he has lived " / London /
John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. / 1910.

1 Vol. 8vo. pp. X + pp. 222 + 12 plates —10s. 6d. net.

170 BRITISH BIRDS.

be at once frankly acknowledged that the omission is not
altogether the fault of the author. As he tells us in liis
" Introductory Chapter " :: —

" No detailed biography of Professor MacGillivray has ever been
written, and the materials for such do not no wexist. From an early period
he kept careful journals of his life and work, and from these a biography
of great interest and value could have been compiled ; but unfor-
tunately all but two volumes were accidentally destroyed by fire in
Australia many years ago. I recently discovered that two volumes
in MacGillivray's neat and careful handwriting remained in the
possession of the family of the late Dr. Paul MacGillivray, an eminent
siu-geon in Australia, son of the Professor ; and having been allowed
the iirivilege of perusing them, I found them to be of great interest and
importance, and I shall make use of them freely in the following
narrative."

This narrative Mr. MacGillivray has divided mto five succes-
sive periods, which together cover the fifty-six years of the
naturalist's life. These consist of (1) his boyhood in Harris ;
(2) his life at Aberdeen University, 1808-1820, his study of
medicine, and his final abandonment of that branch of learning
for the fascinations of natural science ; (3) his residence in
Edinburgh from 1820-1831 ; (4) his work as Conservator of
the Museum of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons from
1831-1841, the period which embraces the " grand climacteric "
of his intellectual life and includes his acquaintanceship with
Audubon and the publication of the first three volumes of
the History of British Birds [1837-1839-1840] ; and (5) the final
period, which comprises his professorship of Natural History
in Marischal College, Aberdeen, the completion of the History
of British Birds in 1852, and his death in that same year.

The interest of MacGillivray's career may be said to
commence with the second of the above periods, and as the
journals already mentioned were written in 1818 and 1819
they belong to this portion of his life. They are respectively
entitled " Journal of a Year's Residence and Travels in
The Hebrides, by William MacGillivray, from 3rd August,
1817, to 13th August, 1818, Vol. 1," and "Notes taken in
the Course of a Journey from Aberdeen to London, by
Braemar . . . in 1819 by William MacGillivray."

Interesting as the journals undoubtedly are, and graphic
as is the description they afford us of the struggles and hard-
ships of the naturalist's early life, it is a disappointment
to find that they contain — so far as the extracts given enable
us to judge— practically no ornithological references of any
kind :* a singular omission on MacGillivray's part, since he tells
us that the main object of his journeys was " to extend my

♦Except three of small importance on p. 31.

THE GREAT AUK.
(From a drawing by MacGillivray in the British Museum).
Reproduced by permission from tlie Life of William MacGillivray.

t^^uA.^/^'. //^S^^" ^'^^-

■ . , ■, -\:.,.} ,!;-: ficlC, u^llv ..-zl-C h^c^ I

,1 " •' ,'_, . , •■■•I, . - - '■ '/..(i.y,- at'^'-m: , /'" - 1

Xo --v.- .^ '•' -'■''■'" '■'■""■ V,. , ? . , . ,:]

,/f^,2_, /<^^^</<''<'^''^

Ct}- -<fo^i

... .:v>5.- ..V..^. i.^-^ ^<,^.-^^^^ ^^^-^

ct^ZZ.tJ~'^^~^ •^

^^►rr Jt" t'tc i^'-''"' -y

■■> Z ^h;C!^r

i-V-vrt ".-<: .'"i. etr^

t; Kz,'- i.'V-H'?

A REDUCED FACSIMILE OF MACGILLIVRAY'S HANDWRITING,
rom a letter lent by Mr. Ruthven Deane, Chicago, through Mr. J.

Harvie-Brown, Dunipace).
Reproduced by permission from the Uje of William MacGilUvray.

'*LIFE OF WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY." 173

kno\\ledge in natural history, especially in ornithology and
botany, which can only be done by travelling," and a stUl
stranger omission on the part of Mr. MacGillivray if any such
references exist and have not been recorded. Two extracts,
however, are given which are of great interest, as they refer
to the production of the naturalist's " great work," as he
rightly termed it, viz., the History of British Birds. The
first, which is under date 1818, shows that he was then already
contemplating the subject, for he writes : — ■" I have not
yet seen an account of the birds of Britain with which I am
entirely satisfied, and I have of late been thinking upon the
subject." And in the second, written in 1819, on the comple-
tion of his arduous journey on foot from Aberdeen to London —
during which he subsisted chiefly on bread and water, travelling
at one time a distance of 240 miles on an expenditure of
twelve shillings — he records the following notes when visiting
the collection of birds at the British Museum : — " I do not
altogether agree with modern ornithologists, and possibly
I may become some day the author of a new system." The
story of MacGillivray' s life on his return from London and his
residence in Edinburgh, 1820-1831, has already been described
by the naturalist in the preface to his Rapacious Birds of Great
Britain, and as Mr. MacGillivray has nothing of importance to
add we may pass on to the years which comprise his associa-
tion with the American naturalist, John James Audubon,
and the production of the first three volumes of the History
of British Birds.

MacGillivray' s share in the authorship of Audubon's Ornitho-
logical Biographies is now well known, and Mr. MacGillivray
duly clironicles the meeting of these two great men in 1830.
The following is Audubon's o\vn account of this episode —
extracted from his journals in The Life and Adventures of
John James Audubon, by Robert Buchanan, 1868 : — " I
applied to Mr. James Wilson, to ask if he knew of any
person who would undertake to correct my ungrammatical
manuscripts, and to assist me in arranging the more scientific
part of the ' Biography of the Birds.' He gave me a card
with the address of Mr. MacGillivray, spoke well of liini and
his talents, and away to Mr. MacGillivray I went. He had long
known of me as a naturalist. I made known my business,
and a bargain was soon struck. He agreed to assist me, and
correct my manuscripts . . . and I that day began to write
the first volume."

This meeting led to a warm friendship between the two
men, and amongst the many projects discussed by them was

174 BRITISH BIRDS.

that of a book on British birds. On May 7th, 1831,
MacGillivray thus writes to Audubon: — "As I understood
youi proposals respecting the Birds of Britain to have ended
in nothing, and as you do not allude to the subject, I shall
suppose all our ideas to have dispersed, and shall think of the
matter myself " [The Auk, Vol. XVIII., p. 241] ; and writing
again in 1834 he says: — "Now that your American birds
are completed I suppose you will have at the European or
the British. In the latter case what will become of m.ine ?
However, I have resolved, God willing, to go through with my
task. I have at least 20 dra\\ings superior to anything
in the way ever seen by me, excepting always ' The Birds of
America,' and so good that one miglit look at them without
disgust even after seeing yours " [Tom. cit., p. 245] ;
and in 1836 he tells Mrs. Audubon in a letter that " I have
on hand just now a work on Britisli Birds on a larger scale
than that of the Rapacious species . . . there wOl be several
plates representing the digestive organs and a few skeletons,
with a multitude of woodcuts, and I expect the first volume
to be out by the middle of March at the latest " [Tom. cit.,
p. 248].

Mr. MacGillivray has very little information to afford us
on the subject of the History of British Birds and of its recep-
tion by the public. The matter is dismissecf in a few lines,
and these contain at least one serious error (p. 109). The
period elapsing between the publication of the third and
fourth volumes being twelve, and not fourteen years. Nor
does he offer us any explanation of MacGillivray' s long delay
in publishing the remaining portion of the " great work."
This delay arose, no doubt, from the unfavourable reception
afforded to it, and also from his new duties in his professorship
of Natural History at Marischal College. This is no place
to seek for a detailed explanation of the want of appreciation
with wliich MacGUlivray's contemporaries received his "British
Birds." Some remarks on that subject have already been made
in the pages of this magazine (Vol. II., p. 391), and it will here
suffice to quote by way of illustration a criticism of the first
volume of the History of British Birds which appeared in the
Magazine, of Zoology and Botany, Vol. II., p. 267 (1837-1838).

This review was ^vritten by Sir William Jardine, one of the
editors of the magazine and liimself an ornitliologist of repute,
and MacGillivray was at that time a contributor to its pages.

" We do not wdsh to appear unnecessarily critical regarding
the manner in which Mr. MacGillivray has accomplished this
object, but we should not act fairly to our subscribers were

" LIFE OF WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY." 175

we to say that it is done successfully. The writing appears
to us an affected attempt to imitate the styles of Isaac Walton
and of Audubon, which being extremely peculiar, can only
be relished in the originals — and here, as in the case of similar
imitations, we desiderate their freshness, and dislike the mis-
placed quaintness of expression. , . . The incidental remarks
and digressions liberally dispersed through the volume (often
totally irrelevant to the subject, see p. 125) are sometimes
expressed scarcely with a kindly feeling "

MacGillivray's "great work," however, has long outlived such
adverse criticisms, and now holds the high place it deserves
as a leading authority on British birds, but before leaving
this subject we must express the wish that the authors of
the " Life " had given us some slight information concerning
those who by tlieir valuable observations assisted MacGillivray
in his great ornithological work, foremost amongst whom
seems to have been T. D. Weir, of Boghead, Linlithgowsliire,
whose descriptions, e.g., " Missel Thrush feeding young," Vol.
II., p. 123, are amongst the most brilliant in the " History."

The fifth period contains some pleasing appreciations of
MacGillivray's character and his success as a teacher during
his professorshii? at Aberdeen, contributed by his jDupils and
others who knew him, and also deals with his excursion in
the autumn of 1850, which he undertook in connection with
his last written work, The Natural History of Deeside and
Braemar. The fatigues of this expedition no doubt hastened
his end, and after a visit to Torquay, during which the fourtli
volume of the History of British Birds was published, he
returned to Aberdeen, lived to see the fifth and final volume
of the " great work " issued in July, and died there on
September 8th following, 1852.

It only remains to add that the " Life " is illustrated with
twelve plates (two of which we are kindly permitted to re-
produce), including eight reproductions of drawings of birds
by MacGillivray, the originals of which are in the British
Museum, and a reduced facsimile of one of his letters to
Audubon. These drawings show MacGillivray to have been
an accomplislied artist, though how accomplished only those
who have had the privilege of inspectmg the originals of his
anatomical plates can determine. The " Life," in spite of
its shortcomings, is likely to remain our standard authority
on William MacGillivray, and if its belated publication should
be tlie means of directing fresh attention to the writings of
our greatest ornithologist, its authors will not have performed
their task in vain. W. H. Mullens.

( 176 )

ON A SUPPOSED EGG-DAUBING HABIT
OCCASIONALLY EXHIBITED BY THE JACKDAW.

BY
J. WIGLES WORTH, m.d.

In Ootheca Wolleyana (Vol. I., p. 502) Professor Xewton
records a case, communicated to him by Mr. C. B. Wharton,
of four eggs of the Jackdaw {Corvus monedvla) which had
been found by that gentleman in a nest placed in a hole in
a branch of a tree, which had been so completely daubed
over with clay (evidently by the bird itself) that the natural
colour was wholly hidden. These eggs were exhibited by
Mr. Wharton at a meeting of the Zoological Society in 1872,
and were presented by him to Professor Newton in 1887.
The above observation has, so far as I know, remained
unique, but a similar instance having lately come under
my notice I think it worth placing on record.

On May 6th, 1908, I visited a locality in Cheshire
where there is a considerable colony of Jackdaws, some-
what widely scattered over an extensive wooded district,
where the birds have taken to building open nests in trees
after the manner of their congeners, a practice which, as
is known, these birds occasionally, though rarely, resort
to. I climbed up to two of these nests, which were placed
in the branches of oak trees, and as the trees at this date
were, of course, bare of leaves, the nests were very con-
spicuous. One of these nests contained four eggs, which
presented nothing abnormal, but one egg was cracked
and empty of its contents, so that it is probable that
this nest was deserted. The other one, from which the
bird flew, contained three fresh eggs, and two of these
were thickly plastered all over with mud, so that the
ground-colour was completely concealed ; the third egg
had some smears of mud on it, but not sufficient to con-
ceal the ground-colour altogether. There was no mud or
clay in the nest, and the uniformity and thickness with
which the mud had been laid on over the entire surface
of the two eggs seemed incompatible with any accidental
fouling of the eggs, the condition of which certainly

SUPPOSED EGG-DAUBING BY THE JACKDAW. 177

conveyed the impression that the daubing was an
operation which had been dehberately carried out by the
bird. Tlie eggs when cleaned were of the ordinary'- type,

I may mention here that I visited the locaHty again in
May last year, and examined three more of the open nests
of this bird, in all of which the eggs were normal, but all
these nests were built near the tops of Scotch fir trees,
the evergreen boughs of which, arching over the nests,
afforded them some concealment, which is a point of
some significance.

As to the cause of this phenomenon, although the likeli-
hood of accidental contamination cannot of course be
excluded, I think it possible, if not probable, that the
explanation suggested by Mr. Wharton in his case may
be correct, and that the bird may itself have daubed the
eggs for the purpose of concealment. The Jackdaw has
for so long a period abandoned the tree-building habit,
and taken to nesting in covered sites, that the eggs have
to a great extent lost the protective coloration of the
CorvidcB, and now when laid in open sites they are very
conspicuous. It may be that certain individual Jackdaws
have recognised this and have adopted this means of hiding
their eggs from other egg-stealing birds. Such an action
would show a remarkable degree of intelligence on the
part of a bird, and, if established, would be a fact of
great interest. There is, however, no direct evidence
that the bird itself daubed the eggs, and further observa-
tions are needed before such an explanation could be
accepted. If, however, it were found that eggs daubed
in this way were never found in completely covered sites,
but only in those somewhat rare instances in which the
bird breeds in open situations, it would go far to establish
the fact that the daubmg was done by the agency of the
bird for the reason suggested.

I may add that in Mr. Wharton's case above referred
to, the eggs, though laid in a hole which was in a large
horizontal branch of a tree, were apparently plainly
visible from outside, and could be readily seen by a
bird flying past.

OTE5

RECOVERY OF MARKED BIRDS.

Swallow {Hirundo rustica). — B.B., No. A500. marked by
Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Aldcliffe, Lancaster,
on June 29th, 1910. Recovered at Villedon, Indre-et-
Loire, France, about September 25th, 1910. The bird
was found dead.

CoRMOKANT {PholacTocorax carho). — B.B., No. 8944, marked
by Mr. R. M. Barrington on Saltee Island, co. Wexford,
on June 26th, 1910. Recovered on Strangford Lough,
CO. DowTi, on September 18th, 1910. Reported by Mr.
H. T. Malcomson.

Teal {Nettion crecca). —B.B., No. 3949, marked by Mr. Thos.
Hepburn at Old Hall Marsh, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex,
on February 14th, 1910. The bird was reared in
confinement from a wild bird's egg at Netherby,
Cumberland, and was turned down in Essex when full
gro-svn with wing clipped. Recovered on the island of
Fohr, off the coast of Schleswig, on August 21st, 1910.
Reported by Herr H. Boy sen.

Common Eider [Somateria mollissima). — B.B., No. 495,
marked by Dr. N. F. Ticehurst at Lambholm, Orkney,
on June 24th, 1909, as a nestling. Recovered on Isle
of Copinshay, Orkney, in February, 1910. The bird was
found washed up by the tide, and was reported by the
Rev. J. R. Hale.

Common Snipe {Gallinago cceUstis). — B.B., No. 7776, marked
by Mr. Walter Wilson at Elslack, Yorkshire, on May 30th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Skipton, Yorkshire,
on September 3rd, 1910. Reported by Major Tempest.

Common Terns {Sterna fluviatilis). — B.B., No. 20157, marked
by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Ravenglass, Cum-
berland, on July 14th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered
on the River W,yre, at Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire, on
September 4th, 1910. Reported by Mr. Arthur Plant.
B.B., No. 20379, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on July 23rd, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered at the estuary of the River
Ribble, Lancashire, on September 4th, 1910. Reported
by Mr. John Wright.
B.B., No. 20407, marked by Messrs. Robinson and

NOTES. 179

Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on July 23rd, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered at Bolton-le- Sands, near
Carnforth, Lancashire, on August 22nd, 1910. Reported
by Mr. Henry Bowker.

B.B., No. 20477, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on July 25th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered at Carsethorn, Solway Forth,
on August 19th, 1910. Reported by Mr. John Kirk-
patrick.

B.B., No. 20450, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on July 23rd, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered on the Lammermuir Hills,
Berwick, N.B., on September 20th, 1910. Reported by
the Rev. W. McConachie.

B.B., 20339, marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley
at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on July 23rd, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered about twenty-five miles south of
Oporto, Portugal, about Sej)tember 12th, 1910. Re-
ported by Mr. Alfred W. Tait.

B.B., No. 1790, marked by Mr. R. Oswald Blyth at Loch
Thorn, Renfrewshire, on August 1st, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Sunderstone Bay, Renfrewshire, on August
13th, 1910. Reported by Mr. James Young.
B.B., No. 11692, marked by Herr G. J. van Oordt at the
Hook of Holland, on July 16th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Boulogne, France, on September 1st, 1910.
Reported by Mr. C. F. Pybus.
Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridibundus). — B.B., No. 9251,
marked by Mr. J. S. T. Walton at Denton FeU, Cumber-
land, on June 4th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered at
Ryhope, near Sunderland, about September 12th, 1910.
Reported by Mr. H. Ivnapton.

B.B., No. 9287, marked by Mr. J. S. T. Walton at Denton
Fell, Cumberland, on June 4th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Ravenstonedale, Westmorland, on August
24th, 1910. Reported by Mr. J. H. Beck.
B.B., No. 9324, marked by Mr. J. S. T. Walton at Denton
Fell, Cumberland, on June 4tli, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered on the Humber, near Marfleet, on August 27th,
1910. Reported by Mr. Gofton Jarrett.
B.B., No. 9614, marked by Major H. A. F. Magrath at
Loch Sj)ynie, near Elgin, on June 4th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Foveran, Aberdeenshire, on August 19th,
1910. Reported by the Rev. Wm. Serle.
B.B., No. 3720, marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley
at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 10th, 1910, as a

180 BRITISH BIRDS.

nestling. Recovered at Nethertown, Cumberland, on
September 25th, 1910.

B.B., No. 30002, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberla,nd, on June 10th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered e,t Kirkhampton, near Carlisle,
on September 13th, 1910. Reported by Mr. W. J. Hardie.
B.B., No. 30436, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 11th, 1910,
a,s a nestling. Recovered at Seascale, Cumberland, on
October 9th, 1910. Reported by Mr. J. A. Lewthwaite.
B.B., No. 30729, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
SmaUey at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered near Kendal, Westmorland,
on August 26th, 1910. Reported by Mr. F. B. Pollitt.
B.B.,No. 9703, marked by Mr. Howard Bentham at Raven-
glass, Cumberland, on June 11th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered between Crossens and Southport, Lancash.ire,
on August 18th, 1910. Reported by Mr. J. W. Taylor.
B.B., No. 30894, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered on the River Ribble, at Preston,
Lancashire, on October 8th, 1910. Reported by Mr.
H. Taylor.

B.B., No. 30644, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered on the River Ribble, at Longton
Marsh, Preston, Lancasliire, on October 8th, 1910.
Reported by Mr. W. H. Heathcote.

B.B., No. 30762, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered at Urswick Tarn, south of
Ulverston, Lancashire, on July 11th, 1910. Reported
by Mr. John Dobson.

B.B., No. 30725, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910,
as a nestUng. Recovered at Rochdale, Lancashire, on
August 11th, 1910. Reported by Mr. P. Fulton.
B.B., No. 3761, marked by Messrs. Robinson and SmaUey
at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 10th, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered on the River Tees, at Middles-
brough, Yorkshire, on September 18th, 1910. Reported
by Mrs. A. E. Sleigh tholm.

B.B., No. 30822, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley, at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered in the New Joint Dock, Hull, on
August 29th, 1910. Reported by Mr. Fred CaA\ kwell, Junr.

NOTES. 181

B.B., No. 30083, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 10th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Clondalkin, co. Dublin,
on October 5th, 1910. Reported by Mr. R. L. Blackham.
B.B., No. 8282, marked by Major H. Trevelyan at Lower
Lough Erne, co. Fermanagh, on June 17th, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered at Hall-craig, Monea, co. Fer-
managh, on August 30th, 1910. Reported by Mr. Nat J.
Nixon, Junr.

Common Gull {L. canus). — B.B., No. 31989, marked by Mr.
W. I. Beaumont at Stirk Island, off Lismore, Lynn of
Lorn, Argyllshire, on July 12th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, on Septem-
ber 3rd, 1910. Reported by Mr. John Mitchison.

Herring-Gulls {L. argentatus). — B.B., No. 31907, marked
by Miss A. E. Jackson at Cromarty Firth, on July 9th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Rosehearty, Aber-
deenshire, on August 19th, 1910. Reported by the
Rev. Wm. Serle.

B.B., No. 32009, marked by Miss A. E. Jackson at Wick,
Caithness, on July 14th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered
at Loch Linnlie, off Fort William, Inverness, N.B., on
August 27th, 1910. Reported by Mr. W. T. Kilgour.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus). — B.B., No.
31007, marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at
Foulshaw, Westmorland, on June 24th, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered at Point St. Gildas, mouth of the
Loire, France, on September 23rd, 1910. Reported by
Mons. R. Rousseau Duelle.

ON SOME ISLE OF WIGHT BIRDS.

Raven {Corvus corax). — We Hampshire naturalists were
no little grieved last year to hear that the last j)air of Fresh-
water Ravens were first robbed of their five eggs and then
shot. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, aided
by Lord Tennyson and their excellent watcher, Alfred Isaacs,
did all that they could to bring the offenders to justice, but
in vain. However, we have the good news to report this
year that a pair nested in another part of the island and
safely brought off three young. Isaacs tells me that the
island Ravens feed largely on dead rabbits and also visit
the slaughter-houses, a habit which has more than once
proved fatal to them.

[Goshawk {Astur palumbarius). — In our Birds of
Hampshire Mr. Munn and I had some hesitation about
rejecting a record of two of these birds, which were seen

182 BKITISH BIRDS.

at close quarters in the island by a careful observer. Mr.
Percy Wadliam, of Newport, informs me that one of these
birds was shot soon afterwards and was found to be wearing
jesses, so that our decision was well justified.]

Peregeine Falcon [Falco peregrinus). — These birds
safely brought off three young last year and four this year.
Isaacs has observed them to prey upon young Herring-Gulls
(which they take from the nest), Jackdaws (old and young),
Blackbirds and, in one case, a Mistle-Tlirush. The necessity
for the protection now afforded to these birds is proved by
the fact that before a watcher was appointed they were robbed
for no less than eleven years in succession.

Common Sheld-Duck (Tadorna cornuta). — About forty
of these birds were seen together in the island this sprmg.

Lesser Black-backed Gull {Larus fuscus). — The
various naturalists who have catalogued the island birds,
down to Mr. Fox, who wrote the list in Morey's Natural
History of the Island (1909), have usually reckoned only two
or three pairs of this species as nesting among the Herring-
Gulls, but Isaacs tells me that he considers that quite fifty
pairs bred this year on the Freshwater cliffs.

Black-headed Gull {Larus ridihundus). — We are
enabled to add this bird to our list as a breeding-species for
the first time.* J. E. Kelsall.

BLUETHROATS IN NORFOLK.

The Bluethroat is not a rare bird in Norfolk on the autumn
migration, but the influx this September (1910) having been
greater than any other in my experience, it may be worth while
putting the facts on record. The \\'ind had been N.W. almost
from the beginning of the month, and on the 8th it became
N.E., develoj)ing into a gale on the 13th. On tlie 14tli it
was still more easterly, with small rain falling all the morning.
About two o'clock, as the rain was lessening, we went out,
and half-an-hour later met with a Garden- Warbler, evidently
just arrived. A few minutes afterwards I flushed a Blue-
throat, and walking along the beach towards the west we
came upon many others. The visitation extended over about
two miles, and there must have been at least thirty or forty

* It is important to chronicle the increase of breeding colonies of
the Black-headed Gull which appears to be taking place in various
parts of the country. This year I visited a flourishing two-year old
colony of some sixteen nests on the Hampshire mainland, where
previously no colony was known. I should, however, like to have
information about the Dorset colony, which I hear has been much
harried of late, and it seems possible that the birds may be forsaking
it.— H.F.W.

NOTES. 183

birds in the bushes, scattered about singly, not in parties.
From all I could gather there were nearly as many adults
as there were immatures. They were accompanied by various
other small birds, mostly Wheatears. Garden-Warblers
were, however, unusually numerous, and there were also
many Redstarts, with a sprinkling of Robins, Pied Flycatchers,
Goldcrests, Willow -Wrens, Chift'chaffs and Lesser White-
throats, but no Common Whitethroats. On the 15th the
^^'ind was again N.E., and all these birds were still about in
lesser numbers, together with two Blackbirds, two Song-
Thrushes, two Tree-Pipits and one Merlin. On the 16th
there were still a few, and a new arrival was a Red-backed
Shrike. On the 17th, the wind being still N.E., the rush was
over — I only saw one Bluethroat at the most westerly point
of the sandhills. A Snow-Bunting arrived that day. The
migration, as someone put it, was short and sweet, for the
bushes were practically empty both before and after it.

E. C. Arnold.

BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL IN CARNARVONSHIRE.

In May, 1910, I was camping in a field which faces Llandudno
Bay, and on the morning of the IStli I found that a small
party of migratory birds had arrived during the night, and
were feedmg close to my tent. This party consisted of three
Greenland Wlieatears, a Whinchat, a Pied and three White
Wagtails, and a female Blue-headed Wagtail {Motacilla flava
flava). The birds were tame, and fed together in this and the
next field until the evening of the 18th, but they were not
visible on the 19th or later. In the early mornings, before
anyone was stirring on the field, they frequently came to within
a few feet of my tent, and I was able to watch them, unobserved,
from behind the curtains. I was at once struck by the white
eyestripe and chin of the Blue-headed Wagtail, but never
having seen the bird alive before I did not feel satisfied until,
on my return to Cheshire, I had carefully watched many
female Yellow Wagtails.

The Blue-headed Wagtail has not, I believe, been previously
observed in Carnarvonshire, but it has been taken in the
neighbouring county of Merioneth (Saunders' Manual, 2nd
edition, p. 127; Forrest, Fauna of North Wales, p. 116).
It is interesting to note that the Yellow Wagtail [Motacilla
rail) is only known as a bird of passage in the immediate
neighbourhood of Llandudno, and that the Whinchat is rare
as a nesting-species.

T. A. Coward.

184 BRITISH BIRDS.

THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE'S "LARDER."

The interesting account of the Red-backed Shrike's " larder "
in the August number of British Birds (p. 79) suggests that
the " larder " deserves its name. After inspecting several
during the last year or two I have been inclined to think that
storage is not at any rate the primary object. The " Butcher
Bird " wishes to tear her victims up into small pieces suitable
for her young in the neighbouring nest. Since it is not her
habit to hold them in her claws, she spikes them. In 1909
I watched a Red-backed Shrike tearing up a field-mouse,
the only thing in the " larder," and making several journeys
to carry the flesh to her nestlings. She showed remarkable
skill in separating the meat from the skin ; the latter was
left hanging on the thorn. The " larders " which 1 have
seen have been very meagrely supplied compared with the
one described by Mr. Tracy. One which I inspected three
or four times never contained more than one " joint," but
each day a different one. F. W. He able y.

PIED FLYCATCHERS IN SUSSEX.

In reference to Dr. N. F. Ticehurst's note [supra, p. 151),
I have seen the Pied Flycatcher on the following occasions
at Newhaven, Sussex : — April 24th, 1891 ; August 13th,
1895 ; and August 9th, 1896, both the latter being immature
birds. Norman H. Joy.

BEHAVIOUR OF THE GREENFINCH AT THE NEST.

In view of Mr. H. W. Ford-Lindsay's record of a Greenfinch
{Ligurinus diloris) swallowing the fceces of her young [swpra,
p. 80), it may be of interest to note that three pairs of Green-
finches, which I had under observation this year, neither
swallowed nor removed the fceces.

In two cases the nests Mere built in a thorn-hedge, and were
placed four to five feet from the ground. The third was in
a pear tree, and ^^'as not so easy to watch as the others, for the
leaves were thick and the nest sixteen feet up. The first
nest was in a thin part of the hedge, and by pushing aside the
hawthorn-twigs I was able to get an uninterrupted view of
the behaviour of the birds when feeding their young.

About ten feet from this nest a pair of Chaffinches (Fringilla
ccelebs) had built in the same hedge, and they were feeding
six young birds, whilst the Greenfinches were providing for
five.

I never saw the Greenfinches make any attempt to remove
the fceces of the nestlings, and the photograph shows the

NOTES.

185

dirty condition of the nest after the young had flown. On
the other hand the Chaffinches invariably carried away the
fceces, and the nest was quite neat ?.nd clean when vacated.

NEST OF GREENFINCH TO SHOW ITS DIRTY CONDITION
AFTER THE FLEDGING OF THE YOUNG.

{Photoorapht'd by C. K. Siddall.)

The habits of the other two pairs of Greenfinches \\ere
similar, and the nests in the same foul condition after use.

It would appear from the above that individuals of the
same species may differ in their behaviour.

C. KiNGSLEY Siddall.

[Perhaps the young Greenfinches in the nest watched by
Mr. Ford-Lindsay were very small. Certainly the dirty condition
of the nest as above described is usual in this species. — Eds.]

THE CROSSBILL IRRUPTION.

No advantage is likely to accrue from the publication of further
notes regarding the movements of Crossbills, unless indeed a
fresh irruption occurs. I should, however, wish to publish every
authentic instance of nesting, and \\o\x\A especially draw my
readers' attention to the importance of discovering whether
tlie bii'ds breed next year and, if so, in what numbers.

I am making an attempt to draw up an account of the
course of the " irruption " of 1909-10, and shall be very

186 BRITISH BIRDS.

grateful if those correspondents wlio have recorded the
presence of Crossbills and have not recorded their departure
or continued presence would let me have concise information
by postcard or letter on the following points : — (1) AVlien
did tlie Crossbills dej)art (if they did depart) from the locality.
(2) When and to what extent did their numbers diminish
(if they did diminish). (3) If none apjieared to depart, or
if only a percentage departed, wliat was the last date they
were observed and in what numbers were they. (4) Did
they breed in the locality.

H. F. WiTHERBY.

Brecon. — " During tlie last winter," plentiful until " quite
late — in one place until April." None were observed
after the middle of April (E. Cambridge Phillips, Field,
10. IX. 1910, p. 537).

Kent. — On the evening of September 5th, 1910, a single
Crossbill fle\A-, calling, into a fir-tree under which I was
standing at Ingleden, Tenterden. This is the only bird
that has been seen here since the passing flocks which
I recorded seeing on June 26th {antea, p. 83) {N. F.
Ticehurst).

Merioneth. — A flock of twenty-five or thirty passing over-
head at Dinas Mawddwy on August 9th, 1910 {H. H.
Far wig).

Somerset. — A visitation at Bumham is recorded by Mr.
P. Percival in the Field (13. viii. 1910), but no date is
given.

Surrey. — Two observed at Frensham and six at Millbridge
on September 11th, 1910. None noticed in the Oxted
neighbourhood since July 17th [Howard Bentham).

On behalf of the Migration Committee of the B.O.C. I am
sending the following notes of the occurrence of Crossbills
which were sent us during the autumn of 1909, and which were
overlooked in our previous communication on this subject : —

Sussex. — During the month of August, 1909, several were
seen in the parish of Isfield [Miss A. Shenstone).

Northamptonshire. — A family party seen at Hazelbeach
on August 5th, 1909 ; two at Harlestone Firs, near
Northampton, on August 6th : and a party of about
three dozen at Maid well Dales, near Hazelbeach, on
August 22nd. Still numerous at Hazelbeach on November
2nd, 1909 (W. A. Shaw). N. F. Ticehurst, Hon. Sec.

NOTES. 187

CROSSBILLS NESTING.

In Suffolk and Norfolk.
On the 2nd and 3rd of April, 1910, 1 was in the neighbourhood
of Thetford, in the company of Mr. C. S. Meares and Mr.
P. B. Smyth, in the hope of seeing Crossbills, having heard
that they had been seen in the district. As we were
unusually fortunate in finding not only the birds, but many
nests, it may be worth while putting on record what we
actually saw. The birds themselves were by no means
conspicuous, but we soon found that they were distributed
in fair numbers all over the district. They were very partial
to the thin strips of fir trees which border the roads and
separate the fields, and which are quite a characteristic of
this district.

In the course of about twenty-four hours we came upon
no less than twenty-three nests. Of these thirteen contained
either eggs or young — seven contained eggs, six young —
in all stages from fresh eggs to fledged birds. As far as could
be seen, no nest contained more than four eggs or young,
three being observed in several cases. From the remaining
nests the young had flown, some quite recently, the others
possibly a month previous to our visit. They were situated
at heights varying from seven to sixty feet from the ground,
mostly on the lateral branches of Scotch firs. One was
built in a similar situation in larch and, as the leaves had
not yet appeared, was very conspicuous. One other was
in a spruce tree placed close to the trunk. We noticed two
distinct types of nests. Perhaps the larger number were
composed of pine-twigs neatly woven together, with a lining
of hair, feathers and soft grass. In the other type the
foundation and outside of the nest was made of grass and
roots and showed no pine-twigs, being not unlike large nests
of the Linnet. The district worked was mostly in the county
of Suffolk, but close to the Norfolk border, and about one-
third of the nests were in the latter county.

From this account it will be evident that a considerable
number of young were reared, and it will be interesting to
see if any of these stay to nest next spring. J. Beddall Smith.

[Notes on the Crossbills nesting in this district appeared in
Vol. III., pp. 302 and 371-2.— Eds.]
In Surrey.
On April 28th, 1910, I found a Crossbill's nest in Surrey,
not far from Aldershot, which contained four fresh eggs.
The nest was in a pine tree, near tlie extremity of a branch,
about twenty feet from the ground. C. W. Colthrup.

188 BRITISH BIRDS.

ON THE LATE NESTING OF THE CTRL BUNTING IN

SOMERSET.
On September 15th, 1910. I found a nest of the Cirl Bunting
{Emberiza cirlus) at Badgworth, Somerset, with young in
the down, which was dark grey. Tlie young were fledged
and sitting about the hedge on the morning of the 21st. The
feeding was performed entirely by the female bird, the male
never once putting in an appearance, which made a careful
identification necessary. H. W. Mapleton.

[Cirl Buntings undoubtedly breed until late in the summer.
Instances may be noted of eggs hard-set on September 6th,
1903, in Dorset {Field, September 26th, 1903), and for previous
notes on the subject in our pages compare Vol. III., pp. 125
and 195, while the article in VoJ. I., pp. 275-9, might also be
consulted. — Eds.]

CEREMONIAL GATHERINGS OP THE MAGPIE.

With regard to Mr. F. J. Stubbs' note on the ceremonial
gatherings of the Magpie (Vol. III., p. 334), I would remind
readers of British Birds who live in a " Magpie country "
tliat now is tlie time to find out the earliest date wliicli these
gatherings take j^lace. Nearly all my life has been spent
in " Magpie country," and in Mid and West Lothian I liave
seen winter-gatherings of well over one hundred. Here in
the Blantyre district of Clyde Magpies are fairly plentiful
and gatherings of from one to two score are often seen, and
on looking up some of my notes I find the earliest are : —
Gathering of about twenty-five, January 8th, 1908 ; about
thirty, January lOtli, 1909. My latest dates are : — Gathering
of about twenty-five, March 15th, 1909 ; about thirty-five
on 22nd and again 29th March, 1910. Walter Stewart.

THE PERSISTENCE OF THE RIGHT OVARY AND
ITS DUCT IN THE SPARROW-HAWK.

On September 12t]i, 1910, I had sent to me a female
Sparrow-Hawk {Accipiter nisus) from Dumfriesshire. On
dissecting it I discovered to my astonishment that,
instead of only the left ovary and its duct being functional,
tlie right ovary also was persistent and equal in size to
the left, and that the right oviduct was also present, though
not quite so long or wide as the left one. As I had never met
with a similar case in tlie dissection of some hundreds of
birds of many species I sent the specimen to the British
Museum, where Mr. Pycraft examined it, and confirmed my
findings, remarking that he also had never come across a
similar case. Since thea I have had tAVO more female Sparrow-

NOTES. 189

Hawks for dissection, one taken on September 18th, 1910,
off the Norfolk coast, and one shot at Battle, Sussex, on
October 18th, 1910. Both these birds had hoth ovaries
equally developed : in the former tlie right oviduct was in
much the same condition as in the first bird ; in the latter
the right oviduct appeared to be reduced to a ligamentous
strand, but it was not easy to be sure, as it had been shot
in that region. It is, however, interesting to note that this
bird was an adult and had laid eggs tliis year, as evidenced
by the condition of the left oviduct. It would have been
interesting to have seen whether during the breeding season
both ovaries were active (wliich seems probable), and whetlier
the ovum from the right ovary travelled down the left oviduct.

Mr. H. F. Witherby informs me that he has a skin of a
female Sparrow-Hawk obtained by Commander H. Lynes
on March 20th, 1910, in the Sierra de Jerez, Soutli Spain ;
on dissecting tliis bird Commander Lynes found it to have a
double ovary.

Mr. J. H. Gurney writes to me that Mr.T. E. Gunn, taxidermist,
of Norwich, has informed him that he has found a double
ovary in the Sparrow-Hawk, Kestrel, and Montagu's Harrier.

If the presence of two ovaries in the Sparro\\ -Ha\\k is
normal it is very curious if it has not been noticed before,
yet the finding of this condition in three successive birds
must surely be more than coincidence. MacGillivray apparently
had not noticed it, and in Ne\\ton's Dictionary of Birds
I onty find the following remarks (pp. 782-3), " In the female
[i.e., of birds as a class] a pair of Ovaries are developed, but
with rare exceptions only that on the left side becomes
functional. ... In young birds both oviducts are almost
equally developea, but the right one soon becomes reduced
to an insignificant ligamentous strand along the ventral side
of part of the Kidney. This one-sided suppression of the
organs may possibly be referable to the inconvenience that
might be caused Mere each oviduct to contain an egg ready
to be deposited."

Nothing is said as to what are tlie " rare exceptions."

Claud B. Ticehurst.

QUAILS IN LEWIS, OUTER HEBRIDES.

With reference to Mr. W. H. Workman's note in the last
number of British Birds (p. 156), recording the Quail in Lewis,
I may note that on September 23rd, 1907, I put up and shot
a Quail near Gress Lodge, Isle of Lewis. The bird was stuffed,
and is now in the possession of the shooting tenant of the
Gress Lodge beat, Mr. F. P. Birch.

190 BRITISH BIRDS.

Major Matheson, of Lews Castle, Stornoway, mIio owtis
the majority, if not all, of Lewis, was told about this Quail,
and, as far as I can recollect, he stated that he knew of two
previous occurrences of this species in the island, and I fancy
he has a stuffed specimen in his possession. A note which
I sent to the Field about this bird was, unfortunately, put
under the " Shooting Notes " heading, and thus no doubt
escaped the attention of naturalists. W. M. Congreve.

GREAT BUSTARD IN HAMPSHIRE.

A Great Bustard {Otis tarda) was shot on January 12th, 1910,
in a turnip-field on Jamaica Farm, St. Mary Bourne, Hants.
The bird is an adult female and in good condition ; the state
of its plumage does not show any signs of its having been in
captivity, nor was it at all tame, and I cannot hear that any
have been kept in capti\dty in the neighbourhood. The
Aveather in England at the time it was obtained was very
unsettled and changeable, with heavy gales from the S.W.,
W. and N.W. and snow, hail and rain ; and possibly severe
"weather may have driven it from its usual haunts.

It is, of course, difficult to say Avith any certainty \A'hether
it is an escaped bird or not, but perhaps this note may elicit
some information on the subject. Philip W. Munn.

THE MOULT OF THE GREAT BUSTARD.
What we wTote about the moult of the Great Bustard {Otis
tarda) in Wild Spaiji (by W. J. Buck and myself in 1892) —
and I had made the same mistake in The Ibis, 1884, p. 70 —
was v/rong. That is all a long time ago, and we were correcting
the mistake in our new work. Unexplored Spain (now in the
press), when the point was raised in British Birds {supra,
p. 32). The explanation we roughly transcribe from our
new book, as follows : — In spring it occasionally happens
that old male Bustards are found in so damaged a condition
— with some flight-feathers missing, others broken — as to
be incapable of flight. Several such instances had come
under our notice, and at the time misled us, and many others,
to conclude that the incapacity arose from a spring-moult,
similar to that of wild-geese and of some ducks. The true
reason, however, is as follo\\'s : — From da^^daA^Ti in spring
the male Bustards engage in continuous fighting, and as the
corn-growth is already quite tall and all vegetation saturated
with, night-dews, the plumage of the combatants becomes
completely dew-drenched {rociada, in Spanish) ; and when,
in addition, many quill-feathers are pulled out and others
broken during the fighting, it hapftens on occasion that a
heavy old male will be left incapable of rising from tlie ground.

NOTES. 191

This, liowever, arises from the dual causes named and not
from a moult. Bustards moult gradually and never from
that cause lose the power of flight.

Abel Chapman.

BLACK-HEADED GULL CAPTURING YOUNG
WHEATEAR ON THE WING.

In the month of July a Black-headed Gull {Larus ridibundus)
was seen by the bird-watcher at the Ravenglass colony of
Gulls and Terns to strike several times at a young Wheatear
{Saxicola oenanthe) on the wing, and eventually to kill and
fly off with it. The incident happened not on the actual
breeding-ground, but on the shore about two miles north of it,
and these Gufls were also guilty of kilhng young Terns there
this year, and vice versa, as a fair number of young Gulls
are mobbed and killed by the Terns when trespassing on their
breeding-ground, as I pointed out last year in British Birds
(Vol. III., p. 170).

H. W. Robinson.

KITTIWAKES SWIMMING IN VERY HEAVY SEAS.

On March 10th, 1910, being at anchor in H.M.S. " Dido,"
about one hundred and twenty miles from land, in the latitude
of Edinburgh, in a very heavy sea and strong gale of wind,
it was observed that four Kittiwakes {Rissa tridactyla) began
to swim and continued to do so for an hour. The sea was
not only very large at the time, but was breaking a good deal
as well. Wlien a breaking wave or a patch of foaming water
approached one of the birds, it raised itself slightly above
the level of the sea, as if standing on the surface. In one case
at least a small wave was seen to break right over one of the
birds, which, however, emerged from the foam shaking itself,
but otherwise undisturbed. There were no other gulls about
on this occasion.

On March 16th, on passage from Lerwick in the Shetlands,
and about halfway between that and the Orkney Islands,
in a very heavy gale, wdth a tremendous sea running, about
a dozen Kittiwakes were noted to be swimming in company,
and apparently very comfortably. On this occasion numerous
Herring-Gulls {Larus argentatus) were flying round about,
but none were seen on the water.

Although Kittiwakes are often seen one hundred miles and
more from land in heavy weather, Herring-Gulls appear
at such distances only if the weather is fine — at least that is
my experience. Kenneth H. Jones.

192

BUrriSH BIRDS.

UNEQUAL WING-STROKES IN FLIGHT.
With reference to Mr. Seaby's note {antea, p. 156) concerning
my photographs {antea, pp. 115-116), in Figure 1 the bird's

body may be tilted,
it is obvious that the
wings are not balancing
one another. In Figure
3, whatever illusions
perspective may be
responsible for, it is
nevertheless clear that
the right wing is held
more back, so that its
under- surface is pre-
sented to the spectator,
whereas the left wing
shows him its front
edge. Besides this, the
left wing is more
FIG. l.-YOUNG GULL. straightened out.

In the Aeronautical Journal for April last is a photograph
of mine showing a Pigeon taking unmistakably unequal
strokes. The two photo-
graphs accompanying this
also supply good evidence.
Fig. 1 is a young Gull ;
the right wing is bent at
a right angle, while the
left is held straight, or
almost so, at the wrist-
joint. Fig. 2 is a figure
of a Pigeon alighting, and
the conspicuous difference
in the positions of the
wings cannot be accounted
for by any trick of per-
spective. I may add that
I have other photographs
that make the pomt clear. Unfortunately two of the most
convincing were not sufficiently in focus for reproduction.

F. W. Headley.

Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes Nesting on the
Ground. — Several correspondents have sent us notes on this
subject, but, as has been pointed out, the habit is by no means
a rare one. Mr. W. S. M. D'Urban, however, assures us that

FIG. 2. PIGEON ALIGHTING.

NOTES. 193

it is a very nnusual habit in Devon, and he reports a case of
a Blackbird nesting for three years in succession on the
ground in the same chimp of nettles and for a fourth year
in another clump of nettles in the same field near Topsham,
Devon, and a Song-Thrush nesting on the ground in a large
bed of nettles, as the only instances that have occurred to him.

Flocking of the Red-breasted Merganser in Autumn. —
Major H. Trevelyan contributes a further note on this subject
to the Field, September 3rd, 1910. [Cf. Br. Birds, Vol. III.,
p. 167.) He saw a pack of about fifty young Mergansers on
August 22nd on a large inland lake in Ireland, which Avere
unable to fly, but too wild to allow of close approach. An
hour later, on the same water, he found two small parties of
young birds, and about a mile away another large pack of
about one hundred flappers. According to local information
this packing often takes place in August, but does not become
general till September, and as many as two hundred young
are said to have been seen in a flock, Avith one adult female
as leader. Major Trevelyan writes us that his boatman tells
him that he saw about three hundred young AAdth, so far as
he could tell, only one adult on September 25th, 1910. In
former years, when Mergansers bred more plentifully than now,
as many as five hundred to a thousand young are said to have
been seen together in a pack, accompanied apparently by
only one old bird. Attempts were made by those interested
in the fishing to reduce their numbers by driving them into a
net stretched across an opening between the mainland and an
island, but with only partial success.

The Boundary of Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
— Mr. J. R. B. Masefield informs us that Harborne was
formerly part of Staffordshire, and on investigation we find
that it was transferred to Warwick by the Provisional Local
Government Board Act of 1891, so that at the time it was
found the specimen of the Razorbill {Alca torda) referred
to (antea, p. 112) was actually in Staffordshire ! As, however,
the bird was not recorded till 1910, nineteen years later, it
seems better to adhere to the present boundaries so as to
avoid unnecessary duplication of records. — F. C.R.J, and
H.F.W.

WWW5

" BIRDS OF AYRSHIRE."

Some three years since; a manifestly incomplete " Birds of
Ayrshire," by the editor (George Rose), appeared in the Annals
of the Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers, No. 5, printed at
the office of the Kilmarnock Standard. Another part (No. 6)
of the Annals of this Society has just appeared, and contains
a supplement (pp. 67-72) to the list of Ayrshire birds in the
preceding part. It contains little of importance, but a few
of the more interesting occurrences may be mentioned.
A pair of what Mr, Nicol Hopkins took to be the Greenland
Wlieatear {S. cb. leucorrhoa) was observed by him on October
24th, 1908, presumably in the Darvel district, where he
resides, and where he saw a Mealy Redpoll {L. linaria) on
February 5th, 1908. The alleged occurrences of the Girl
Bunting and Little Bunting are not likely to be accepted
without demur. Neither is autlienticated , and it might have
been well if these alleged occurrences had been withheld until
there was some confirmation, as we know has been done in
another quarter with statements relating to the occurrence
of the Girl and the Ortolan Buntings in Ayrshire. Doonside
and Loudoun are added to the list of nesting-sites of the
Heron {A. cinerea). The former locahty is one previously
tenanted. It is further stated that a pair nested and raised
two young at Muirkirk in 1908. Bewick's Swan {C. bewicki),
claimed as new to Ayrshire, has been kno^\^l from Gray's time
till the present year as an Ayrshire bird. A Glaucous Gull
{L.glaucus) wa,s observed in February, 190S, by Mr. McCrindle,
Dunure. There is one preserved at Dunure which was obtained
in that locality. A Great Skua (M. catarrhactes) at Dunure
in July, 1906, and the observations on the Manx Shearwater
(P. anglorum) in flocks of at least a hundred in the Firth of
Clyde are the only other matters calling for notice. J.P.

LETTERS

To the Editors of British Birds.

BRITISH SONG-THRUSHES.

Sirs, — I wish to say a few words about our " British Song-Thrushes."
I care not whether their name be T. musicus — auctoruni plurimorutn —
or T. philomelos, in this connection, because " British Song Thrushes "
{sic) will do quite as wolh

What I desire to refer most directly to is : the differences which
exist between the usual typical olive-backed British-nesting Song-
Thrush and that variety which is found nestmg tliroughout the Outer
Hebrides.

The exceedingly dark olive — almost a smoky-black — is most con-
spicuous. No good observer in the field can fail to see this even at
a distance of a fifty -yards rise, out of the heather, and during the bird's
quick flight of a few yards further.

Now, Dr. Hartert has as yet, I think, only got so far as to distinguish
between our British home-bred Song-Thrushes and others of continental
localities. May I be permitted to make one more step — forward ?
(or otherwise — ). I clearly distinguish between our Hebridean home-
bred Song-Thrushes and those which we have with us here in our
central districts and on the mainland as a whole. I cannot, from
memory or field notes, say what other shades of olive tints occur in
the backs of Song-Thrushes in other parts of England, or in Britain north
of Tweed. But I am sure that I can point my finger at yet one other
colour of back in Scotch-bred Song-Thrushes, and that on certain jDor-
tions of the east coast of Scotland, taking the month of May as choice
of a right time to make the observation. Again, at a distance of thu'ty
to fifty yards the almost absence of olive at all on the backs of the birds
flying away from the observer was quite as conspicuous, and eciually
startling, as was the deeper tone of olive (or smoky-blackness) of the
backs of those of the Western Isles, as distinguished from the typical
olive-backs of our general mainland birds.

Here, then, we have three grades or colour-forms : (a) On the east
side of Scotland — conspicuously on the east of Forfar and among the
sand-dunes there; (h) the usual central or (?) typical British form;
and (c) the dark — conspicuously dark — olive or sooty -bluey -black-
backed birds of the west.

The late Professor A. Newton used to say, " We may soon have
a new ' sub-species ' for every parish." But it is a long time ago, and
many tides have flowed and ebbed, since Professor Wm. Macgillivray
resided in the Outer Hebrides and remarked the " dark - backed
Thrushes " of the Isles as compared with those he knew in " Dee "
and on the mainland of Scotland. And many later writers have also
placed strong emphasis upon their own similar observations. Thus,

196 BRITISH BIRDS.

we have all the following remarking upon it : Macgillivray, Robt.
Gray, Rev. H. A. Maepherson, Buckley, and myself, as well as others.

For my own part I think — always have considered — that such
varietal forms — if they are to be so distingviished as to receive a
trinomial, and sub-specific rank at all — should be possessed of (or by)
more descriptive and more definite geographical names than those
usually applied ; or otherwise be simply distingtiished — for Museum
uses— hy letters of the Greek alphabet. And for field purposes
such nonsense coqnomens are useless and confusing, and give no aids
to field-study or " bird-watching," whatever their uses may be in
museums. Tt would be pedantic and ridiculous to expect them to exist
under the pure air of any open country-side.

J. A. H.\evie-Brown.

Frontispiece Vol. IV.]

i^vr

[B. B., Vol. IV.. PI. 3.

CROSSBILLS AT THE NEST.
(Dra.n by C. G. Davies, from_ material collected in England in the
^ Spring of lyiu.)

BRITlSnDIPDS

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norman F.

ticehurst, m.a., p.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 7, Vol. IV. December 1, 1910.

C.

the
R

On the Positions assumed by Birds in FHght — II. Steering,

Slowing-up, and Turning. By Bentley Beetham, F.Z.S.
The "British Birds" Marking Scheme. Progress for 1910 and

Plans for the future. By H. F. Witherby . .
Notes : —

Recovery of Marked Birds

Barred Warbler in Norfolk (Clifford Borrer)

Yellow-browed Warbler in Lincolnshire (G. H. Caton Haigh)

Four Long-tailed Tits to one Nest (Dr. J. Wiglesworth)

Great Tit Nesting in Hedges (C. W. Colthrup)

Tawny Pipit in Norfolk (Clifford Borrer)

Behaviour of the Greenfinch at the Nest (H. W. Ford-Lindsay)

Northern Bullfinch in Shetland (John S. TuUoch)

Crossbills Nesting in England — In Kent (Rev. J. R. Hale and

T. P. Aldworth)

Increase of Starlings in Cornwall and Devon (W. S. M.

D'Urban)

The Continental Jay in Kent and Sussex (N. F. Ticehurst)
Supposed Egg-daubing by the Jackdaw (H. M. Wallis and

Edward Earle)
Shore-Lark in Ireland (Richard M. Barrington)
The Persistence of the Right Ovary and its Duct
Sparrow-Hawk (F. Menteith Ogilvie and F.
Jourdain)
Pintails in Staffordshi-e (W. Wells Bladen) . .
Wigeon in Summer in Staffordshire (F. A. Monckton)
Long-tailed Duck in Cheshire (T. A. Coward) . .
Ringed Plovers' Unusual Clutches (C. W. Colthrup) . .
Avocets in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay)
Black-throated Diver in Westmorland (D. G. Garnett)
Notes on Birds in Orkney in 1910 (Rev. J. R. Hale and T.
Aldworth)

Short Notes : — Notes on British Birds in Confinement. Fire-
crested Wren in Sussex. Red-backed Shrikes in Ireland,
Wryneck in Roxburgh. Greenland Falcons in Suther-
land and Ross. Kestrel Catching a Bat. Pinioned
Whooper Swans Nesting in Shetland. Ruddy Sheld-
Ducks in Caithness. Eggs of the Reeve from Lan-
cashire. Ruffs and Spotted Redshanks in East Renfrew.
Spotted Redshank near Aberdeen. Black-tailed God wit
in Ross-shire. Black Terns in Surrey. Increase of
Breeding Colonies of the Black-headed Gull. Manx
Shearwater in Wiltshire . .
— The Birds of Dumfriesshire
The Home-LifeoftheSpoonbiU,theStorkandsome Herons
— The Generic Names of our Swallows . .
The Positions assumed by Birds in Flight
Unequal Wing-strokes in Flight . .

Reviews

Letters

PAGE

198

204

208
209
209
209
210
210
210
211

212

213
213

214
215

216
218
218
219
219
220
220

220

221

224
228
230
231
232

( 198 )

ON THE POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS
IN FLIGHT.

BY
BENTLEY BEETHAM, f.z.s.

II. STEERING, SLOWING-UP, AND TURNING.

The old idea that the wings of a bird simply flap up and
down, and that by some means the body travels steadily
along on a level horizontal course, has long been dispensed
with. It is, however, difficult to reahze, but none the

FIGURE 1. — THE TWO EXTREMES OF POSITION.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

less true, that at each full wing-beat the body is raised
as well as propelled. Perhaps this can be more readily
appreciated by reference to a photograph, such as that
represented in Figure 1. 3y good fortune the two Gannets
shown there so near together exhibit the two extremes
of the positions which these birds ordinarily assume in
flight. In the top left-hand bird the wings are raised
and the body seems to be dependent from them, while
in the lower bird the wings are far depressed a^nd the body

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 199

appears pushed up and supported by them ; and this is
precisely its position. The wings in their rapid descent
found resistance in the air, and as soon as this resistance
exceeded the force of gravity acting on the bird, the body
was elevated at the same time that it was driven forward,
only, of course, to sink once again on the wings being
raised. Thus the path of a flying bird is a succession of
ups and downs, but the movements of the wings being
so very much greater in extent cloak those of the body,

and so gracefully
and smoothly are
the actions per-
formed that we do
not realize the un-
dulatory nature of
the course.

The attitude of
the right-hand top
bird, a Kittiwake,
in the same photo-
graph (Figure 1), is
interesting, as it
shows the bird
steering by the
aid of its feet.
The very extensive
use some birds
make of their
feet during flight
requires consideration. Not only are they freely used for
steering, but they are also often employed as brakes to
lessen speed, much in the same way as a drag is used
to take way off an incoming vessel. In Figure 2 the
immature Gannet there depicted is trailing its partly
expanded and lowered feet, thereby causing considerable
resistance to its forward progress. To birds which quarter
the surface of the ocean for a livelihood, feet have yet
another use during flight. As the bird swoops downwards

FIGURE 2. — THE FEET USED AS BRAKES
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

200

BRITISH BIRDS.

to snatch its swimming prey, the legs are dropped, and
the moment the quarry has been seized, if not before,
the feet are phed vigorously to run along the surface of
the water, and thus not only act as buffers and prevent the
body from striking the water, but also help to increase
the velocity necessary- to enable the bird to rise again.
In Figure 3, although the feet of the Kittiwake have
ceased to touch the surface, the bird is still running, as
it were, in space.

FIGURE 3. — RUNNING, AS IT WERE, IN SPACE.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

Another method often practised by birds to lessen
speed is that of depressing the tail, and so offering a
resistance to the air rushing along the under-surface of
the body, and this is illustrated in the Gannet shown in
Figure 4. This use of the tail is ver}^ similar in its
purpose and result to the use of the feet as brakes.
Steering is also, of course, aided by the tail, it being
visiblv turned from side to side, raised or depressed,

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 201

when flight is being executed amid tumultuous currents.
But this method of steering by the tail is rather corrective
than initiative in its use, being principally employed
to compensate for irregularities in the air-currents. WHien
a bird is suddenly and deliberately changing the direc-
tion of its course — turning an aerial corner, so to speak — ■
the plane of the wings is changed from the horizontal
position assumed when gliding to a more or less vertical
position, the inclination depending on the abruptness
of the turn and the pace at which it is executed. If the
burn is to the right, then the left wing is raised and the

FIGURE 4. — THE DEPRESSED TAIL USED AS A BRAKE.

[Photographed by Bentley Beetham).

right depressed, and, of course, vice versa for a turn to the
left. When writing here of one wing being raised and the
other depressed, I refer to their positions relative to each
other, and not to their relation with the body. That is
to say, the wings and body may be held rigidly in one plane,
the inclination of this as a whole being changed from the
horizontal to towards the vertical. This vertical position
has been almost reached by the bird, of which, unfor-
tunately, only a portion is shown, in the upper part of
Figure 5. It will be noticed that the left wing is depressed

202

BRITISH BIRDS.

and the right raised ; the bird is therefore sweeping round
to the left. I have seen birds when thus suddenly alter-
ing the direction of their course actually exceed the
vertical position, turning the plane of their surface
through an angle of about 105°, thus making an angle
of about 75° with the horizon, their backs then, of course,
being on the under side.

FIGURE 5. — NEARLY VERTICAL IN POSITION.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

The question of air-currents is of paramount importance
in flight, though it is probable that owing to their invisi-
bility we have as yet little idea of how extensive and acute
these movements are. If, however, we watch small
companies of Gulls flying leisurely in the same direction.

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 203

we shall often see them pass through such local air-
currents, whose existence is plainly indicated by the
sudden and harmonious wheeling of the birds. It is often
very noticeable, too, how precisely in the same manner
all the birds Avill compensate for the current. This is
suggested in Figure 6, where the four central birds are

Pter- ^

•%► /T-

FIGURE 6. — SUDDENLY AND HARMONIOUSLY WHEELING.
(Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

passing through a disturbance, and it will be noticed how
each is " trimming " for it in much the same way, even
to the awkward bend in the neck.

( 204 )

THE "BRITISH BIRDS" MARKING SCHEME.^

Progress for 1910 and Plans for the future.

BY

H. F. WITHERBY.

The number of birds ringed in 1910 by those readers of
British Birds who have taken an active interest in the
work has been remarkable ; over twelve thousand rings
have been issued and about seven thousand nine hundred
have been used. The result is a notable testimony
to the activity and zeal of our helpers. Special thanks
are again due to Messrs. SmaUey and Robinson, who have
ringed no fewer than two thousand three hundred and
thirteen birds this year ! In their hst are to be found
sixteen species, the largest numbers being one thousand
two hundred and twenty-two Black-headed GuUs, six
hundred and thirty-three Common Terns, one hundred
and fifty-seven Swallows, and one hundred and five
Lesser Black-backed GuUs. Mr. Norman H. Joy has
ringed the large number of seven hundred and six, while
a number of others have ringed great numbers, as will
be seen in the list which follows. Indeed, the success of
the scheme, so far as the ringing is concerned, has far
exceeded my expectations, and I would here take the
opportunity of heartily thanking all those who have
assisted.

The number of species represented in the list of birds
ringed is one hundred and twenty-nine — a really extra-
ordinary number.

Turning now to the results, it is, I think, as yet too early
in the course of the inquiry to judge as to whether
the ringing of birds will repay the trouble and expense
involved. By it we expect to learn what cannot be
otherwise known of the movements of individual birds.
So far our results are mainly dependent upon chance ;
a very large proportion of the published recoveries

* For a report on the ringing done in 1909 see Vol. III., p. 179.

THE " BRITISH BIRDS " MARKING SCHEME. 205

having been reported by post by people who knew
nothing of the scheme. I think it is of great importance
that our " ringers " should turn their attention to catch-
ing up birds and recording the recovery of those that
are ringed. This applies chiefly to small birds, dis-
appointingly few of which have been reported. Small
birds can be caught up in a variety of ways without any
harm coming to them, and if they are ringed, the number
can be noted and the bird let go again. The number can
generally be seen without removing the ring by holding
the bird up to the light.

The results of trapping ringed birds in this way would,
I am sure, be most valuable. We could learn, for instance,
where individuals of " resident " species spent the
autumn and winter, and we could discover, perhaps,
where the young nested, and whether the same individuals
returned to the same nesting-place. Unless this is done
I fear that the results from the ringing of small birds are
not likely to be very successful. So far as the larger
birds are concerned I have little doubt that we shall reap
a harvest of useful facts.

With regard to the future of the scheme, I should like to
propose that next year, in any case, we should again mark
all kinds of birds, both large and small, and I feel sure that
my readers would co-operate in the same hearty fashion
as they have this year. A difficulty, however, presents
itself in that the costs of the inquiry have this year
completely outgroAvn the financial resources of the
Magazine, which, not being of a " popular " nature,
cannot be expected to support the very considerable
expense attendant upon the manufacture and issuing of
so large a number of rings and the keeping of the mass of
records in such a way that any number can be traced
at a moment's notice. There are, I know, many of my
readers who are keenly interested in the project, and I feel
sure that funds will be forthcoming to carry it on. I shall
be glad to send a balance-sheet in due course to all those
who care to subscribe to the expenses of the scheme.

206

BRITISH BIRDS.

and I may here state that unsohcited donations have been
very kindly sent by Messrs. A. Bankes, J. Bartholomew,
E. Earle, Rev. J. R. Hale, Messrs. N. H. Joy, R. H.
Leach, and A. May all.

Number of Birds Ringed.

Messrs. Robinson and Smalley (2,313), N. H. Joy (706), H. W. Ford-
Lindsay (350), J. Bartholomew (319), J. R. B. Masefield (308), J. S. T.
Walton (293), J. Mtirray (gamekeeper to Mr. H. S. Gladstone) (243),
A. G. Leigh (243), W. E. Suggitt (225), W. I. Beaumont (199), Miss A. C.
Jackson (190), Mr. R. O. Blyth (178), Xorth London Nat. Hist. Soc.
(C. L. Collenette, Sec.) (159), Messrs. J. Hutton (gamekeeper to Mr. J.
Bartholomew) (138), J. Steele Elliott (112), G. J. van Oordt (109),
H. Bentham (108), Major H. A. F. Magrath (100), Mr. B. Beetham (98),
Capt. B. G. Van de Weyer (89), Messrs. A. Bankes (84), H. S. Gladstone
(79), R. M. Barrington (66), Colonel R. H. Rattray (60), Messrs. H. L.
Popham (56), C. Collier (54), Rev. J. R. Hale (53), Messrs. T. C. Hobbs
(48), M. W. Compton (45), H. F. Witherby (40), Smith Whiting (40),
C. K. Siddall (39), R. Cringle (38), A. Mayall (38), A. H. M. Cox (37),
W. Davies (36), Miss C. Acland (35), Mrs. Patteson (33), Mr. H. W.
Finlinson (31), Major H. Trevelyan (30), Dr. C. B. Ticehurst (28),
Mr. R. E. Knowles (25), Lord William Percv(25), Messrs. J. M. Charlton
(23), S. Dmican (23), W. Portal (23), A. B. Wigman (20), J. O.
Sidebotham (20), S. Maples (20), Hon. G. Legge (20), Messrs. W. W.
Lowe (19), E. G. B. Meade-Waldo (19), A. W. Kloos (19), T. Hepburn
(19), E. Earle (17), Dr. N. F. Ticehurst (17), Messrs. I. Clark (16), W.
Wilson (16), Commander H. Lynes (14), Miss and Mr. Garnett (13),
Messrs. W. P. Mail (13), H. Noble (13), P. F. Bunyard (13), P. W.
Munn (13), W. S. Medlicott (10), and others who have ringed less than
ten birds each.

Number of Birds Ringed of each Species.

1909.

1910.

1909.

1910

Thrush, Mistle

2

48

Warbler, Sedge

1

4

Thrush, Song

71

625

Sparrow, Hedge

18

117

Redwing

—

7

Dipper

4

9

Fieldfare

—

48

Tit, Long-tailed

—

3

Blackbird

83

505

Tit, Great . .

16

127

Wheatear

1

15

Tit, Coal

—

4

Whinchat

7

30

Tit, British Coal

—

8

Stonechat

—

10

Tit, Marsh . .

—

25

Redstart

1

15

Tit, Blue

12

54

Redstart, Black

—

5

Tit, Willow . .

—

1

Redbreast

41

217

Nuthatch

—

4

Nightingale . .

—

11

Wren

9

38

Whitethroat

22

53

Creeper, Tree

—

3

Whitethroat, Lesser

1

19

Wagtail, Pied

12

29

Blackcap

—

7

Wagtail, Grey

5

6

Warbler, Garden

3

9

Wagtail, Yellow

1

—

Warbler, Dartford .

—

5

Pipit, Tree

14

26

Wren, Golden-crestec

i —

16

Pipit, Meadow

27

32

Chiffchaff . .

2

16

Pipit, Rock . .

—

6

Wren, Willow

50

107

Shrike, Red-backed

2

15

Wren, Wood

- —

12

Flycatcher, Spotted

23

65

Warbler, Ree

d

—

4

Swallow

113

463

THE "BRITISH BIRDS" MARKING SCHEME. 207

1909.

1910.

1909

1910

Martin, House

. 13

128

Pigeon, Wood

3

20

Martin, Sand

— .

25

Dove, Stock

1

4

Greenfinch . .

. 28

100

Dove, Turtle

1

11

Goldfinch

—

8

Grouse, Red

7

3

Sparrow, House

8

109

Grouse, Black

2

—

Sparrow, Tree

. 17

49

Pheasant

7

6

Chaffinch

6

103

Partridge

1

1

Linnet

. 20

65

Rail, Land . .

3

Redpoll, Lesser

. —

8

Moorhen

34

Bullfinch

—

8

Coot, Common

1

4

Biuiting, Yellow

4

13

Curlew, Stone

1

4

Bmiting, Reed

2

8

Plover, Ringed

—

35

Starling

. 21

428

Plover, Golden

—

2

Jay

. —

5

Lapwing

56

254

Magpie

—

7

Oyster-catcher

7

16

Jackdaw

11

5

Avocet

—

5

Crow, Carrion

—

6

W^oodcock

6

10

Rook

—

1

Snipe, Common

1

23

Lark, Sky

1

20

Dunlin

5

1

Nightjar ....

3

—

Sandpiper, Common

5

10

Wryneck

. 14

16

Redshank

5

19

Woodi^ecker, Green

—

8

Godwit, Black-tailed

—

4

Woodpecker, Grea

Curlew

14

10

Spotted

2

2

Tern, Sandwich

57

79

Cuckoo

4

4

Tern, Common

786

836

Owl, Barn . .

—

10

Tern, Arctic

25

—

Owl, Long-eared

—

2

Tern, Common o

Owl, Tawny

. —

13

Arctic

—

25

Owl, Little . .

—

1

Tern, Little . .

—

31

Hobby

1

■ —

Gvill, Black-headed

417

1,828

Hawk, Sparrow

—

5

Gull, Common

—

184

Merlin

1

4

Gull, Herring

5

117

Kestrel

1

Gull, Lesser Black

Cormorant . .

—

3

backed

12

137

Shag

—

4

Gull, Great Black

Heron, Common

. 14

13

backed

1

8

Sheld-Duck ..

1

24

Kittiwake

4

11

Mallard

11

20

Skua, Richardson's

—

2

Shoveler

—

2

Razorbill

—

31

Pintail

—

13

Guillemot

—

23

Teal

'. 1

21

Puffin

4

15

Wigeon

—

3

Grebe, Great Crested

1

—

Duck, Tufted

3

. —

Grebe, Little

—

1

Eider

3

—

Petrel, Storm

1

—

Merganser, Rec

-

breasted . .

1

.__

OTES

RECOVERY OF MARKED BIRDS.

Song-Thrushes {Turdus musicus). — B.B., No. 11,488, marked
by Mr. T. C. Hobbs at Gosforth, Northumberland, on
July 14th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered near Easington,
Castle Eden, Durham, on November 5th, 1910. Reported
by Mr. J. Frankland.

B.B., No. 6656, marked by Mr. N. H. Joy at Bradfield,
Berkshire, on April 26th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered
at Swainsthorpe, near Norwich, on November 6th, 1910.
Reported by Mr. H. R. Cunningham.

Great Tit {Parus major). — B.B., No. 1479, marked by Mrs.
Patteson at Limpsfield, Sarrey, on June 19th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered at the same place on October
31st, 1910. Reported by Mr. Horace Barry.

Goldfinch {Carduelis elegans). — B.B., No. B907, marked by
Mr. H. W. Ford-Lindsay at Rett, Sussex, on July 31st,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered in St. Helen's Wood,
near Hastings, on October 26th, 1910.

Pintail {Dafila acuta). — B.B., No. 8457, marked by the Rev.
J. R. Hale in the Orkney Islands, on June 6th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered in the same place on October
5th, 1910. Reported by Mr. T. P. Aldwortli.

Common Snipe (GalUnago coelestis). — B.B., No. 5599, marked
by the Rev. J. R. Hale in the Orkney Islands on June 6th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered in the same place on
August 15th, 1910. Reported by Mr. T. P. Aldworth.
B.B., No. 5585, marked by the Rev. J. R. Hale in the
Orkney Islands on June 6th, 1910, as a nestling. Re-
covered in the same place on October 4th, 1910. Reported
by Mr. T. P. Aldworth.

Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridihundus). — B.B., No. 31100,
marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Raven-
glass, Cumberland, on June 25th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at St. Bees, Cumberland, about June 28th,
1910. Reported by Miss M. Garnett.
B.B., No. 30032, marked by Messrs. Robmson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 10th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered on the River Severn, near
Sharpness, Gloucestershire, on October 10th, 1910.
Reported by Mr. S. Baker.

tbe Glasgow
:: naturalist

THE JOURNAL OF THE

NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW

(Includinj^ the Transactions and Proceedings of
the Society, Third Series).

EDITED BY

D. A. BOYD AND JOHN PATERSON.

1910.

Glasgow : Published by the Society at its Rooms,

207 Bath Street.

Price,

One Shilling' and Threepence.

Cbe 6la$dou) naturalist.

A selection from the Papers in Volume I.

The Birds of Lendalfoot (Ayrshire). By Chas. Berry.

Burns on Trees and Birds. By John Paterson.

A Division of the Dipterous genus Phora, Latr., into sub-genera. By J. R.

Malloch.
On the Beeches in the ** Clyde'* Drainage Area. By John Renwick.
The Stock-Dove in the "Clyde" Area. By Kobt. S. and H. W. Wilson.
The Return of Summer-Birds to "Clyde" in 1908 and 1909. By John Paterson.
Additions to the Fungus-Flora of the "Clyde" Area. By D. A. Boyd.-
On the Genus Phoxocephalus (with two plates). By Alex. Patience.
Preliminary Description of a new British Amphipod. By Alex. Patience.

A selection from the Papers in Volume 11.

The Sedge-Warbler at Possil Marsh in 1908-1909- By William Rennie.

A specimen of Ligula. simplicissima.f Rudolphi ; with notes on the life-history of the

LiguUnx. By J. F. Gemmill, M.A., M.D.
Additions to Fresh- water Algae of "Clyde." By Robert Garry^
On the Summer-Birds of Shiskin, Arran. By T. Thornton Mackeith.
List of Arran Hepatics. By Symers M. Macvicar.
On the Birds of the Glasgow District. By John Paterson.
Summer Notes on the Birds of Garelochhead. By W. R. Baxter.
Additions to "Clyde" Coleoptera. By Anderson Fergtjsson.
On the Zoological Collection in the University of Glasgow. By J. Graham Kerr.
List of species of insects described by J. C. Fabricius in Dr. Hunter^s Collection.

By J. Graham Kerr.
On the Sycamores in the "Clyde" Drainage Area. By John Renwick.

Some of the Contents of Part I. of Volume II L
Ready 30th November, 1910.

Early Tree-Planting in Scotland— Historical Notes. By Hugh Botd Watt.

Night-notes of some Birds. By John Robertson.

Additions to "Clyde" Fresh- water Algae. By George Lunam.

Notes on the Ruff in Lanark ; the Mealy Redpole in Ayr, Lanark, and Renfrew )
Irruption of Guillemots inland in Renfrew and Glasgow Harbour; Increase of
the Jay on Loch Lomond Islands; Flamingo in Dumbartonshire; a new
Beetle from Possil Marsh and Frankfield Loch; Comparison of the Arrivals of
Summer-birds in 1909 (1) in "Clyde" and the rest of the Scottish mainland,
and (2) .in "Clyde" and the North of England and the Isle of Man.

The GLASGOW NATURALIST is published four times yearly.
Single Numbers, is. 3d. Annual Subscription (payable
in advance), 5s. 6d., post free. Subscriptions should be
sent to JOHN RENWICK, Hon. Treasurer, 47 OSWALD
STREET, GLASGOW.

NOTES. 209

Common Gull [Larus cawws).— B.B., No. 9803, marked by
Mr. W. I. Beaumont at Stirk Island, off Lismore, Lynn
of Lorn, Argyllshire, on July 8th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Port Stewart, co. Londonderry, on
November 22nd, 1910. Reported by Mr. W. J. McGirgan.

BARRED WARBLER IN NORFOLK.

On September 27th, 1910, an immature Barred Warbler
{Sylvia nisoria) was shot in east Norfolk. Mr. E. C. Arnold
states [Zool., 1910, p. 393) that he noticed a Barred Warbler
on September 20th at the identical spot. I have communicated
with Mr. F. I. Richards, who considers it unlikely that this
was the individual that he was fortunate enough subsequently
to obtam. I exhibited the specimen on behalf of Mr. Richards
at the October meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club
(c/. Bull. B.O.C., XXVII., p. 16). Clifford Borrer.

YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER IN LINCOLNSHIRE.

On October 3rd, 1910, I shot a Yellow-browed Warbler
{Phylloscopus swperciliosus) in the bottom of a thick liedge
near the sea-bank at North Cotes, Lincolnshire. The bird
was a male and very fat. There was no migration in progress
at the time as a heavy westerly gale was blo\\ing, but there
was a light east wind on the night of the 1st. This is
the fourth Lincolnshire example of this little warbler. I
obtained it for the first time on October 7th, 1892, and from
that time I saw no more of the species for sixteen years,
when I found one dead on the coast on October 19th, 1908,
and shot a third on October 12th of the following year, all
four examples having been killed within a mile of the same
spot. G. H. Caton Haigh.

THREE OR FOUR LONG-TAILED TITS TO ONE NEST.

In connection with the observation of Mr. Smith Whiting
on the above subject in the August number of British Birds
(p. 78) and the previously recorded cases of Mr. Bonhote and
Mr. Cerva (British Birds, Vol. I., pp. 32 and 62), it is
interesting to recall what is probably the earliest published
instance of the kind. A. G. C. Tucker, in his Ornithologia
Danmoniensis (1809), of which the unfinished Introduction
was the only part that ever saw the light, states (p. xlviii.)
that the Long-tailed Titmouse is the only excej^tion known
to him to the rule that but one pair of birds joins in nidification
and incubation ; and in a footnote he gives his proof of this
statement : — " In the ye?.r 1798 the author, in taking a walk

210 BRITISH BIRDS.

with a friend, discovered a Long-tailed Titmouse's nest,
in which were thirteen eggs, and on which were then sitting
three old birds ; the fourth was seated in a neighbouring

bush." J. WiGLESWORTH.

GREAT TIT NESTING IN HEDGES.
During the last five years, near Croydon, Surrey, I have
frequently found nests entirely built by Great Tits {Parus
major), and containing eggs, in hawthorn hedges, on the edge
of a small copse. Nesting-holes are very scarce in the imme-
diate neighbourhood. C. W. Colthrup.

TAWNY PIPIT IN NORFOLK.

At a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, held on
October 19th {Bull. B.O.C., XXVIL, p. 16), 1 exhibited on
behalf of my friend, Mr. F. 1. Richards, an adult specimen
of the Ta^^^ly Piijit {Anthiis campestris) obtained by one of
his collectors in east Norfolk on September 15th, 1910.

Clifford Borrer.

BEHAVIOUR OF THE GREENFINCH AT THE

NEST.
Regarding the further notes by Mr. C. Kingsley Siddall
on this subject {supra, p. 184), they are of great interest,
showing how birds of the same species vary in nesting-habits.
I think it worth noting that the young Greenfinches in the
case reported by me were fully feathered, and after placing
rings on them they refused to stay in the nest. It was owing
to the fact that I had never before seen this habit on the
part of the Greenfincli that I was induced to record it.

So far as my experience goes the Chaffinch does not remove
the fceces at all. There is no doubt much yet to be learned by
observation of this habit, and I may perhaps give the following
list, which I have made this year whilst taking photographs
of young being fed.

In the case of the following species the fceces were removed :
Lesser Whitethroat, Bullfinch, Wryneck, Tree-Pipit ; while
in the following the fceces were not removed : Chaffinch,
Greenfinch (except in one case, where they were swallowed),
Robin, Linnet, Blackbird, Song-Thrush, Mistle-Thrush, Turtle-
Dove, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldfinch, Red-backed Shrike.

These are only a few examples, and no doubt the selection
of nesting-site would prove to be a matter of considerable
importance on the point. As an example we should expect
to find a bird nesting in a hole in a tree removing the fceces,
but we soon find an exception in the Owls.

xNOTES. 211

As a rule birds building in hedges do not remove the fceces,
as they fall to the ground among rubbish and are not con-
spicuous, but even here we soon find another exception in
the Bullfinch, which, as far as my experience goes, always
removes them.

Again in the case of the Sparrow-Hawk, which builds a
large nest, we find other means used for keeping it clean.
If the young ventured near the edge of the nest (composed
of loose sticks) they would soon fall to the ground, so they
have the power of ejecting the fceces for a distance of several
feet.

The theory that the fceces are removed in order that all
traces of the young should so far as possible be obliterated,
does not seem to me satisfactory, as we find in the case of a
bird like the Starling often sufficient evidence of a nest of
young at a great distance. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

[The Blackbird, Song-Thrush and Mistle-Thrush have been
recorded as swallowing the fceces of the young. — H.F.W.]

NORTHERN BULLFINCH IN SHETLAND.

On October 23rd, 1910, I had the good fortune to see three
Northern Bullfinches {Pyrrhula pyrrhula) in the garden at
Leog, Lerwick. They flew out of a shrub and lighting on the
ground at once began feeding within about twenty yards of
where I was standing. I watched them with my naked eye
and also with my glass for some time, but they were apparently
too intent on feeding, as they paid no attention to me. All
three birds were cocks, and, strange to say, when I first saw
them, they were j^ractically in the same place as the ones
seen by me in November, 1905 {Annals Scot. Nat. Hist., 1906,
pp. 50, 115, and British Birds, I., p., 246). I left them
feeding, but on looking for them next morning they were gone.
Two cocks and a hen were reported as having been seen at
Helendale, near Lerwick on the same day. John S. Tulloch.

CROSSBILLS NESTING IN ENGLAND.

[Plate 3.]

The coloured plate of the Crossbills which appears in this
number is from a very careful drawing by Sergeant C. G.
Davies (Cape Mounted Rifles). The material Mr. Davies
worked from was collected in England during the spring of
1910, and I must liere express my indebtedness to Sir Thomas
H. C. Troubridge, Bart., who sent me a nest from which the
young had flo\vn, together with part of the tree in which the

212 BRITISH BIRDS.

nest was placed, and to Mr. Heatley Noble, who very kindh^
sent me the nestlmg, which was obtained in Norfolk on
January 12th, 1910.— H.F.W.

In Kent.

The following details of the nesting of Crossbills in the neigh-
bourhood of Maidstone. Kent, may be of interest. On
January 11th, 1910, a small flock, about ten birds, was
observed. On February 9th and 10th tliis flock was again
seen, but on the 14t]i it had increased in numbers, while
on the 18th we found about fifteen pairs and also saw small
flocks flying overhead. On February 28th we found a Cross-
bill's nest ready for eggs at the extreme top of a lofty Scotch
fir, close to a main road. On March 1st we found another
nest containing two fresh eggs in a similar position. The
nest of February 28th contained three eggs on March 7th,
and the bird was sitting very close. At this time small flocks
were flying about, from which one might have gathered that
the birds were not yet nesting. We noticed the cock bird
of tliis nest join these small flocks and then return to the
nest. On March 8th we found three more nests, all high up
on the lateral branches of Scotch fir, almost impossible to
get at. At this time birds were in pairs and in flocks. On
March 10th we discovered two more Crossbills' nests, one
witli three eggs and one with four eggs, one of these nests
being placed at the extreme top of a spruce tree.

On March 16th we noted a new influx of birds in large
flocks, and on the same day found two more nests, at which
the birds were building very rapidly. These nests were
more conspicuous and lower down.

We continued to find nests up to April 19th, when we had
counted nineteen nests in all for certain. The birds were
always to be seen around their nesting-places up to the end
of June ; during July they seemed gradually to disappear
from their usual haunts ; we noticed a small flock on
August 1st and a few birds on August 7th, but »ince that
date we have not seen them.

The nests contained three or four eggs, three being the
rule, and, as far as one could judge, where there were three
eggs all three hatched, while where there were four usually
one or two were infertile. We very rarely saw the cock bird
building. We noted that they were very thirsty birds and
were drinking continually out of holes in trees where water
had collected.

The nests always had a foundation of spruce fir and then
strips of the inner bark of Spanish chestnut or birch, but

1

NOTES. 213

the lining was varied, wool, grass, string, feathers, and hair
of cows being utilized. All the nests were near main roads.
We should estimate the number of Crossbills in the district
at about two hundred, but only a small proportion of these
was breeding. James R. Hale.

T, P. Aldworth.

INCREASE OF STARLINGS IN CORNWALL AND

DEVON.
Some forty-five years ago, at a meeting of the Exeter
Naturalists' Club, I called attention to the great increase of
the Starling {Sturnus vulgaris) in Devon and Cornw^all, and
elicited some interesting information on the subject from
various persons. According to Mr. J. R. Collins, it was not
till the spring of 1855 that the Starling was known to breed in
Cornwall, and then only one pair nested at Trewardale, near
Bodmin, increasing to five pairs in 1864. Even up to 1878
Mr. Rodd stated he had not succeeded in marking it as a
resident west of Truro. Before 1892, however, the Starling
had become a resident throughout Cornwall.

A few years since Starlings decreased considerably in the
neighbourhood of Exeter, probably owing to the great droughts
we experienced, but they have been gradually increasing again,
and their numbers this year exceed anything I liave ever seen
before. I noticed the first large flocks as early as June 16th
this year. All through August very large flocks assembled
here every evening. Some tall elms near the River Exe
serve as a rendezvous, and small flocks may be seen arriving
from all parts until gradually the main body has assumed
enormous dimensions. They fly about the river for an hour
or so, making excursions over the marshes for a mile or
more returning to the trees to rest. As darkness comes on
they leave the trees and sweep low over the reed-beds in the
middle of the river, and after a few evolutions suddenly drop
en masse into the reeds, where they roost.

W. S. M. D'Urban.

THE CONTINENTAL JAY IN KENT AND

SUSSEX.
In my History of the Birds of Kent (p. 196), I referred to the
probability that the continental Jay {Garrulus g. glandarius)
occurred in the county sometimes (? regularly) as a migrant
in autumn. At that time the records, though suggestive,
were fe^^', and no specimens were available for examination.
This autumn accordingly I wrote to Mr. H. S. D. Byron,
t o whom I am indebted for so much information with regard

214 BRITISH BIRDS.

to Thanet, asking him to keep a look-out for the arrival of
migrant Jays, and if possible to procure me specimens. I
may add that our native Jay [G. g. rufitergum) is a scarce
species in that district. In due course he wrote me that
two had been seen to arrive and fly into Dumpton Park on
October 16th [1910], and that numbers were there on the
18th ; five that were shot there on the 17th and 18th he sent
to me, and later a sixth that lie had himself shot on the 19th
from a straggling flock of about thirty flying, high up, from
north to south. One of the birds shot on the 17th proved
to belong to the British race [G. g. rufitergum), and was pre-
sumably one of the few resident birds of the district ; all the
others belonged to the continental race {G. g. glandarius),
and were, by the greyer tint of their backs, easily separable
from the single bird sent with them and the other British
examples in my possession.

Curiously enough, about the same time I had an opportunity
of examining a Jay that was shot at Northiam, in Sussex,
on October 16th, 1910, and this also belonged to the continental
race.

Although there cannot be any doubt that the continental
Jay has occurred many times in England (Dr. Hartert states
that it occurs sporadically), I am not aware of any previously
published records of fully identified examples, so that perhaps
the publication of this note may draw others — which I hope
it may — for besides confirming the suspected occurrence
of this race in Kent (and Sussex), it emphasizes once more
the imjaortance of the study and recognition of geographical
races in connection with the study of migration.

N. F. TiCEHURST.

SUPPOSED EGG-DAUBING BY THE JACKDAW.

With reference to Dr. Wiglesworth's article (supra, p. 176),
I took, some years ago, a clutch of Jackdaw's eggs from a hole
in a tree near Reading which were bedaubed with fresh, ivet
cow-dung. (It was a dry afternoon.) As far as I can recollect
all the eggs had been about equally treated. They were not
otherwise remarkable, and were not exposed to the view
of passing birds. H. M. Wallis.

On May 3rd, 1901, when investigating the nests of a colony
of Jackdaws which inhabited the hollow limbs of a large
walnut tree in Kent, I discovered a nest, placed deeply in a
crevice, containing four eggs, all of which were completely
covered with a thin coating of argillaceous loam, interspersed

NOTES. 215

with rabbit-fur. Tlie rabbit-fur was no doubt derived
accidentally from the lining of the nest, but the eggs were
so thoroughly and evenly daubed with clay that it is difficult
to imagine that the coating was not applied intentionally by
the parent bird. The weather immediately preceding the
day on which I found the eggs had been fine ; the nest itself
was clean ; the eggs, so far as could be seen through the
clay covering, were of a normal type and had been incubated
probably for less than a week. On the day that these eggs
were found, I examined three or four other nests in the same
tree, but in none of these were the eggs in any way peculiar.

Considered as a method of rendering the eggs inconspicuous,
daubing them with clay appears to be superior to the alter-
native method sometimes adopted by the Jackdaw (that of
covering them with fragments of nesting-material) since at
the time of greatest danger the bird might be forced to leave
the nest before she had sufficiently covered up the eggs.
On the other hand, an almost impervious covering of clay
might have an adverse effect on the development of the egg.
If the habit of egg-daubing be of advantage to Jackdaws
as a race, I cannot see that it would necessarily show, as
Dr. Wiglesworth suggests (p. 177), " a remarkable degree of
intelligence on the part of the bird." Rather it appears
probable that the habit was developed by the usual process
of natural selection.

The fact that clay-daubed eggs have been recorded from
widely separated parts of England appears to point to the
conclusion that egg-daubing is not a new habit that is being
acquired, but an old habit that is being lost. Further, it is
possible that the precaution of concealing its eggs with nesting-
material is also being abandoned as unnecessary, for this
practice is by no means universal amongst Jackdaws, as it is
amongst Blue Tits, Grebes and many other birds.

Edward Earle.

SHORE-LARK IN IRELAND.

The increasing frequency of the Shore-Lark [Otocorys
alpestris) in Great Britain since 1830 led me to expect that
it would ultimately visit Ireland.

One has just been received, perfectly fresh, but much
damaged by shot, from Wicklow Head, where it was killed
on November 4th, 1910, by Mr. John M. Trant, who did
not know the bird was rare and new to this country.

Richard M. Barrington.

216 BRITISH BIRDS.

THE PERSISTENCE OF THE RIGHT OVARY AND
ITS DUCT IN THE SPARROW-HAWK.

With regard to Dr. C. B. Ticehurst's note on this subject
(supra, p. 188), I should like to say that so long ago as 1892
my attention was drawn to this matter by Mr. T. E. Gunn,
the taxidermist of Norwich, with whom I have had intimate
business relations for the past thirty years. He dissected
an immature female Sparrow-Hawk shot on January 9th,
1892, and found both ovaries equally developed.

I do not know whether this was his first observation on
the sexual glands of tlie female Sparrow-Hawk, but since
then he has paid especial attention to these organs in the
Falconidce, and lias accumalated a mass of valuable notes
on the subject. I must have scores of letters from him,
wTitten during the last eighteen years bearing on the point
with regard to raptorial birds that came into his hands for
my collection or from other sources.

On May 13th, 1903, Mr. Gunn read a paper before the
Science Gossip Club, an abstract of which is published in
their report. He there refers to the question of two persistent
ovaries in some detail, and mentions the Hen-Harrier, the
Sparrow-Hawk, and the Kestrel as species in which he found
both right and left ovaries present ; he also quotes the pas-
sage from Newton's Dictionary of Birds, referred to by Dr.
Ticehurst.

It is said there is nothing new under the sun, and perhaps
someone before Mr. Gunn had been at work on the same
subject and published his findings ; unless this is so, it seems
to me the priority belongs to Mr. Gunn, and that he should
have the credit for tlie observation.

My collection, unfortunately, I cannot get at, but I have
some of my note-books here, and I should like to give two
or three extracts bearing on this question of a persistent
right ovary.

From the small series of skins in my possession, it is quite
impossible to be at all positive what the proportion of double
ovaries to single is in a state of nature. In the case of my
skins, about one in three had both ovaries developed, but
a larger number might easily show that ratio to be either
too high or too low, and I lay no stress on the accuracy of
the numerical proportion. Wliat the series does show is that,
while the persistence of the right ovary is quite common
in the case of the Sparrow-Hawk, it is certainly not the rule.

NOTES. 217

1. A. nisus. ? imm. Shot Jan. 9, 1892. Dissected by T. E.

Gunn. Both ovaries equally developed.

2. .4. nisus. ? imm. Apr. 11, 1892. Dissected by F. M. O.

Both ovaries well developed, and contained numerous ova
of various sizes. I think the forward condition of the ova
shows the bird would have bred this season, though it was
certainly only a last year's bird.

3. A. nisus. 6 and 9. Nest of 4 eggs. May 24, 1894.

<? probably fully 4 years old ; a very beautiful specimen,

with deep red breast and underparts. ? probably a 2nd

year's birds, with light margins to the

feathers of the upper wing-coverts.

(This and the previous specimen show

another fact, namely, that the female

Sparrow-Hawk frequently breeds before

attaining mature plumage.) " Both

ovaries equally developed. This is the

second instance of equal development

of the sexual organs in the female bird

I have recently come across" (T. E. G.,

in litt., 2/6/94). This seems to me a

particularly interesting example, as the pair were certainly

breeding, and foiu* eggs had been laid at the time the female

was shot. The rough sketch of the ovaries shows, I think,

clearly enough that the right ovary is at least as large as

the left, and that both are developing ova.

4. A. nisus. 9 imm. Jan. 31, 1907. " It shows 2 ovaries

nearly equal in size and development."
I have intentionally confined myself in this brief note
to tlie sexual glands of the female Sparrow-Hawk. This
species is still common in Great Brita^in and is rigorously
and legitimately persecuted by the game-preserver whenever
and wherever it is met with, so that there should be no
difficulty in any naturalist obtaining a large supply of material
to work upon, if he wishes to investigate this point.

But tlie occasional persistence of both ovaries is not confined
to the Sparrow-Hawk. It may even be that this persistence
is no more uncommon in the Sparrow-Hawk than in some
other raptorial groups, the genus Circus, for example. But
the material for examination is so much more scanty that
it is hard to deduce any rehable data as to the frequency
of the occurrence.

I have in my collection in all four female Hen-Harriers
(G. cyaneus) ; and of these four, two had both ovaries equally
developed and two only the single ovary on the left-hand side.
Mr. Gunn has, I thmk, notes of other Harriers that have
passed through his hands with both ovaries persistent. He
also found a Kestrel with right as well as left ovaries present.
This latter mstance must, I imagine, be a very unusual
occurrence. The Kestrel is far the commonest of our Hawks,
and numbers of specimens are killed by gamekeepers every

218 BRITISH BIRDS.

year, so that in the case of this bird, as with the Sparrow-
Hawk, ample material is readily available. Among my own
skins I do not think I have one female that showed a right
ovary on dissection. F. Menteith Ogilvie.

Some additional information will be found in the introductory
section to the Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas. Vol. I.
(1905), p. 60 (Der Bau des Vogelkorpers). In this article, by
Professor 0. Taschenberg, after stating that as a rule the female
sexual organs are not symmetrically developed and that the
left ovary and oviduct are alone functional, the ^^Titer goes on
to state that, " it hajipens not very rarely that remains
of the right ovary are retained, especially in the Sparrow-
Hawk and Buzzard, much more irregularly in other Accipitres,
and still more rarely in the Owls ; isolated cases have been
observed in the Pigeons, Parrots (e.g., in Sitface macavuanna),
in Corvus corone, Ciconia ciconia and nigra. Remains of
the right oviduct have also been occasionally found both in
the shape of a string at the distal end as well as a duct opening
into the cloaca. Examples of this are the domestic Pigeon,
Duck, Goose, Whooper Swan, White Stork, Coot, Waterhen,
Short-eared Owl and Sea-Eagle." (Translation.)

In the same work (Vol. V. (1900), p. 70), O. von Riesenthal
quotes Dr. Gadow as stating that " according to Stannius the
right ovary is tolerably developed in Astur and Buteo, but
much less consistently in the other Raptores." (Translation.)

Probably the exceptions referred to by New^ton were those
mentioned by Professor Taschenberg, among which the
Sparrow-Hawk is definitely recorded. F. C. R. Jourdain.

PINTAILS IN STAFFORDSHIRE.
In the Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club for
1909, 1 reported that two immature Pintails (Dafila acuta) had
been shot on December 11th, 1909, near Stone, by Messrs.
Gilbert and Neil Harris. This year (1910) five of these ducks
(all immature) have been obtained at the same place. The
Victoria History says of this species: — "A winter visitor of which
several occurrences have been recorded." W. Wells Bladen.
[The articles in the Victoria History were written about 1905,
and much material has come to hand since. The Pintail,
though far from common, appears to occur fairly regularly
and generally in immature plumage. — Eds.]

WIGEON IN SUMMER IN STAFFORDSHIRE.
The following dates at which I have seen Wigeon [Mareca
penelope) during 1910 on Bellfields Reservoir, Staffordshire.

NOTES. 219

may be interesting. On April 14th I saw about twenty ;
on July 27th 1 counted eight, which seemed to be mostly
old drakes ; and on August 5th I saw about twenty. This
reservoir is a large sheet of water, so there may very possibly
have been more. During September 1 frequently saw Wigeon,
and I think their numbers increased slightly during October.
Unfortunately I was unable to visit the reservoir during May
and June. F. A. Monckton.

LONG-TAILED DUCK IN CHESHIRE.

A Long-tailed Duck {Harelda glacialis), ajDparently an adult
female, frequented Marbury Mere, near Northwich, from the
end of July to the end of September, 1910. It was noticed,
as a strange duck, by the gamekeeper on July 29th, and on
August 6th, 7th and 27th it was seen by Mr. Travers Hadfield,
thougli never clearly enough for him to identify it. On
September 12th, when in company with Mr. Hadfield, I had
an excellent view of it, and saw, by the absence of wing-bar,
the white collar and eye-stripe, the short bill and general
build of the bird, tliat it was undoubtedly a Long-tailed
Duck. Two days later it swam to within fifty feet of my hiding
place, in a covert, and I could then clearly see, even without
a glass, the lead-blue bill and hazel irides.

The Long-tailed Duck is only known in Cheshire as an
occasional winter-visitor to the estuaries and coasts, and its
appearance on an inland water at this season is suspicious.
I have made inquiries from several owners of captive wild ducks
in Lancashire and Cheshire, but not one of them has ever had
this species in captivity. Beyond the fact that the bird
remained in one locality for two months — I saw it several
times during September, and I believe it was seen at the very
end of the month by the keeper — there was nothing in its
behaviour to suggest tliat it had been in captivity ; it was
very shy, and flew well. T. A. Coward.

RINGED PLOVERS' UNUSUAL CLUTCHES.

On May 10th, 1910, on the Crumbles at Eastbourne, I found
a nest of the Ringed Plover {.^gialitis hiaticola), containing
five eggs, all practically alike. I watched the female off
and on the eggs again, the male keeping watch not far off. I
saw no sign of a second female, and I have no doubt, from the
great similarity of the eggs, that they were the produce of one
female.

In another nest I found two out of the four eggs had tlie
usual ground-colour of fawn replaced by blue-green at the

220 BRITISH BIRDS.

small end, about half an inch deep. I liave also found this
peculiarity in eggs of the Common Partridge.

C. W. COLTHRUP,

[The presence of a cap, or more usually a zone of blue-green,
has been noticed on the eggs of many Waders as well as on
those of some Terns and Gulls, It is probably due to the
pressure of the sphincter muscle preventing the deposit of
superficial colouring matter after the shell has absorbed
the first deposit of colouring matter (biliverdin) in its soft
condition. This green deposit is general, as may be seen
by holding the egg up to the light. — F.C.R.J.]

AVOCETS IN SUSSEX.
On September 3rd, 1910, Mr. M. J. Nicoll, whilst walking on
the Parade at St. Leonards, saw a flock of seven Avocets
{Becurvirostra avocetta) flying in a westerly direction about
fifty yards from the shore. The birds settled at Pevensey
Marshes, some few miles west of St. Leonards, where one
w^as shot the same evening. Two were shot the next day
(September 4th) and one on September 5th. These four
birds were sent to Mr. Bristow for preservation, where I saw
them on September 16th. They were all four adult birds, in
fine condition, and on dissection proved to be two cocks and
two hens. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

BLACK-THROATED DIVER IN WESTMORLAND.
On February 24th, 1910, after two or three days' gale, a male
Black-throated Diver {Colymbus arcticus) was shot on Lake
Windermere by M. Brockbank. It is an adult bird in winter-
plumage and is now in my possession. D. G. Garnett.

NOTES ON BIRDS IN ORKNEY IN 1910.

Blackbird {Turdus merula). — An increasing species nesting
all over the mainland (Pomona) not only where there is
cultivation and in the liedges, but also on the moors on the
ground in heather-banks. Average number of eggs noted five.

The Mistle-Thrush {T. viscivorus). — At least three pairs
on the mainland (Pomona), near Finsto\\Ti. We saw two
nests in mountain ash trees, each with four eggs on May 20th.
This bird has not nested, I believe, before in Orkney, and only
recently has been noticed as a regular visitor.

Whitethroat {Sylvia cinerea). — A pair were in the garden
at Balfour Castle, Shapinsay, between Slay 30th and June 3rd,
and from their behaviour had a nest close by.

Blackcap {S. atricapilla). — We saw two pairs between
May 30th and June 3rd, and one pair on the Island of
Shapinsay undoubtedly had a nest.

NOTES. 221

Swallow {Hirundo rustica). — ^A few pairs round Binscarth
had nests in the farm- buildings, and there were a few pairs
round the farm-buildings at Balfour.

Shoveler {Spatula clypeata). — A few pairs nest in Orkney.
We put rings on the young on June 6th.

Pintail [Daflla acuta). — Increasing in numbers ; most
probably has nested in Orkney for the last two or three years,
if not longer, but this year we found several nests with eggs
and also cauglit some ten or twelve young on June 4th, and
put rings on their legs. We saw on one occasion nine Pintail
drakes together (June 10th).

Tufted Duck {Fuligula cristata). — We saw several pairs
on May 25th, and found two nests with eggs on June 14th.
The bird is increasing as a breeding- species.

Black-tailed God wit {Limosa belgica). — We saw a single
bird, which was very tame, on June 7th. James R. Hale

T. P. Aldworth.

Notes on British Birds in Confinement. — -Mr. J. L.
Bonhote, the newly-appointed editor of the Avicultural
Magazine, contributes to that journal (Third Series, Vol. I.,
pp. 259-267 and pp. 299-310) some interesting notes from
observations made by himself in his own aviaries. We may
quote the following, referring to British species : — Song-
Thrush. — It is noted that both the continental and British
races of this bird have been kept, and that they retain their
distinctive shades of colour. Tree-Sparrow. — One is seven
years eleven months old, and is still living ; the longest-
lived of the author's Passerine birds of which he has note.
Snow-Bunting. — The author states that this species does not
assume adult plumage until the second year. Starling. —
Examples with a dull white ring round the iris are
females. Scops Owl. — ^Incubation-period twenty-five daj^s.
Common Buzzard. — Two birds kept over ten years and over
four years resjDectively were of the dark phase, and the plumage
did not alter in the least with age. Mallard. — Ducks choose
their own drakes, and in most cases birds once paired will,
if opportunity occurs, mate again every year, although they
may have been separated during the winter. The drakes
remain with the ducks until the young are hatched, after which
they retire to moult. The assumption of the eclipse-plumage
of the drakes is to a large extent dependent on the hatchmg
of the young, and generally first shows itself about five weeks
after the duck commences to incubate. Turtle-Dove. — Incuba-
tion-period thirteen to fourteen days. Water-Bail. — Moults
its flight-feathers simultaneously, like the rest of the Rails.

222 BRITISH BIRDS.

Moor-hen. — The bill loses its bright red colour for a month or
two in autumn.

Fire- CRESTED Wren in Sussex. — Mr. B. C. R. Langford
reports to the Field (10. ix. 1910, p. 537) that a specimen of
Regulus ignicapillus was caught at Eastbourne, brouglit to
him for identification, and subsequently released uninjured on
September 4th, 1910.

Red-backed Shrikes in Ireland. — Mr. R. M. Barrington
records {Irish Nat., 1910, p. 243) that an immature example
of Lanius collurio was taken on October 1st, 1908, at Wicklow
Head Lighthouse (this has already been recorded in our pages,
cf. Vol. II., p. 409), and that another immature bird was
captured on September 26th, 1910, at the Fastnet Rock
Lighthouse. The latter is the third occurrence of the species
in Ireland.

Wryneck in Roxburgh. — Mr. Harvie-Bro\vn records
{Ann. 8.N.H., 1910, p. 248) an example of lynx torquilla as
shot at Jedburgh, but no date is given.

Greenland Falcons in Sutherland and Ross. — -A male
Falco candicans was shot at Rogart, Sutherlandshire, on
March 8tli, 1910, and a young female was caught on the
Ardross Moors, Ross-shire, on March 9th, 1910 (Annie C.
Jackson, Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 246).

Kestrel Catching a Bat. — During an excursion of the
Glasgow Natural History Society to Cassilis, in Ayrshire,
on March 26th, 1910, the members were fortunate enough
to see a Kestrel {F. tinnunculus) capture a Pipistrelle (F.
pipistrellus) , which had been disturbed from a tree- trunk
about noon and was flying about in the sunsliine {Glasgow
Nat., Vol. II., p. 137).

Pinioned Whooper Swans Nesting in Shetland. — It
should be put on record that a pair of Whooper Swans, which
were wounded and afterwards pinioned, one in 1905 and the
other in 1907, have this year mated and hatched their young
in Shetland (T. Henderson, Junr., Ann. S.N.H., 1910,
p. 245).

Ruddy Sheld-Ducks in Caithness. — Mr. David Bruce
exhibited to the Glasgow Natural History Society on May 31st,
1910, a pair of Tadorna casarca, which had been shot near
Scarsclet on June 27th, 1910 {Glasgow Nat., Vol. II., p. 134).
Whether these were genuine wild birds or not it seems
impossible to say.

Eggs of the Reeve from Lancashire. — At the October
meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, Mr. P. F. Bunyard
exhibited a clutch of eggs taken in Lancashire on April 20th,

NOTES. 223

1910, and sent to him as those of a Snipe. Mr. Bunyard,
however, considered that the eggs were undoubtedly those
of a Reeve {Machetes 'pugnax). {cf. Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XXVII.,
p. 17.)

Ruffs and Spotted Redshanks in East Renfrew. —
Mr. J. Robertson records {Glasgow Nat., Vol. II., p. 142) that
he saw a pair of Machetes pugnax on August 14th, 1910, and
a single bird on August 21st in east Renfrew. On June 26th,
1910, he saw a single Totanus fuscus in the same district,
and again at the same place on August 14th and 21st, while
on August 27th and September 4th he saw three birds of
this species, and on September 11th two and September 18th
one.

Spotted Redshank near Aberdeen. — Mr. L. N. G.
Ramsay records {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 249) that he saw an
example of Totanus fuscus at Donmouth, near Aberdeen,
on August 30th, 1910.

Black-tailed Godwit in Ross-shire. — Miss Annie C.
Jackson records {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 247) that she saw a
specimen of Limosa helgica at the Cromarty Firtli on March
30th, 1910, and again on April 8th, but by April 14th it had
departed.

Black Terns in Surrey. — Half a dozen examples of
Hydrochelidon yiigra were observed on August 15th, 1910, at
Frensham Pond by Mr. E. C. Arnold {Zool., 1910, p. 393).

Increase of Breeding Colonies of the Black-headed
Gull. — With reference to my note on this subject {supra,
p. 182), I regret that I made a mistake with regard to the
Dorset colony. Mr. A. Bankes writes me that he knows the
colony well and that it is carefully protected. During the last
ten or twelve years small offshoots of this colony apjsear to
have settled in the surrounding districts, and Mr. Bankes
thinks that this has been due to overcrowding in the main
colony, where the available nesting-sites are limited. The
colony, which had been harried was that near Hurn, five or
six miles from the mouth of the Avon (Hants), as I am informed
by Mrs. E. D. Leech. Mr. Thornton Mackeith writes that a
new colony of some one thousand birds has been discovered
in Renfrewshire. — -H.F.W.

Manx Shearwater in Wiltshire. — A specimen of Puffinus
anglorum was picked up at Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, " after
the great storm on August, 29th, 1910 " (D. P. Harrison,
Field, 13. IX. 1910, p. 498).

REVIEWS

The Birds of Dumfriesshire. A Contribution to the Fauna of
the Solway Area. By Hugh S. Gladstone. Illustrated.
Witherby & Co. 25s. net.

A WORK on the birds of a Scottish county is a novelty, though
there are papers of varied length on the birds of most of the
counties of the Scottish south-west, e.g., Kirkcudbrightshire,
Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, and East Renfrew. None looking
at the map of Dumfriesshire with which the volume under
notice is furnished, can fail to see that this county makes
a good geographical division. With its general slope to the
south, its three parallel valleys, coursed respectively by the
Nith, the Annan and the Esk, its " northern battlements "
of hills which extend down the east and west to shut it off
from neighbouring counties on these sides, and its sea-front
to the south , it forms a tolerably satisfactory unit. The variety
of the physical features within its limits, and the industry of
Sir William Jardine formerly, and Mr. Robert Service and Mr.
Gladstone recently, no doubt in part account for the satis-
factory total of two hundred and eighteen species of which
its avifauna consists.

Mr. Gladstone has carried out his labour of love faithfully
and well, and is to be congratulated heartily on the completion
of a work which makes ornithologists generally, and Scottish
ornithologists particularly, his debtors.

Changes in the method of agriculture, the area under cultiva-
tion, the subjects cultivated, the increase of planting, the
action of man as a destroyer all the time and a more or less
intelligent protector recently, and gradual climatic changes
over long periods (though this last is hypothetical) have all
in some degree contributed to the alteration in the status
of many birds. The causes of some changes remain obscure,
none of the reasons above mentioned appearing satisfactory as
explanations, but from whatever causes arising the changes
are many, and must strike anyone who carefully peruses
Mr. Gladstone's work.

Some of the changes which are hardly open to doubt may
be mentioned : The Swallow is decreasing, and a " lament-
able " decrease of the House-Martin is recorded ; the Haw-
finch " would seem to be " extending its breeding-range ; the
Goldfinch, formerly abundant and latterly a scarce resident,
has nested recently, though not regularly, " in nearly every

REVIEWS. 225

parish " ; and the increase in the Starling population is
notorious. The Jay seems to be re-established in many-
places as a breeding-species ; the Magpie is picking up ; and
the Jackdaw has undoubtedly increased " in the last fifteen
years " ; while of the Rook a substantial increase is reported.
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is re-established as a breeding-
species. Of the Barn-Owl it is sad to read that few are left,
and it is hardly a compensation to be told that the Long-eared
Owl is "on the increase," particularly when the next sentence
contains a quotation from Sir W. Jardine to the effect that
that species " is certainly the most common next to the White
Owl," and that was in 1839 ! The Hen-Harrier, formerly a
common resident, is now but a very rare visitor ; the Sparrow-
Hawk is decreasing ; the Peregrine Falcon has had its breeding-
quarters woefully curtailed in the interests of game-preserva-
tion while the Kestrel is increasing. Grey Lag-Geese now take
the place of Bean and Pink-footed, which formerly predomi-
nated ; Barnacle liave decreased since 1899, and the Whooper
is declining — ^Bewick's Swan predominating in recent years.
Sheld-Duck are increasing annually, and the Tufted Duck
has extended greatly as a breeding-species since 1890. The
Stock-Dove in now a well recognised nesting-species. The
Pheasant has gone up in numbers enormously, and Mr.
Gladstone connects the decrease in the numbers of Black
Grouse since 1870 with this phenomenon, as he also does the
starving out of the Partridge, though the diminution of cropping
in the upper districts has been an influence in the latter case.
Ptarmigan, common till the beginning of last century, have
been long extinct, but have been re-introduced recently.
The Moor-hen has increased considerably, but the Coot is
believed to be decreasing locally. It is only of late years that
the Woodcock has become so plentiful as a breeding-species
in Dumfriesshire. Ringed Plovers and Oyster- catchers are
becoming more common as nesting-species on rivers inland.
The Redshank since 1880 has become common in the nesting-
season inland. The Black-headed Gull has undoubtedly
increased. The Great Crested Grebe has become a nesting-
species, and the Little Grebe is quite common in summer
no^v, though formerly chiefly, if not exclusively, a winter-
visitor. Such are some of the changes recorded, and they
form a remarkable catalogue.

One turns with curiosity to the accounts of certain species
regarding the occurrence and distribution of which, in
Scotland, there seems to be some uncertainty. Here Mr.
Gladstone, from lack of full personal knowledge, is not in-

226 BRITISH BIRDS.

frequently unconvincing. About twenty years since, proof of
the nesting of the Lesser Whitethroat in Scotland began to be
called for, as suspicions were then excited regarding assertions
long current about its occurrence in many places. The
interval has only showTi it to be a casual on passage. Under
the very peculiar circumstances of this bird as a nesting-
species in Scotland, one egg out of five sent for verification,
leaves something to be desired as a reason for acceptance.
The Blackcaj) and Garden- Warblers present a bit of a tangle.
Thus, the former is said to be more abundant than the latter
although according to Jardine, in 1832, the latter was abundant
and the former had only aj^peared " within these few years,"
and at the present day Mr. Laidlaw says, about the south of
Eskdale, that the Garden- Warbler is " very plentiful, "while
the Blackcap is " very rare." Mr. Service, however, says
that in most years the Blackcap " is decidedly more abundant
than the Garden- Warbler." If there be doubt from season to
season as to the relative numbers of these two species in Solway,
or if the Blackcap be the more abundant (which is possible),
then in either case Solway is in an interesting position of
isolation, as there is no doubt whatever about the Garden-
Warbler being abundant in "Clyde," "Forth" and
Perthshire, and outnumbering its congener in all of them.
The statement in Saunders's Manual that the Garden- Warbler
" has been recorded as nesting in Perthshire," conveys as
exact an impression as if one read in the same work of the
Nightingale that " it has been recorded as nesting in Surrey."
The Chifichaff is local in Dumfriesshire, but, according to Mr.
Service, is more frequent in Kirkcudbrightshire, and it is
notable that in May, 1897, several Glasgow ornithologists
found it to be quite common at Castle Kennedy, in WigtowTi-
shire. Within the Clyde area it is, in any numbers, a south-
western species, and in Solway appears to be a western species.
Mr. Gladstone seems conscious of the difficulty of working
up the Marsh-Tit's distribution. It is set down as " very
scarce and local." The account of the White Wagtail is
disappointing. No theory, however ingenious, about a change
of flight-line explains the absence of old records. Mr. Service,
who formerly opposed the idea of its being overlooked, has
published a recantation. The view that it has been overlooked
is the only one with any potentiality of growth in it, and it
appears to the present writer that the author might safely
assume that it passed through Solway in the time of the
Romans (and earlier), and that it will continue to do so
till the time of the Germans (and after) !

Regarding the Yellow Wagtail, one would like very partic-

REVIEWS. 227

ularly to know if the colony, which existed on the banks of
the Annan in 1832, is not still to be found there. It is such
a constant species where known in colonies, and respects its
boundaries so strictly, that a narrative Avhich does not clear
up such an important point is incomplete. The inclusion of
the Red-backed Shrike does not seem justified on the evidence.
The Lochmaben chronicler may have been better informed
than the Langholm one, but it is easy to account for the latter' s
mistake — he had heard of the Butcher-bird being seen, he
stumbled on the information that Lanius collurio is a Butcher-
bird, and that is how the history we have painfully to unravel
is made. A reader not knowing anything of Mr. John Corrie's
qualifications would like to be assured that his Red-backed
Shrike was not a Redstart !

Mudie should surely have been left in obscurity. The
quotation from him that the Spotted Flycatcher was rare in
Scotland in 1841, " if indeed it at all reaches that country,"
may be put beside the following from the Rev. Wm. Patrick's
account of Hamilton parish, Lanarkshire, A\Titten in 1835 : —
" This bii'd, as far as can be ascertained, is in this district
confined to the vale of the Clyde at Hamilton and Bothwell.
It builds in out-houses and in wall-trees, in the most frequented
places. It is a tame and silent bird, and disappears in
September."

One would not expect the Brambling to leave " in January
and February." In recent years there have been many
Scottish records (east and west) of flocks throughout March
and April, and even till May 1st. Saunders's statement that
by " the middle of March almost all have returned to their
northern breeding-grounds " surely requires a more or less
decided qualification. The Lesser Redpoll being very local
in the nesting-season is a disappointment to the author,
which will be shared by Scottish readers, who are more pre-
pared to hear of the great scarcity of the Twite in summer.
In the south-west, inland, it makes a poor show at that season.
It is notable that the author quotes Theobald's emphatic
condemnation of the Bullfincli from Kent, instead of follovvdng
the more patriotic course of quoting Colonel Drummond
Hay's emphatic commendation {Scottish Naturalist, V., p. 247).
Perhaps the author's sympathies are with the former. The
Crossbills have been most creditably disentangled.

The resuscitation of the Starling "had begun in 1865,"
according to Mr. Gladstone, but if he came over the hills into
" Clyde," he would need to carry his narrative back several
decades. One of the things rescued from the obscurity of
the files of the Dumfries Courier by Mr. Robert Service, was the

228 BRITISH BIRDS.

narrative of the death of a boy, who was after a Starling's
nest, at the castle on the island in Loch Doon in 1813.

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker's inclusion, it is fair to the
author to say, rests on Mr. Service's assurances, but as there
is no conclusive fresh evidence, the misgivings which have
hitherto obtained will not be removed.

The Red-breasted Merganser does not only breed " in
Ireland and north-west Scotland," but is a common nesting-
species in " Clyde." The nest is found on the shores of the
sea-lochs in " Clyde," on its islands and many rocky islets, so
that the statement about it being found " seldom at any great
distance from fresh water " is quite erroneous, and is the
more conspicuous from the rarity of such lapses.

The status of the Ruff in " Clyde," at any rate in the Glasgow
district where observation is keen, is very much what it
was stated by Sir Wm. Jardine to be in Solway, in the first
half of last century. That being so, one would infer that the
conclusion that it now only occurs " at fairly long intervals "
is not justified. It is not a conspicuous species, and its
occurrence is sometimes only revealed by its being shot with
Golden Plover. The case of the Spotted Redshank is, perhaps,
somewhat parallel. As Macpherson met with it on the
English side of Solway " nearly every autumn," and it has
occurred in the last two autumns, and in two consecutive
autumns ten years ago in East Renfrew, it is probably an
occasional, if not regular, visitor to the Solway, overlooked
because it is unknown.

The occurrence of the Kittiwake twelve miles inland should
hardly be described as " remarkable." I have seen it several
times east of Glasgow^ in winter and at the spring-passage.

The appearance of three Guillemots inland need not be
attributed in all cases to " stormy weather." In the present
autumn, in an unprecedented spell of halcyon weather,
three have occurred inland in Renfrewshire, where they are
quite unknown, and one was observed at the same season in
Glasgow Harbour. John Paterson.

The Home-Life of the Spoonbill, the Stork and some Herons.
By Bentley Beetham, F.Z.S. Pp. 47, and 32 mounted
plates. Witherby & Co. 5s. net.

The present artistically-produced volume forms a companion
to The Home-Life of a Golden Eagle, which we had the
pleasure of reviewing some months ago, and these two, we
venture to hope, are only the first ones of a series which will
deal in turn with the most interesting of our British birds.
Tlie present volume deals with the Spoonbill, Wliite Stork,

REVIEWS. 229

the Common and the Purple Heron. The letterpress is a
simply-written narrative of the author's experiences under-
gone while procuring the photographs from which the plates
are reproduced. Such experiences are always of great interest
to that growing community of bird-photographers, and cannot
fail also to interest those who have had no experience of this
fascinating, but often disappointing, pursuit. The habits of
the several species are fairly fully dealt with, and there are
one or two observations which strike us as novel and are not
without importance ; we would particularly refer to the habit,
which seems to be a very usual one, of the young Storks
standing and even progressing about the nest, supported
only upon their tibio-metatarsal joints, the tarsi and feet
being held up off the nest with the toes dangling. The
attitude of rest amongst the Storks, on the whole length of
the tarsi, is, of course, well known, but the above observation
appears to be new. The method by which the young Spoon-
bills are fed, viz., by taking regurgitated food from the base
of the parent's bill is fully described, and the contrast with
the method pursued by the Storks and Purple Heron, which
scatter the disgorged food about the nest and leave the young
to pick it up, is well brought out. The supplying of food is
apjiarently also undertaken solely by one bird (? the male)
in^'the case of the Spoonbill, whereas both sexes feed the young
in the case of the Stork, while both share in the duties of
incubation in the case of the Common Heron. Reference
must also be made to the interesting description of the climbing
powers of the Purple Heron.

The plates, which are exceedingly Avell reproduced, do the
author great credit both for his patience and perseverance
under trying circumstances and his technical skill as a photo-
grapher. Personally we would have preferred them mounted
on a rather darker and warmer shade of brown, but this is
perhaps only a personal opinion. The photographs of the
Spoonbills and Purple Herons are undoubtedly the best of
the series, and while those of the Storks are good, they no
doubt lose a little as bird-portraits from (the necessary)
distance at which the exposures were made ; incidentally
all of these exhibit very clearly the superior results that are
obtainable when each picture can be focused separately by
working at close quarters in a " hide " in contrast with
those of the Common Heron, which perforce had to be taken
with a fixed focus and the exposure made from a distance.

N.F.T.

LETTERS

To the Editors of British Birds.

THE GENERIC NAMES OF OUR SWALLOWS.

Sirs, — It has been my rule and practice, and one to which, whenever
possible, I still intend to adhere, not to enter into nomenclatural
controversies. On the present occasion, however, I have had to give
an opinion on Dr. Hartert's recent innovations in the generic names
of our Swallows and Martins, and as the matter has already been brought
to the notice of your readers (Vol. IV., p. 136) I feel that arguments
against the change should be brought forward. To my mind the chief
object of a name is in order that naturalists throughout the world
should know without any doubt to which species they are referring
in the course of their wTitings, and hence it is most undesirable to change
a universally accepted name except for very sound reasons. Such
reasons do sometimes arise, and then, much as we may regret it, a
well-known name has to be altered to one with which we are less familiar-
To settle, or, I should say, to attempt to settle, the differences of opinion
on this svibject an International Committee, that meets at the Inter-
national Zoological Congresses, was appointed, and this committee has
drawn up a set of rules to which all zoologists, though they may hold
their own opinions on various points, should conform, since by these
means alone can we hope for any uniformity. Unfortunately, the
committee itself committed a rather serious mistake by first agreeing
to take the twelfth edition of Linnseus's Syst. Nat., published in 1766,
as the basis, and subsequently altering that decision and going back to the
tenth edition of that work, published in 1758. The main arguments on
this point I do not know, but the twelfth edition was the one used by the
majority of ornithological writers in the nineteenth century, and that
edition has given us many of the names with which we are most familiar.
The committee, by altering their decision, therefore, not only emphasized
the point that there was dissension in their camp, but have spread that
dissension far and wide, and created, for the present at any rate, a
considerable amount of confusion. Be that as it may, however, the
tenth edition has now to be the basis, and we must adopt it, however
little we may like it. Dr. Hartert has been much criticized, in this
country at all events, for his innovations, many of which (but by no
means all) are merely due to his following the strict letter of the rules,
and to these we must submit. The Swallow question, however, comes
in another category altogether. In order to save confusion the com-
mittee decided that no name should be allowed to stand unless a suffi-
cient description of the characters or bird to which that name applied
was given at the same time. Rule VII., par. I., Proc. Int. Zool. Congr.
Berlin, p. 967, 1905, reads as follows : —

LETTERS. 231

" The name of a genus or species can only be that name under
which it was first designated, on the condition :

" (a) That its name was published, and defined or indicated."
As will be seen, the whole question tvirns on the word " indicated."

No description whatever is given in Forster's Catalogue, and for that
reason the names are, in my opinion, neither " defined nor indicated,"
and therefore should not be used. Supposing last year I had
published a list of birds and in that list occurred, " Accentor
harterti, British Hedge Sparrow," would Dr. Hartert have allowed my
name to stand ? I think (and hope) not. It is no argument to say
that because Boie gave no description that therefore Forster's names,
which are equally lacking in that respect, should be used. Two wronga
never yet made a right. If Boie gave no descriptions, his names have
no right to stand, but it is certainly no reason for using Forster's.

Dr. Hartert says " Riparia," Forster, has been accepted. I do not
know by whom, and with such opportunities as I have had I have been
unable to find a reference to it, nor does Dr. Hartert support his state-
ment except by a single reference to a writer in 1908 in a German
scientific periodical. Bvtt " one Swallow does not make a summer,"
and it is certainly a stretch of imagination to speak of one reference
as " accepted." It seems to me therefore that Forster's names have
no right whatever to be used, and should be ruled out as noinina nuda,
and that we may still, with a clear conscience, use Hirundo for the
Swallow, Chelidon for the House-Martin, and Coiile for the Sand-Martin.

The validity or otherwise of Boie's names I leave to others to thrash
out, but anyway they cannot affect the argument as regards Forster's.

J. Lewis Bonhote.

P.S. — May I direct Dr. Hartert's attention to the rules of the Inter-
national Committee, Proc. Int. Zool. Congr. Berlin, pp. 888 and 969,
re Latin terminations, e.g., ^githalxxs, not Mgithalos ; Tiirdus philo-
melos, etc. ? — J. L. B.

To the Editors of British Birds.
THE POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT.
SiRS^ — I have read Mr. Beetham's paper on " The Positions assumed
by Birds in Flight " with interest. When he says (p. 167) that the
" unfolding of the units of the wing seems to be sequential, starting with
the humerus, and not simultaneous," I must join issue with him.
With regard to the raising of the humerus, I did not know that anyone
had maintained that this extended the rest of the wing. So far we are
in agreement. The region of controversy begins at the elbow- joint.
When a bird's wing is straightened at the elbow, it straightens also at
the wrist — not absolutely, but nearly. This can be proved by taking
a freshly-killed bird — anyone who is afraid of being labelled a laboratory
theorist can take a live one instead — and bring the humerus into line
with the forearm, when the hand will fall into line nearly. When
complete straightening at the wrist takes place, no doubt special muscles
are brought into play : it is not entirely the work of the triceps muscle

232 BRITISH BIRDS.

which extends the forearm. Another plan is to examine a number of
photographs. I have never seen one in which a bird's wing is
straightened at the elbow and at the same time bent (beyond a very
little) at the wrist. Certainly there is no example of this in any of the
excellent photographs with which Mr. Beetham's paper is illustrated.
There is no need to point out the importance to the bird of having
all the big and heavy muscles massed upon the body or near it.

F. W. Headley.

To the Editors of British Birds.
UNEQUAL WING-STROKES IN FLIGHT.

Sirs, — Mr. Headley's explanations of his additional photographs
on page 192 are not more convincing to me than those referring to the
previous photographs. In both, the wings are held symmetrically.
In Fig. 1, p. 192, if lines be ruled through the tips of the primaries,
the edges of the longest secondaries, and tlirough the wrists of the
wings, these three lines will be found to converge to a point considerably
above the bird, this being so because the camera has been held pointing
down at it. The existence of this vanishing point shows that the
three sets of points occur on parallel lines, and it follows that the wings
are in a strictly symmetrical position.

Fig. 2 is even clearer. The Pigeon is alighting with its wings thrown
back. The camera is viewing it a little from the right, and therefore
it shows an almost full view of the left wing, and a fore -shortened or
compressed view of the right. A book held open at an angle and a
little to the right of the eye will demonstrate the correctness of the
above opinion. A. W. Seaby.

BRITI5nDIW)5

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norbian F.

tlcehttrst, m.a., f.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 8, Vol. IV. January 2, 1911.

The Irish Jay. Garrubis glandarius hibernicus subsp. nov. By

H. F. Witherby and E. Hartert . . . . . . .". 234

Recapturing Marked Birds. By C. B. Ticehurst. . . . . . 236

Notes : —

Recovery of Marked Bii'ds . . . . . . . . . . 240

A Marked Black-headed Gull (C. B. Ticehurst) . . . . 241

The Down-Plumage and Mouth-Coloration of some Nestling

Birds (Eric B. Dunlop) . . .. .. .. .. .. 241

Land-Birds seen on board-ship between London and Port

Said (Major H. A. F. Magrath) 242

Removal of Fceces by Birds (John R. B. Masefield) . . . . 245

Notes on Hampshire Birds (Sir Thomas H. C. Troubridge, Bart. ) 245
Continental Robins, Song-Thrushes, and Goldcrests in East
Anglia, Yorkshu-e, Lincolnshire and the Isle of Wight

(C. B. Ticehurst and H. F. Witherby) 245

Immigration of Continental Great-Tits in Norfolk, Suffolk,

Kent and SciUy (C. B. Ticehurst, H. F. W., and N. F. T.) 247
The British Willow-Tit in Suffolk (C. B. Ticehurst) . . . . 248
Numbers of Young in the Broods of Swallows and House-
Martins in 1910 (H. W. Robinson) 249

Albinistic Variety of Greenfinch (M. Winzar Compton) . . 249

Northern Bullfinch in Yorkshire (H. F. Witherby) . . . . 250

The Crossbill Irruption . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Egg-daubing by the Jackdaw (H. E. Forrest) . . . . . . 250

Hoopoe and Spoonbill in Montgomeryshire (H. E. Forrest) . . 251
Iceland Falcons in Shropshire — an Early Record (H. E.

Forrest) 251

Squacco Heron in Lincolnshire (G. H. Caton Haigh) . . . . 252

American Blue-winged Teal in Ireland (H. F. Witherby) . . 252

Black-winged Stilt in Sussex (N. F. Ticehurst) 252

Red-necked Phalarope in Norfolk (S. G. Cummings) . . . . 253

Great Skua in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . . . . . 254

Manx Shearwater in Shropshire (H. E. Forrest) . . . . 254

Short Notes : — Influx of Northern Birds. Feeding-habits of the
Rook. Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Scotland.
Nesting of the Gadwall and Wigeon in " Forth." The
American Wigeon recorded from Anglesey. Sociable
Plovers in Sussex . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Reviews : — Ornithological Notes from a South London Suburb,

1874-1909 257

IX. Jahresbericht (1909) der Vogelwarte Rossitten der

Deutschen Ornithologischen Gesellschaft . . . . 259

Letters : — L^nequal Wing-strokes in Flight . . . . . . 261

The Generic names of our Swallows . . . . . . 261

( -234 )

THE IRISH JAY.

Garrulus glandarius hibernicus subsp. no v.

BY
H. F. WITHERBY and E. HARTERT.

In the Birds of Ireland (1900) Mr. R. J. Ussher remarks
(p. 88) : — " Mr. E. Williams, who has preserved a great
many examples, thinks that the Irish Jay is of a warmer
colour than the English bird." Recently Mr. W. J.
Williams has sent several specimens to Hartert pointing
out some of the differences. Meanwhile Witherby had
been for some time seeking to procure sufficient examples
on which to base a satisfactory conclusion. Witherby
has now examined, by the kindness of the Earl of Rosse,
Sir A. Armstrong, Bart., Major B. R. Horsburgh, Dr. R.
iScharff of the Dubhn Museum, and Mr. R. J. Ussher,
sixteen examples ; while Hartert has, at present, five at
his disposal — all in the Tring Museum.

That the Irish Jay is very different from the British
Jay {G. g. rufitergum) is evident at a glance, while an
examination of a series of specimens shows that the
differences are constant, and any of the specimens we
have examined can easily be picked out from a large
series of British Jays. In the Irish Jay the sides of
the head and ear-coverts are much darker and more
rufous, the breast and abdomen are suffused with rufous-
pink, and in consequence much darker than the pale
brownish-buff breast and abdomen of the British Jay ;
the flanks are like the breast, and darker and more rufous
than in the British Jay ; the under wing-coverts and
axillaries are also dark rufous-pink ; the throat is more
suffused with pink; the "crest" is strikingly darker than
in the British Jay, the feathers of the forehead being
black, fringed with reddish-buff, those of the crown edged
with rufous-pink and more strongly barred with blue
than in the British Jay ; the nape, mantle, scapulars
and back are of a much deeper shade of rufous-pink than

THE IRISH JAY. 235

in the British Jay. The most striking differences are
in the dark rufous colouring of the sides of the head, ear-
coverts and underparts and the darker " crest."

The measurements of the examples are :— Wing,
171-186 mm. ; bill (from nostril to tip), 18-21.5 mm.
The measurements are perhaps slightly smaller on the
average than those of G. g. rufitergum.

We have therefore no hesitation in separating this
bird under the name of

GARRULU.S GLAND ARIUS HIBERNICUS.

Type : <$ ad., Co. Wexford, November, 1910, in the
Tring Museum. Cotype : 9 ad., Birr, King's Co.,
IS.xii. 1910, in H. F. Witherby's coll.

Although all the specimens we have examined are
easily separable from examples of the British Jay, some
are darker than others, one specimen from Co. Waterford
in the Dublin Museum being remarkably dark, while in
some specimens in Witherby's collection the blue on the
feathers of the crown is very conspicuous. Of fifty British
Jays in the Tring Museum, only one, a male, shot near
Tring, November 21st, 1902, by the Hon. Walter
Rothschild, approaches G. g. hibernicns, but even this is
paler than the latter, above and below, and especially
in the head. The Irish Jay has a very restricted range,
and is only found in parts of the province of Leinster
and the adjoining part of Munster {Birds of Ireland) and
has recently spread into South Ulster (Brit. Birds,
Vol. III., p. 341).

Three Irish birds have now been found to be distinct
from their British representatives — Hartert has already
referred in these pages to the Irish Dipper {supra, p. 136),
while at the December meeting of the British Orni-
thologists' Club Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant described the
Irish Coal-Titmouse as distinct.

( 236 )
RECAPTURING MARKED BIRDS.

BY
C. B. TICEHURST.

In April, 1908, I commenced ringing birds with aluminium
rings copied from Mr. Mortensen's pattern. These rings
I made myself and stamped them with my address and
a number. My object was to ascertain : —

i. Whether individuals of any species nested in their
winter-haunts.

ii. Whether individuals nested in the place of their
birth.

iii. Whether individuals returned to the same place
to nest each year.

iv. To throw some light on the migrations of individuals.

Realizing that this last task was beyond the power of
the efforts of any one individual, since the number of
birds which I could ring in a year would be a mere drop
in the ocean, I induced Mr. Witherby to take the matter
up on a large scale through British Birds, and in 1909
the scheme was started Math which the readers will be
familiar.

It has, however, occurred to me that more might be
done by those with sufficient time at their disposal to
gather facts regarding the first three points.

It is obvious that in order to throw light on these three
questions some means must be sought of taking birds
alive without injuring them, and there are several ways
of doing this which I have utilized Avith success : —

i. The ordinary clap-net. Any bird-catcher would
make one of any size desired. It is not difficult to learn
how to set up, and I have had fair success with it,
but it can only be worked at times when birds will come
down to food placed between the nets (unless call-birds
are used), and, of course, it requires constant attention.
It is a useful method of obtaining Robins, Hedge-Sparrows,
Tits and Finches,

RECAPTURING MARKED BIRDS. 237

ii. The fall. A frame eight feet each way is covered
loosely with small-meshed net. The frame is supported
by a thin pole at an angle of forty-five degrees with the
ground and food is put under it for some days. The
frame is made to fall by pulling the supporting pole
away by means of a long string. This is useful for the
same birds as No. 1, and works best in sharp weather.

iii. Catching birds at roost. This can easily be done
by hand with birds roosting in thatches, ricks and holes
in trees. It may also be done with the help of a " bat
fowling net " with birds which roost in bushes and
hedges. This is simply a piece of small-meshed net
about six feet square put on two poles. One person
holds the poles up above his head and another goes along
the other side of the hedge and beats it. When birds
fly out into the net the two poles are brought together
so as to make the net into a bag.

iv. Wire cage-trap. This I have found to be the
simplest method of taking birds in winter and spring.
The cage is made of one-inch meshed wire-netting and
is six feet long, four feet broad and four feet high. At the
centre at one end and on the ground is the only entrance ,
which is funnel-shaped and two and a half inches wide
at the orifice, which is flush with the netting. The
funnel made of the same netting runs inside the trap
and is six to eight inches long. Food must be put inside
the cage and a little constantly sprinkled at the entrance.
The great advantage of this trap is that it is self -working
and need only be visited every hour or so ; when not being
worked the entrance can be plugged. I find a butterfly-
net the best thing for taking the birds out of the trap,
and this is put through a join in the net at the top of
the cage. Birds do not damage themselves in the cage,
nor do they seem very scared, for I have taken the same
Blue Tit four and five times in one day and the same one
on many days during the month.

V. Taking birds at nesting-time. Most traps will not
work at this time owing to the abundance of insect-food,

238 BRITISH BIRDS.

but birds which nest in holes of -trees and in nesting-
boxes can be easily taken at dusk'Avhen on the nest or
at daytime when building. Some desert the nest, but
if quickly ringed and put back I find the majority do not
desert, neither do they if caught in the hole when feeding
young. Those that desert quickly build again.

When it is necessary to remove a ring in order to
ascertain the number, insert the tip of a small penknife
at the junction of the two ends of the ring and turn the
knife through a right angle. Care should be taken not
to touch the leg of the bird with the knife.

In many cases the number of the ring can be ascertained
by holding the ring up whilst on the leg so that the light
falls on the inside of the ring.

I have already reported (Vol. III., p. 399) the case of
the ringed Swallow which returned to the place the year
after it was ringed, and the following records of birds
which I have caught and ringed and subsequently re-
captured may prove interesting : —

Starling {S. vulgaris). — Nestling in a hole in a tree in
an orchard, ring No. 50, 22. v. 1908 ; caught on nest in
a nest-box in same orchard, 25. iv. 1910.

Starling. — Nestling (one of eight) in a cherry tree,
ring No. 72, 22. v. 1908 ; picked up wounded at Berck
Plage, near Boulogne, France, 8, x. 1908.

Starling. — Same brood as No. 72, ring No. 76,

22. V. 1908 ; caught on nest in a nest-box one hundred
yards from birthplace, 26. iv. 1910.

Starling. — Nestling (one of four), ring No. 241,

23. v.. 1909 ; found dead a quarter of a mile away. 25.
vi. 1909.

Starling. — Nestling, same brood as No. 241, ring
No. 243, 23. V. 1909 ; shot in a cherry tree eight miles
to the south, vii. 1909.

Blue Tit {P. coeruleus). — Caught in a clap-net, ring No.
53, 9. ii. 1909 ; re-caught in a clap-net, 14. iii. 1909 ;
re-caught in a trap, 29. i. 10 ; re-caught in a trap, 28. ii.
1910.

RECAPTURING MARKED BIRDS. 239

Blue Tit (adult). — Caught in a trap, ring No. 501,
8. ii. 1910 ; re-caught in same trap nearly every day till
5. iii. 1910.

Blue Tit (adult). — Caught in a trap, ring No. 530,
20. iii. 1910 ; caught on nest, same place, 1. v. 1910.

Great Tit (P. major) (adult). — Caught in a trap, ring
No. 481, 22. ii. 1910 ; re-caught in same trap, 4. iii, 1910.

My results, though not large, are sufficient to show
that people with more time at their disposal than I
have would be certain to obtain very valuable results
by making use of such means as are described above.

I may add that I have never yet met with a case of
any injury being done to a bird's leg by ringing.

OTES

RECOVERY OF MARKED BIRDS.

In our last number I appealed for subscriptions towards the
expenses of the " British Birds' Marking Scheme," which
has now grown to such large proportions, and I have to
acknowledge the receipt of generous donations from the
following :— Major-General V. Hatton, Mr. R. 0. Blyth,
Mr. H. L. Popham, Mr. H. S. Greg and Mr. H. S. Gladstone.
Further subscriptions will be welcome. — H.F.W.

Hedge-Sparrow {Accentor modularis). — B.B., No. A975,
marked by Mr. Norman H. Joy at Bradfield, Berkshire,
on July 1st, 1910, as an adult. Recovered at the same
place on November 22nd, 1910.

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). — B.B., No. 11,774, marked by
Mr. W. E. Suggitt at Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, on
September 10th, 1910. Recovered at Saundersfoot,
Pembrokeshire, on December 10th, 1910. Reported by
Mr. M. Ormond.

Teal {Nettion crecca).— B.B., No. 3939, marked by Mr. Thos.
Hepburn at Old Hall Marsh, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex.
The bird was caught up with others at Netherby, Cum-
berland, and was in all probability bred there. It was
turned do\\'n in Essex when full grown with wing clipped.
Recovered at Netherby, Cumberland, at the end of
November, 1910. Reported by Sir Richard Graham, Bart.
This bird has thus returned to its place of origin apparently
by a cross-country journey — a most remarkable record.
Another bird of the same lot was reported from the coast
of Schleswig in August (c/. antea, p. 178).

Black-headed Gulls [Larus ridibundus). — B.B., No. 30,182,
marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Ravenglass,
Cumberland, on June 11th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered
near Le Faou, rade de Brest, Finistere, France, on
December 1st, 1910. Reported by Dr. L. Veillet.
B.B., No. 9583, marked by Major H. A. F. Magrath,
at Loch Spynie, near Elgin, on June 4th, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered on Sanday, Orkney Islands,
on November 26th, 1910. Reported by Mr. T. Wilson.
B.B., No. 30,010, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 10th, 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered at Moor Row, Cumberland,
on December 6th, 1910. Reported by Mr. A. Thwaites.

NOTES. 241

B.B., No. 30,975, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 25th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Backworth, Northum-
berland, on December 12th, 1910. Reported by Mr.
James Laing.

A MARKED BLACK-HEADED GULL.

On November 29th, 1910, I had brought me for inspection
an adult Black-headed Gull {Larus ridibundus) , on the right
leg of which there was an aluminium ring. This latter I found
to be one of those used by the Rossitten " Vogehvarte," No.
1201. The bird had been picked up dead near Lowestoft,
Suffolk, that morning, it having been killed by flying into some
•telegraph-wires during a storm the previous night. On
communicating with Dr. Thienemann, the director of the
" Vogehvarte," he informs me that this bird was ringed as
a nestling at the Rossitten gull-colony on July 16th, 1908.
The ring had thus been on the bird two years and four months,
and I may add that there was no sign of any injury ivhatsoever
to the bird's leg.

Rossitten is 800 miles a little north of east from Lowestoft.

Another " Rossitten Gull," which was ringed on the same
day as this one, was shot on Breydon Water, ten miles north
of "Lowestoft, on October 15th, 1909 {vide Vol. III., p. 220).

C. B. TiCEHURST.

THE DOWN -PLUMAGE AND MOUTH-COLORATION
OF SOME NESTLING BIRDS.
Jackdaw. Corvus monedula.
Down. Pale grey. IVIoderate in length.
Distribution. In addition to the humeral, ulnar, spinal
and femoral tracts described by Mr. A. G. Leigh (Vol. III.,
p. 154), there are scanty inner supra-orbital tracts.

Coloration of the Month. Deep orange; flanges, pale
lemon-yellow.

Ring-Ouzel. Tnrdus torquatus.

Down. Yellowish. Moderately long. Very scanty outer
supra-orbital tracts.

Distributio7i. Inner and outer supra-orbital, occipital,
humeral, ulnar and spinal.

Coloration of the Mouth. Lemon-yellow. (c/. Vol. III.,
p. 325).

Grey Wagtail. Motacilla melanope.

Down. Dusky grey. Moderately long. Very scanty
crural and ventral tracts.

242 BRITISH BIRDS.

Distribution. Inner and outer supra-orbital, occipital,
humeral, ulnar, spinal, femoral, crural and ventral. There
is also a distinct tract on the uropygium.

Coloration of the Mouth. Deep orange ; flanges, lemon-
yellow, (c/. Vol. II., p. 196).

Ctjckoo. Cuculus canorus.
Down. Absent.
Coloration of the Mouth. Orange ; flanges, lemon-yellow.

Coloration of the Mouth of the Carrion-Crow.
Corvus cor one.

It is stated in various works on British birds that the
mouth of the Carrion-Crow is flesh-coloured at all ages.
For instance, Howard Saunders in his Manual says —
"The inside of the mouth is always pale flesh-colour;
whereas in the young Rook it is dark flesh-colour, soon
turning livid and afterwards slate colour."

This is not a fact, tor old Carrion-Crows have the whole
of the interior of the mouth several shades darker than the
adult Rook. I have shot several with the whole of the
mouth blackish, and many in intermediate stages with the
flesh-colour streaked with black. The posterior portion of
the mouth is the last to turn dark. The Hooded Crow does
not differ from the Carrion-Crow, undergoing a similar
change. Eric B. Dunlop.

LAND-BIRDS SEEN ON BOARD-SHIP BETWEEN
LONDON AND PORT SAID.
The following brief record of British land-birds which came
on board or were seen from the P. & O. liner, in which I
sailed for India from London on the 21st October, 1910,
may be of interest to readers of British Birds.

We got under way from Tilbury about 2.30 p.m. The sky
was overcast and there was a fresh easterly breeze blowing.
The first bird-passenger noted ^\■as a male Brambling (Fringilla
montifringilla) , which appeared on the decks towards dusk
just as we cleared the moutli of the Thames. This bird must
have been very tired as it allowed itself to be caught without
much effort. On being released, however, it fluttered about
and eventually disappeared to leeward.

Next morning we were well down Channel, the wind being
still in the east, and several birds were to be seen flying
about the ship. These consisted principally of Chaffinches
{Fringilla coslebs), and Sky-larks {Alauda arvensis), but I also
noted one or two Goldcrests {Regulus cristatus) . Later in the

NOTES. 243

day, additions in the shape of a few Starlings (Sturnus
vulgaris), alighted on the boat deck amidship, and towards
nightfall as we were entering the Bay a Song-Thrush (Turdus
musicus), was observed flying around.

On the morning of the 23rd October we were well in
the centre of the Bay on a line between Ushant and Cape
Finisterre, and the wind which was still in tlie east had
freshened considerably during the night. I did not expect
to see many birds this day as we w^ere rather to the west of
the main autumn route of migrants. What was my astonish-
ment therefore on coming on deck to see birds on every hand
flying round us out at sea and perched about on and 'tween
decks. At one time there must have been well over fifty
small birds on the ship. Some of these were no doubt
passengers from the day before which bad clung to the ship —
notably the Chaffinches. One of these, a handsome cock,
found his way into the saloon companion, where I fed him
on crumbs.

The following species were noted during the day.
Robins [Erithacus rubecula) several ; Chaffinches, a few ;
Redstarts [Ruticilla phoenicuriis) several ; a Blackcap
{Sylvia atricapilla) ; Willow- Warblers [Phylloscopus trochilus)
several ; Wood-Warblers (P. sihilairix) a few ; a Reed-
Warbler {Acrocephalus streperus) ; Sky - Larks, a few ;
Starlings, a few ; a Jay [Garrulus glandarius). This latter
was observed by a passenger, an officer in the Indian Army,
who has a good knowledge of birds. Those birds all alighted
on the ship, taking now and then short flights to sea and
returning. All seemed tired and hungry. About mid-day the
wind veered round to the west and blew a strong breeze.
Those birds which now took to wing found it hard to regain
the ship. The Reed- Warbler allowed me to catch it. It was
plainly in the last stages of exhaustion and its death could
only have been a matter of a few hours at most. By sundown
the birds gradually disappeared, and next morning off the
coasts of Portugal I noted no birds on board. Although I
did not actually see any birds die I think it probable thr.t
the majority of our feathered passengers to date perished on
board or in tlie sea. Doubtless, in most cases it is severe
exhaustion or the sensation of approaching death which
compels migrants to take refuge on ships. They can rarely
pick up sustenance thereon to enable them to recoup their
energies and continue their journeys, and as often as not are,
while clinging to the ship, carried hopelessly beyond their
capacity for making the land. Besides what bird in full
]>ossession of all its activities would face the unusual (and

244 BRITISH BIRDS.

terrifying to it) sights, sounds and disturbances of a steam-
ship's decks ?

Next day, the 25th, only one Chaffinch was observed.

No more land-birds were observed till the SOtli October
with the exception of a solitary Goldfinch which flew round
the ship and disappeared as we were steaming along the S.E.
coast of Spain and heading for Marseilles. From Marseilles
to the Straits of Messina we had a strong head wind. On
the 30th when S.E. of the Straits about Lat. 36.50 N. Long.
18.27 E. the following birds were noted on board : — A Song-
Thrush ; a Robin ; a White Wagtail {Motacilla alba) ; a Quail
[Colurnix communis) and a young Peregrine Falcon {Falco
peregrinus). The Peregrine was desperately hungry and did
not take long to select a victim from this list. His choice
rested on the Quail. I did not see the actual kill, but have
no doubt that the stoop was made when the unfortunate
Quail was flying round the sliip. The Falcon was very shy
and kept to the mast and shroud-heads. He perched with
difficulty and proceeded to break up his kill on the wooden
fore-cross-stay of the Marconi wires running between the
-masts, but the wobbling of this unsteady perch very nearly
made him drop his prey, so he shifted to a steadier perch on a
block near the crosstrees, where he had his meal in comfort.
After this, and evidently refreshed for his onward journey
to the African coast, he disappeared towards sundown.

By 10 a.m. the next morning, the 31st, we were off the
S.E. corner of Crete, and during the day the following birds
were noted : — A White Wagtail ; a Robin (by a passenger) ;
a Sky- Lark ; a Chaffinch (by a passenger) ; a Song-Thrush ; and
a Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus). As in the case of the
Peregrine, the Sparrow-Hawk was not long to take advantage of
the food-supply to hand, and after a short rest on the davit-
stays and awnings proceeded to give chase to the Sky-Lark.
The quarry in this case after being chased round the ship
took refuge under the feet of a lady sitting on the deck, but
the Hawk a\ as not to be denied and following close snatched
up the unfortunate Lark before the lady could rescue it, and
much to her indignation and that of several other ladies
close by who witnessed the deed, and whose sympathies were
very naturally all with the victim, the Hawk retired with
and devoured its prey on the edge of the awning, where I was
able to get within a yard of and watch it. Later and towards
dusk I saw it stoop at another small bird near the ship,
which as I subsequently learnt it also secured.

Next day, the 31st, when in the vicinity of the mouth of
the Nile, I saw two Niglitjars (Caprimulgus europceus) on the

NOTES. 245

awnings and also some Warblers, which would, not settle to
enable me to identify them. A Linnet was also noted by a
passenger.

About mid-day we steamed into Port Said, and my subse-
quent observations, therefore, lie outside the scope of tlie
present notes. H. A. F. Magrath.

[The importance of studying geographical races in connec-
tion with migration-observations does not yet seem to be
fully realized. Major Magrath's most interesting observations
would have been far more valuable had he preserved a few of
the specimens which came on board, so that we might have
known, for example, whether the Goldcrests and Song-
Thrushes were of the British or Continental race. — Eds.]

REMOVAL OF FMCES BY BIRDS.
Referring to Mr. H. W. Ford-Lindsay's notes on this
subject (supra, p. 210), I have observed the removal of the
fceces by the following birds : Swallow, Starling, and Spotted
Flycatcher. Mr. R. Kearton's moving pictures of birds
distinctly show that the Song-Thrush swallows the fceces, and
he tells me that other films prove that the Wryneck removes
and the Mistle-Thrush swallows the fceces.

John R. B. Masefield.

NOTES ON HAMPSHIRE BIRDS.

Spoonbill {Platalea leucorodia). — Two out of a party of three
were shot at Beaulieu on November 5th, 1906.

Shoveler [Spatula clypeata). — Since the publication of the
Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by the Rev. J. E.
Kelsall and P. W. Munn, nests of this species have frequently
been found at Beaulieu, and the fact that at least two pairs
regularly breed there is well established.

Black-tailed Godwit [Limosa belgica). — In the Birds of
Hampshire the Black-tailed Godwit is referred to as ?.n
occasional visitor to the Hampshire coast, but at Beaulieu
I think we should class it as a regular autumn-migrant. I
have myself seen it there almost every year. I recollect the
late John Penn shooting a Black-tailed and a Bar- tailed
Godwit at one shot at Beaulieu in October, 1898.

Thomas H. C. Troubridge.

CONTINENTAL ROBINS, SONG-THRUSHES, AND
GOLDCRESTS IN EAST ANGLIA, YORKSHIRE,
LINCOLNSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT.
On September 14th, 1910, with a rush of Redstarts, Pied
Flycatchers, Garden- Warblers and Blackcaps, some Conti-
nental Robins {Erithacus r. rubecula) arrived at Lowestoft,

246 BRITISH BIRDS.

Suffolk; probably also with this migration came some Blue-
throats, but they (two) were not detected till the 16th. These
Robins were seen up till the 16th, after which there were none
till November 1st, when a few more had arrived with large
numbers of the Continental Song-Thrush [Turdus m. musicus) ;
in a day or so these had gone. From about October 28th
to November 4th Robins were said to be plentiful in the gardens
on the Yarmouth Denes, Norfolk, and specimens which I
examined belonged to the continental form. In the field
the paleness of the breast of this form, as compared with our
birds, is quite noticeable, if one is fortunate enough to see its
breast, for it is one of the most skulking and shy birds when seen
on our coast — very different in habit from the resident Robins
seen in the same spot.

During the last fortnight of October there were four days
on which there were arrivals of Song-Thrushes, culminating
in a big rush on November 1st. The great majority of these
birds belonged to the continental form, and all those which
I saw on the last day certainly did. They remained on the
coast only a day or two. Here, again, this form is distinguish-
able in the field, to the practised eye, from our form by the
more olivaceous coloured upper-parts.

Although both the Continental Robin and Song-Thrush
doubtless occur on the coast of East Anglia every autumn,
and probably have been obtained before, I do not think that
there has been any previous definite record of the fact.

The advantage of studying and recognising geographical
forms in connection with migration will, I think, be obvious
to the greatest sceptic. C. B. Ticehurst,

In connection with Dr. Ticehurst's note I must record
that I obtained specimens of Erithacus r. rubecula between
September 21st and 25th, 1905, at Holkham, near Wells,
Norfolk ; on October 27th, 1909, on the south Yorkshire
coast ; and on April 1st, 1906, from St. Catherine's Light-
house, Isle of Wight, while two were taken at the same light
on the night of October 23rd, 1908, and many were reported
with British Robins on the night of October 31st, 1908, and
a few of the continental race only on November 3rd {Bull.
B.O.C., Vol. XXVI. (Mig. Rep.), p. 237). I have also identified
a specimen in Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh's collection, dated
North Cotes, Lincolnshire, October 6th, 1898. Of Turdus m.
musicus, I have specimens from Holkham, obtained on
September 23rd, 1905, from the south Yorkshire coast on
September 22nd, 1909 ; and from St. Catherine's Lighthouse
on April 22nd and 28th, 1906, and have examined a specimen
in Mr. Caton Haigh's collection dated October 19th, 1892,

NOTES. 247

North Cotes, Lines. Of the Continental Goldcrest
{Regulus c. cristatus), I liave specimens from Holkham on
September 21st and 26th, 1905, and from the south Yorkshire
coast on October 27th, 1909, and have examined specimens in
Mr. Caton Haigh's collection from North Cotes, Lines,
dated September 28th, 1898 ; October 5th, 1897 ; October
18th, 19th and 20th, 1892. H. F. Withers y.

IMMIGRATION OF CONTINENTAL GREAT TITS IN
NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, KENT AND SCILLY.

One of the features of the autumn-migration of 1910 on the
east coast has been the great influx of Great Tits. On
October 1st, I saw the first arrivals on the Lowestoft Denes ;
on the 12th, I shot a bird in a bush near the sea and saw
others. On the 13th and 14th there was a gale from the
N.E. and E. becoming less strong on the 15tli and shifting to
the S.E. On this latter day and on the next I picked up two
Great Tits on the tide-mark and two more were also found
and one brought to me. On the 17th there was a very large
movement to the south of Chaffinches, Bramblings, Green-
finches and Linnets, along the Lowestoft Denes, many flocks
passing between 7 and 8.30 a.m. ; amongst these finches I
identified Blue and Great Tits, as well as an unmixed flock
of the latter birds. All these birds were in fairly compact
flocks flying steadily south along the ridge of the Denes and
not halting anywhere. Out of one of the flocks I secured a
Great Tit. During the middle of October both Blue and
Great Tits were, I am informed, unusually plentiful in the
gardens round Yarmouth, and on November 1st, a flock of
about twenty Great Tits was seen by Mr. Quinton, a bird-
catcher, arriving over the sea from the N.E. on to the
Yarmouth North Denes. On the next two days, he caught
several there, and I received four from him.

On examining all these Great Tits, I find they belong to
the continental form Parus major major. The occurrence of
this sub-species in Great Britain has long been susi^ected
and doubtless birds seen in the Shetlands {Ann. Scot. Nat.
Hist., 1907, p. 50) and in Caithness {t.c, 1904, p. 188)
belonged to this form, but, so far as I am aware, this is t!ie
first time that it has been positively proved to have occurred
in the British Isles. C. B. Ticehuhst.

Mr. C. D. Borrer sent me a Great Tit for examination
which had been shot at Cley, Norfolk, with others on October
10th, and this proved to be an example of the Continental
form. On November 20th, Mr. T. H. Nelson wrote me that
there had been a great irruption of Tits and other birds on

248 BRITISH BIRDS.

the Yorkshire coast, but no specimens of the Tits were
forthcoming. It should be mentioned that in his Birds of
Yorkshire (Vol. 1., p. 108) Mr. Nelson states that Great and
Blue Tits are frequently noted as migrants on the coast and
that they have been knovvn to alight on vessels in the North
Sea. A movement of both species observed on the Yorkshire
coast on October 30tli, 1878, corresponded with a similar
migration at Heligoland. It is most important, however,
that examples of these migrants should be properly identified,
and I think that Dr. C. B. Ticehurst is the first to have done
so in the case of the Great Tit, while we have no actual
proof, from the identification of specimens, so far as I know,
of the occurrence of the Continental Blue Tit. — H.F.W.

In the Field of November 12th, Mr. F. W. Frohawk quoted
a letter dated November 1st, 1910 from Mr. C. J. King, of
St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, that at that date St. Agnes (one of
the most south-westerly islands of the group) was swarming
with Great Tits and Goldcrests. In compliance with my
request Mr. Frohawk very kindly procured one of these Great
Tits from his correspondent, during the last week in November.
The bird was accomjjanied by a note to the effect that the
Goldcrests had left a day or two after their arrival and the
Tits were then leaving. On examining this bird I find that
it too belongs to the continental form.

Through the kindness of Mr. H. S. D. Byron I have also
had the opportunity of examining another of these Continental
Great Tits; it was shot by him at St. Peters, in Thanet (E. Kent)
on October 26th, 1910, and he informs me that Great Tits were
very (and unusually) plentiful in that district during the latter
part of October, which corresponds fairly exactly with Dr. C. B.
Ticehurst' s account of the immigration on the east coast
further north. It is fortunate that Mr. Byron procured on >
of these birds, for it was owing to his being unaware of
their possible origin that he made no exact observations on
their date of arrival and departure. — N.F.T.

THE BRITISH WILLOW-TIT IN SUFFOLK.

On October 17th, 1910, I shot an example of the British
Willow-Tit (P. atricapillus kleinschmidti) in a hedge close to
the sea, near Lowestoft, Suffolk. This bird, which was with
some Great Tits was the only one of its kind seen, and I
believe it to have been a migrant, though how far it had
travelled it is impossible to say ; the nearest woods would
be two or three miles distant. So far as I know this is the
first time this bird has been recognised in Suffolk or in East
Anglia. I am indebted to Dr. Hartert for confirming my
identification. C. B. Ticehurst.

NOTES. 249

NUMBERS OF YOUNG IN THE BROODS OF
SWALLOWS AND HOUSE-MARTINS IN 1910.

Having marked nearly two hundred of these birds during the
summer of 1910, perhap? the numbers in each brood may be
of interest, as showing the small proj)ortion of full broods in
north Lancashire, where all these were marked ; indeed all
but six broods were within a mile of the towTi of Lancaster.

Twenty-five nests of Swallows [Hirundo rustica) were visited
during June and July, and of these eleven were full broods of
five, nine of four, and five of three. During August out of
twenty broods, only four were of five, eight were of four, three
of three, and no less than five of two only ; while during
September two broods of three were marked. One brood of
four in June contained a dead young one in addition, and
the same applies to two broods of three and four in August.

Small broods were, however, more noticeable in the case of
House-Martins, in which I failed to find a full brood during
the whole summer. Of ten nests visited during June and
July, four contained four young, four contained three, and
two only two ; and the only two nests visited in August
contained four and three respectively. In a certain cart-shed
at one farm there were over a dozen Martins' nests, in all of
which (except one, which contained two healthy young) the
young were dead in the nest, although no old birds had
been shot there, and there were plenty flying about.

Bad as the past summer was, it was far eclipsed by that of
1909, which was the worst year I ever remember. True I was
not marking in June, but in July I could only find six broods
of Swallows — three of four and three of three, two in August
of four and three respectively, and three in September of four,
three and one. House-Martins were worse off still, tlie only
two broods I could find in July containing but two young
each, and the only two in August two and three young each.

I also noticed in 1910 that the eggs took longer to deposit
than usual, and I also found a number of forsaken eggs, for
which I can find no reason. H. W. Robinson.

ALBINISTIC VARIETY OF GREENFINCH.
On October 15th, 1910, I shot in South Holderness, Yorkshire,
an apparently pure white bird among a flock of Sparrows.
On handling it, however, the whole of the plumage, with the
exception of the nape and tips of the remiges, which were
white, was found to be suffused with sulphur-yellow ; the
beak, feet and legs were pale horn-colour.

250 BRITISH BIRDS.

Mr. Stanley Duncan and I came to the conclusion, after
careful comparison, that the bird was a variety of Ligurinus
chloris.

The coloration of the Greenfinch is, I suppose, produced
by the combination of a yellow with a darker (perhaps black)
pigment, modified by the overlying structural peculiarities
of the feather. One might suppose then that the loss of the
darker pigment (a partial albinism), with or without modifica-
tion of the feather-structure, might produce a result not
unlike the sj^ecimen in question. M. Winzar Compton.

NORTHERN BULLFINCH IN YORKSHIRE.

Mr. T. H. Nelson informed me that in November Bullfinches
were reported to him from one or two places on the Yorkshire
coast, but specimens were not forthcoming. On December
4th, 1910, however, I received from a correspondent on the south
Yorkshire coast a typical male of the Northern Bullfinch
{Pyrrhula p. pyrrhula) which had been shot there on the
previous day. Only two examples have been previously
recorded from Yorkshire (November, 1894), but I think
it probable that the immigrations noted in the Birds of
Yorkshire (Vol. I., pp. 194, 195) under " Pyrrhula europcea "
in various years, and notably in November, 1880, and
October and November, 1884, 1886 and 1887, were referable
to P. p. pyrrhula. No British specimen of the continental
P. p. europcea has as yet, I believe, been identified.

H. F. Witherby.

THE CROSSBILL IRRUPTION.
A LARGE number of correspondents have very kindly sent
information in answer to my questions on p. 186 with regard
to the departure or continued presence of the Crossbills.
I hope my correspondents will accept my thanks here expressed
and will forgive me if I do not acknowledge their letters
individually. In a future number I hope to summarize all
the observations published and unpublished. — H.F.W.

Crossbills nesting in Bedfordshire.

Mr. J. Steele Elliott records {Zool., 1910, p. 472) that he
found an overthrown nest, apparently belonging to a Crossbill,
on May 6th, 1910, at Sutton, Bedfordshire, and that he saw
recently fledged young being fed by old birds at Sandy on
May 8th.

EGG-DAUBING BY THE JACKDAW.

With reference to the notes on this subject {antea, pp. 176 and
214) I may record that some twelve years ago Mr. John Palmer

iNOTES. 251

of Ludlow showed me a clutch of Jackdaw's eggs taken from
a hole in a tree, all of which were completely coated with mud
when found in the nest. A second clutch taken from the
same nest subsequently were daubed over in a similar way.

The respective dates were April 29th, 1897, and April 30th,
1898. On May 4th, 1899, Mr. Palmer found in a colony of
Jackdaws, twenty miles away from the first site, two other
clutches of eggs partially coated with clay. In no case were
the eggs exposed to view, but were placed well within dark
holes in hollow trees, whilst the nests themselves were dry.
All four clutches are still in his collection. The second clutch
was subsequently cleaned, when three of the four eggs were
found to be of peculiar colouring, approaching in type those
of the Chough. H. E. Forrest.

HOOPOE AND SPOONBILL IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE.

On a recent visit to Newtown I saw at the house of Mr. Ford,
watchmaker, a case containing a Spoonbill {Platalea leucorodia)
and a Hoopoe {Upiipa epops). Both of them were obtained
at Aberhafesp, near Newtown, about 1870. The Spoonbill
was shot by a keeper at the edge of a large pool, and Mr. Ford
remembers its being brought in the flesh to his father, who was
known to take an interest in ornitliology. No note was
taken of the date, but from other circumstances it is known
that it was a little prior to 1873. Both birds are adults in
fine plumage. Neither species has been previously recorded
in the county of Montgomery, though both have occurred
near the western sea-board, the Spoonbill indeed being not
uncommon on the Dovey Estuary (c/. Vert. Fauna N. Wales.
pp. 203. 261). H. E. Forrest.

ICELAND FALCONS IN SHROPSHIRE— AN EARLY

RECORD.

On a former page (British Birds, III., 165) I recorded two
of these birds obtained near Leebotwood, Salop, in Aj)ril,
1853. Recently, when turning over the pages of Pennant's
British Zoology (1776 edition) I came across a description and
plate of a species which he calls the " Spotted Falcon," but
which is, without a doubt, the bird now known as tlie Iceland
Falcon (F. islandus). The only discrepancy is as to the
colour of the irides, which he says were pale yellow ; but no
importance attaches to this, as he probably had only the
stuffed specimens before him, and in those days taxidermists
were not careful about such trifles as colour of eyes, feet, etc. !
Pennant states that " Two of these birds have been shot near
Longnor, Shropshire." No date is mentioned ; but it would

252 BRITISH BIRDS.

be about 1770. It is indeed a singular coincidence in the
case of so rare a species that the only known Shropshire
examples should have been obtained in the same place (Long-
nor and Leebotwood are in the same parish), and that on
each occasion there were two birds. H. E. Forrest.

[Although nearly all the records of this species are from
maritime counties, it is interesting to note that James Pilking-
ton, in his View of the Present State of Derbyshire (1789) notes
the occurrence of a pair of " Spotted Falcons " at Spondon in
November [1788 ?]. From the description of the plumage
of one of these birds which was shot there is little doubt that
this was also Falco islandus. Pilkington was evidently
acquainted with Pennant's w^ork. — F.C.R.J.]

SQUACCO HERON IN LINCOLNSHIRE.

An immature example of the Squacco Heron {Ardea ralloides)
was shot on the Humber Bank, in the parish of Great Cotes,
on September 29th, 1910, by Mr. R. J. Pearson of Grimsby.
This is, I believe, only the second occurrence of this species
in the county. G. H. Caton Haigh.

AMERICAN BLUE- WINGED TEAL IN IRELAND.

An immature female of the American Blue-winged Teal
(Querquedula discors) shot by Mr. B. W. Wise on the bogs at
Ballycotton, co. Cork, Ireland, in September, 1910, and
presented to the Dublin Museum, was exhibited by
Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant at the October meeting of the
British Ornithologists' Club (Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XXVII.,
p. 15). Mr. Ogilvie-Grant stated that it was quite
possible that the bird had escaped from Woburn, but
the Duchess of Bedford very kindly informs me that there is
only the barest possibility of this, and Her Grace knows of
no one else who has this species in captivity. Sir Richard
Graham and Mr. W. H. St. Quintin also inform me that they
do not think there are any in captivity elsewhere in England.
Mr. R. J. Ussher tells me that it is extremely unlikely that
such a bird had escaped from captivity in Ireland. It
seems, therefore, very probable that this bird was a genuine
straggler. The only records for Europe appear to be : — one
in Dumfriesshire in 1858, one in Cheshire about fifty years
ago, and one in Denmark in 1886. H. F. Witherby.

BLACK-WINGED STILT IN SUSSEX.

At the beginning of October, 1910, a Stilt {Himantopus
candidus) arrived in the marshes on the western outskirts
of St. Leonards, locally knoAMi as " the Salts." On the

NOTES. 253

3rd it was seen by Mr. M. J. Nicoll from the top of a tram
on which he was travelling from Bexhill. The bird, he told
me, was feeding in a field by the roadside in company with
four LajDwings, and was so close to the passing tram that
he had no difficulty in identifying it and could make out
that it was an immature bird. I daily expected to hear
that it had been shot, but, though constantly pursued, it was
not until October 9th that it finally met its inevitable
fate about a mile inland from where it first appeared. It
proved to be a male and, as Mr. Nicoll stated, it was a bird
of the year, with a dusky stripe do-'ATi the back of its neck,
and yellowish legs.

It is perhaps a little surprising that the Stilt is such a rare
straggler to the south-east of England, and it is hardly likely
that such a striking bird would escape notice, nevertheless
there appear to be only three previous records from Sussex
(the last on May 6th, 1880, near Eastbourne) and only a
single one from Kent. N. F. Ticehurst.

RED-NECKED PHALAROPE IN NORFOLK.

In the last week of August, 1910, a Red-necked Phalarope
(Phalaropus hyperboreus), presumably a female in its first
plumage, frequented a duck-pond in a farm-yard at Sidestrand,
near Cromer. As I ^\'as staying at the farm at the time, I had
good opportunities of daily watching the bird ; it was still
on the pond when I left on September 1st, and I hope
eventually escaped the collector's gun. The occurrence of this
species in Norfolk has apparently seldom been recorded in
recent years. A few remarks on its actions and habits may
perhaps be of some interest.

As a,ppears to be the case at all times of the year, this
Phalarope was extremely tame, and on no occasion did it
take wing when watched. Its movements when feeding — by
continually picking insects off the surface of the water — were
very quick and incessant as it swam about, in fact it was
never still a moment ; occasionally it would fly up a few
inches and catch gnats on the wing.

During a very heavy rain-storm which churned up the
water, the bird continued feeding unconcernedly for a few
minutes, but at last apparently getting wetter than it liked,
it waded ashore with evident reluctance. It then sheltered
under the herbage out of sight for a few seconds, and on
emerging, sat on the bank for a while and finally took to the
water again ; the rain still continuing, it rose from the pond,
flying to a considerable height round about the farm with great

254 BRITISH BIRDS.

rapidity until the storm subsided. Its mode of progression
on land was slow, awkward and uncertain.

Several times I saw it bathe, which it proceeded to do by
swimming into shallower water, then raising itself in an
upright position on the water, it rapidly and repeatedly
threw its body forwards and backwards as on a pivot, and
from side to side in a most ludicrous manner. The water was
very green and stagnant, which perhaps accounted for the
bird's frequent ablutions. Once, on an alarm being raised by
sparrows and other small birds, it swam alongside a small
stone in the water, where it crouched motionless beside it
with one eye skywards. S. G. Cummin gs.

GREAT SKUA IN SUSSEX.

On October 24th, 1910, a fine specimen of the Great Skua
{Megalestris catarrhactes) was shot off the Sussex coast, and
forwarded for preservation to Mr. Bristow, who very kindly
sent it in the flesh for my examination the same day. On
dissection it proved to be a male, and an adult bird.

H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

MANX SHEARWATER IN SHROPSHIRE.

On October 10th, 1910, an adult Manx Sliearwater {Puffinus
anglorum) Avas caught alive and uninjured in Ludlow. It
seemed tired out, but was quite fearless and would follow its
captor about fluttering along the ground and even going
down two or three steps. In captivity it slept during the
daytime with its head under its scapulars, but if disturbed
it showed anger and bit at its owner. It did not feed weU,
though it picked up and swallowed some pieces of raw herring
offered to it. Four days after its capture tlie bird was liberated
and flew away. The late Mr. W. E. Beckwith wrote regarding
the Shearwaters taken in Shropshire that none ever recovered
the power of flight, even when they reached fresh water and
were apparently uninjured. The above is the first instance to
my knowledge, of one doing so. H. E. Forrest.

Influx of Northern Birds. — An immigration of northern
birds of rather unusual dimensions occurred at the end of
October and the first part of November, 1910. In addition
to the Northern Bullfinches reported in a previous page, a
very large number of Mealy Redpolls (all those examined
from the localities mentioned below being typical L. linaria)
have been reported to me : — Yorkshire coast, between
October 26th and 30th, " in larger numbers than I have
ever known" (T. H. Nelson in litt.) ; large numbers in

NOTES. 255

Norfolk at Cley (C. D. Borrer in litt.) ; at Yarmouth
(C. B. Ticelmrst in litt.) ; at the end of October in Thanet,
Kent (N.F.T. fide H. S. D. Byron) and two specimens
obtained in Skye on November 7th by Mr. T. P. Aldworth
were submitted to me for examination. Several small flocks
are also reported from Ayr, Lanark and Renfrew, where the
bird is little known, in the early part of November {Glasgow
Nat., Vol. III., pp. 34, 35).

Little Auks {M. alle) have also been reported in some
numbers, " a great flight " appealing on the Yorkshire coast,
with a strong N.E. gale, on November 19th. " Hundreds
were passing at sea and going N.W." (T. H. Nelson in litt.);
a number were also reported a little later from Norfolk
(J. H. Gurney in litt.) and Suffolk on the 21st (C. B. Tice-
hurst in litt.), while one was picked up as far inland as
Ricknians worth (Herts) on the 21st (H. R. Leach »Vt litt.),
another near Harpenden on the 23rd (R. Lydekker, Field, 3.
xii. 1910, p. 1054), and one in Romney Marsh, Kent, on the 25th.

Whooper Swans (C. musicus) were also reported by Mr.
Nelson from the Tees (Yorks) on November 19th, and about
eighty arrived at Holkham (Norfolk) on the evening of the
same day and departed in a west or north-west direction
the next morning (J. Beddall Smith i7i litt.), while one was
obtained on November 30th in the Derwent Valley (Yorks)
(Sydney H. Smith in litt.).— K.F.W.

Feeding-habits of the Rook. — An important Report upon
this subject has been prepared by Mr. W. E. CoUinge and
published by the Land Agents' Society. The inquiry aj^pears
to have been undertaken in a very thorougli and proper
manner, the stomachs of eight hundred and thirty Rooks
procured throughout the year in almost every part of England
and Wales having been examined.

Mr. Collinge summarizes the results as follows : —

1. That 67.5 per cent, of the food of the Rook consists
of grain ; if to this we add that of roots and fruits, the
percentage is raised to 71 per cent.

2. Tlie animal food content was only 29 per cent., of
which quite one-third must be reckoned against the
Rook.

3. There is ample evidence to show that with tlie present
large numbers of Rooks, a grain diet is preferred.

4. So far as the evidence of this inquiry shows, the
Rook is not a particularly beneficial bird to the agri-
culturist, although its usefulness might be considerably
increased were it fewer in numbers.

256 BRITISH BIRDS.

Mr. Collinge concludes that we have too many Rooks and
that their numbers should be reduced and kept in check.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Scotland. — Mr. J.
Paterson saw a specimen of Dendrocopus major on April 17th,
1910, near Glasgow, where he had previously seen borings
of Woodpeckers. The same writer states that a bird of this
species was identified on January 25th, 1910, in the Girvan
Valley, Ayrshire {Glasgoiv Nat., Vol. II., p. 142). Mr. J. A.
Harvie-Bro\A'n states that the bird has been lieard " this
season " at Dunipace, Stirlingshire {Ann. S.N.H., 1910,
p. 249). Mr. J. G. Millais informs me {in litt.) that he saw
one near Dunkeld, Perthshire, on August 20th, 1910. — H.F.W\

Nestestg of the Gad wall and Wigeon en " Forth." —
Mr. W. Evans {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 249) records that he
found on June 14th, 1910, a nest with ten eggs of Anas strepera
at a loch in south-east Scotland, wliere he had suspected
them of breeding in 1908 (c/. antea, Vol. II., p. 245). This
is at the same loch as the nests found by the Misses Rintoul
and Baxter in 1909 (Vol. III., p. ISi). Mr. Evans also
records that there were at least half-a-dozen pairs of Mareca
penelope breeding on this loch in 1910.

The American Wigeon recorded from Anglesey. — With
reference to Mr. C. Oldham's note (a?i^ea, p. 87) on an American
Wigeon which he saw in Anglesey in June, 1910, the pro-
bability of its having been an " escape " was not at the time
taken into serious consideration. I have recently lieard from
the Duchess of Bedford that American Wigeon breed every
year at Woburn and that the young can go where they like.
Under these circumstances I do not think, and Mr. Oldham
agrees with me, that we can regard the Anglesey record as
referring to an undoubted wild bird, I had thought that the
bird might have escaped from Netherby, but Sir Richard
Graham writes me that he has no full-winged American
Wigeon.— H.F.W.

Sociable Plovers in Sussex. — At the November meeting
of the British Ornithologists' Club, Mr. A. F. Griffith exhibited
a male and female example of Chettusia gregaria, which had
been obtained with two others between Rye and Winchelsea
between May 25th and 27th, 1910. These two specimens had
been presented to the Booth Museum, Brighton, by Messrs.
J. E. Hall and E. Robinson, and they had been examined in
the flesh by Mr. R. Butterfield and Mr. L. C. Edwards. The
two others shot at the same time are in the collection of
Mr. J. B. Nichols. A fifth is said to have escaped (c/. Bull.
B.O.C., Vol. XXVII., p. 28).

REVIEWS

OrnitJiological Notes from a South London Suburb, 1874-1909.
By F. D. Power, M.R.C.S. 60 pages, 5 illustrations from
photographs and a chart. Henry J. Glaisher. 3s. 6d. net.

In this unpretentious little volume of less than sixty pages
the author has summarized the results of thirty-five years'
observations on the birds of some of the South London suburbs.
— Dulwich, Brixton, Heme Hill, Sydenham, etc.

It might perhaps be considered that observations in such
apparently uncongenial localities would hardly be worth
pursuing, still less recording, but it must be at once admitted
that the author has fully justified his labours by the surprisingly
valuable nature of his notes, and his book stands out as an
object lesson to all " Nature Students," and it is safe to
say that it is crammed full of first-hand records, without doubt
those of a careful and accurate observer.

In suburban districts change is constantly going on ; the
neighbouring country districts are gradually invaded by the
builder and certain species must inevitably disappear, and
it is such records as Mr. Power here gives us that in years
to come will be especially valuable to the naturalist-historian.

Omitting the six casual occurrences of birds that have
without doubt escaped from captivity, the author enumerates
119 species as found in his district, and divides them into
29 residents, 22 summer-visitors, of which 13 breed regularly
and 4 others have been known to do so, 18 winter-migrants
and 24 occasional and 26 accidental visitors, of which 15
occur in summer and 35 in autumn and \\inter. In the
main part of the little book the species are considered under
these various heads, and it is perhaps a matter of opinion
whether this arrangement is the best that could have been
used. It is not easy here to pick out any particular items
from the mass of records, but amongst the most interesting
are those of the breeding of genuine wild Tufted Ducks
{F. cristata) in Dulwich Park from 1901 to 1904; the recent
discovery of the breeding of the Wood- Wren (P. sibilatrix) ;
the abundance of the Hawfinch (C. vulgaris) ; the facts that
the Carrion-Crow (C. corone) still breeds in the district ; the
diminution of such species as the Jay {G. glandarius), Nut-
hatch {S. ccesia) and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker {D. minor),
House-Martin (C. urbica), Swallow {H. rustica), and Swift
(C apus) as breeding species ; the great increase of the Wood-
Pigeon (C. palumbus), which now breeds regularly in Brixton

258 BRITISH BIRDS.

Road and other thoroughfares ; the nestuig of the Sedge-
Warbler {A. phragmitis) in Duhvich Park in 1901 ; the fact
that the Reed- Warbler (A. streperus) nested regularly up till
1894 in Battersea Park, and the occurrence of the White
Wagtail {M. alba), Raven (C. corax), Nutcracker (A^. caryo-
catactes), and Quail (C communis), besides several unexpected
species amongst the ducks and Maders. The omission of all
scientific names is, we think, a mistake, as it tends to
uncertainty ; in this connection we presume that the author
intends " Anthus cervinu'?" by his "Red-breasted Pipit"
on p. 34. If this is the case, Ave must say that Ave regard this
record Avith suspicion. Several mistakes have been made
in the identification of Anthus cervinus, and March 25th is
probably far too early for this species to occur in England,
Avhile at the same time it is about the time that the bright-
coloured migratory MeadoAv-Pipits do occur.

The subject of migration is (or has been) usually seriously
neglected in the majority of local faunas, so that the prominent
place giv^en to it in the present volume calls for special
mention and commendation. No one Avould jiresumably
choose a suburban garden as a place for observing these
phenomena, yet it must be admitted that many a better place
might be chosen and made less use of by anyone less gifted
AA'ith poAvers of observation than the author. The amount
of information he has gathered together is surprising, and his
records of the autumn-movements of such species as the
Sky-Lark, Chaffinch, Starling, Rook, Brambling and Tree-
Sparrow compare very favourably Avith those of the best of
the east-coast observers, and are particularly valuable as
shoAA'ing that tlie east to Avest movements of tliese species
are continued in a straight line across the country after
reaching the east coast. The last five pages of the book
are devoted to a summarization of the author's migration-
records and certain deductions that he draAvs from them ;
they are too long to quote here, but they are so important
that they cannot be neglected by anyone interested in the
study of this important subject. Tiie chart at the end of
the book gives the direction and force of the Avind and the
relative amounts of visible migration on every day in tAventy-
five successive Octobers from 1885 to 1909. This very
usefully supplements the data in the rest of the book, and
shoAA^s the solid facts on Avhich the author bases his deductions.

In sj)ite of its small size and the fact that its title might
lead one to expect merely triAdal observations, Mr. PoAver's
book is really one of solid Avorth. N.F.T.

REVIEWS. 269

IX. Jahresbericht ( 1909) der Vogelwarte Rossitten der Deutschen
Ornithologischen Gesellschaft. By Dr. J. Thienemann.
Reprint from the Journal fiir Ornithologie, July, 1910,
pp. 522-676.

The present issue of this report is another valuable contri-
bution to our knowledge of bird-migration. As hitherto,
practically all the species dealt with have a place in tlie British
avifauna, but now for the first time the report includes
records which directly concern our area. Previously no
inter-migration between East Prussia and the British Isles
was definitely known to exist, and the new development is
naturally of great interest to ornithologists in this country.

As usual the Report opens with a " General " section,
and this includes some interesting remarks on the classic
island of Heligoland, to whicli Dr. Thienemann paid a short
visit in the autumn of 1909. We may briefly note his
comparison of the two localities. Both Rossitten and
Heligoland lie in important migration-routes, but while thci
former is an " oasis " gladly sought by migrants of all
sorts because it affords abundant cover, etc., of a very varied
character, the latter is an island resorted to only of
necessity, owing to the absence of cover and the great
scarcity of food. We v/ish all success to Dr. Thienemann's
proposal that Heligoland should be restored to its former
position by the establishment of a permanent "Vogelwarte."
As he points out, this would not be such a great undertaking
seeing that there is already a large Biological (marine) Station,
not to mention the museum with many of Gatke's treasures.

Many pages are taken up with the year's records, classi-
fied according to species. Of special interest are the notes
on the irruption of Crossbills {L. curvirostra) and on a similar
exceptional migration of Great Spotted Woodpeckers (D.
major) such as had been previously observed in 1903. Two
sections are devoted to the detailed observations made
during brief spring and autumn residences in the obser-
vation hut at Ulmenhorst, Avhere the Kurische Nehrung is
extremely narrow. The hut had not previously been used
in spring.

Most interesting to us is the section which deals with
the records obtained by the ringing method. To the Hooded
Crow (C. comix) inquiry little has been added, but many new
Stork (C. alba) records have come to hand. All the Stork
records up-to-date, however, are shortly to be discussed by
Dr. Thienemann in a special paper, and we may leave the
subject in the meantime. The Black-headed Gulls (L.
ridihundus) marked as young birds on the Rossitten " Gull-

260 BRITISH BIRDS.

pond " have afforded several interesting records. Of those
that took the westward route (c/. British Birds, Vol. III.,
pp. 207-220), two were recorded from Norfolk and the Isle
of Wight respectively, as already noted in these pages (III.,
pp. 220-399), and one reached the Balearic Isles. Those that
went south overland seem to have gone less far than in
former winters ; more definite information of this sort would
be of undoubted value, and it is quite within the possibili-
ties of the method. An interesting record also, has just
been discovered in a Russian paper, of a Gull hatched and
marked at Rossi tten in 1905 and shot at a colony near
Libau (Russia) — 95 Enghsh miles away in a northerly
direction — on June 20th, 1907.

Several hundred Herring-Gulls (L. argenfatus) were marked
in 1909 on the great protected colony on the Memmert on the
North Sea coast. Owing to the great amount of shore-
shooting in that region the terrible proportion of 10'6 per
cent, was recovered in the fir&t winter. Of the 71 birds, one
had travelled 128 miles, one 100, and the rest 73 or less ; no
evidence of real migration.

Of the others, tlis Dunlins [T. alpina) marked on passage
at Rossitten in early autumn, have proved of special interest.
The Essex record has already been noted in British Birds
(III., J). 293) ; it extended the route already marked by
several records (c/. II., p. 367) westwards along the south
coast of the Baltic. A still further extension is to the mouth
of the Gironde on the west coast of France, and again (since
publication of the report) to near the mouth of the Rhone on
the south coast. The theory that these points trace out a
route is based on the assumption that there is a single, fixed,
and definite route. This may seem unsatisfactory, but of
course it is merely a provisional hypothesis which remains to
be contradicted or confirmed and elaborated by later records.

Lastly, Dr. Thienemann gives an account of a very
elaborate series of observations made in the autumn of
1909, on the velocity of migratory flight. Direction and
strength of wind, and inclination to line of flight, and all
such factors, have been duly taken into consideration. We
can quote only the average results for the various species,
approximately calculated to English miles per hour : — Hooded
Crow, 31;^ ; Rook, 32J ; Jackdaw, 38|; Starling, 46^; Sparrow-
Hawk, 25| ; Peregrine Falcon, 37 ; Lesser Black-backed
Gull, 31 ; Great Black-backed Gull, 31;^ ; Chaffinches and
Bramblings, 32| ; Siskins and Linnets, 34| ; and Crossbills, 37^.

A.L.T.

LETTERS

To the Editors of British Birds.

UNEQUAL WING-STROKES IN FLIGHT.

Sirs, — I have given up all hope of convincing Mr. Seaby, and he, no
doubt, considers me past praying for. But I would ask readers of
British Birds to refer to the two figures in the November number
(p. 192), and judge for themselves.

F. W. Headley.

Sirs, — If photographs are necessary to prove to ornithologists that a
bird's two wings do not always have to move with mechanical equality,
I beg to submit a photograi:)h (here reproduced) of a Barn-Owl hastily

leaving a dove-cote. The picture, while technically imperfect, is at
least convincing of the point in question, which I must agree with
Mr. Seaby {antea, p. 156) can hardly be said of all the photographs
published by Mr. Headley (antea, pp. 115, 116, 192).

Clinton G. Abbott.

To the Editors of British Birds.

THE GENERIC NAMES OF OUR SWALLOWS.
Sirs, — In the last number of British Birds (pp. 230-1) Mr. Bonhote
has criticized my nomenclature of the Swallows. Unfortunately,
the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which I follow,
is very little known in England, and still less so is the interpretation of
several of its rules, which have for years been carefully considered by
the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Even
Mr. Bonhote is not well acquainted with the history and work of this
Commission.

262 BRITISH BIRDS.

The Commis?ion was appointed in 1895, in 1898 it was made a
parmanent body, and increased to fifteen members, but a code of nomen-
clature adopted by the International Congress, as the result of the
labours of the Commission, was first jjublished in the Proceedings of
the Berlin Congress, 1901. At the same time a rule was adopted
that no amendment to the Code should be presented to any Congress
for vote unless the said amendment had been in the hands of the
Commission at least one year prior to the meeting of the Congress
to which it was proposed to present the amendment, and the Commission
decided to report to the Congresses only those propositions upon which
the vote in Committee was unanimous. These details may seem
uninteresting, but I have gone into them at such length in order to
sliow that the International Code is based upon no fanciful or arbitrary
opinion, but is the result of many years of labour, much correspondence,
numerous meetings and deUberations by a Committee chosen and
augmented by International Congresses of the zoologists of the world,
and adopted by those Congresses.

It has become most desirable rigidly to follow these rules, and every
ornithologist who wishes to consider scientific nomenclatiu-e should
give up his individual tastes and follow these rules implicitly. In order
to do this one must make oneself acquainted with these rules. Mr.
Bonhote has not done this. He says that the Committee " unfortunately
committed a rather serious mistake by first agreeing to take the twelfth
edition of Linnteus's Systema Naturce, published in 1766, as the basis,
and subsequently altering that decision and going back to the tenth
edition, published in 1758." This is by no means the case. Probably
Mr. Bonhote is thinking of the " Stricklandian Code," first promulgated
by the British Association in 1842, and in the main, followed by
British ornithologists of the nineteenth century. This " code " did
much to bring zoological nomenclatiu-e to some degree of stability,
and was admirably conceived, nevertheless it had its faults, and one of
these was that it had fixed the date of the starting-point of nomenclature
at 1766, instead of 1758, when binomial nomenclature began. That
this code cannot in all its paragraphs be followed any longer has been
admitted by all Congresses and all scientific bodies who have seriously
studied and decided upon questions of nomenclature. No excuse exists
therefore for a small number of British ornithologists to adhere to it
any longer. Never has there been any question at the International
Congresses or in any of the Commission's published works about the
year when nomenclature began to be valid.

After this mistake, Mr. Bonhote states that I have been " much
criticized " for my " innovations," though admitting that they are due
to my following the strict letter of tho rules to which " we must submit.'"
I cannot quite agree to this statement. I know that many of my friends
do not like my " innovations," and that some even go so far as not to
adopt thena, even when they know that they are absolutely correct,
but I have seen very little criticism, unless disagreement with one's
views and a disregard of one's labours be called criticism.

LE^rTERS. 268

The interpretation, of the International Rules is another matter,
and it has been seriously considered, and a number of " opinions "
rendered by the International Commission (up to this date twenty-
nine have been published) deal with this.

It is quite true that there have been different views about the adapta-
tion of generic names published without a diagnosis, but if Mr. Bonhote
were acquamted with ornithological nomenclature he would know that
numerous generally-adopted names for common birds, especially those
of Boie, Forster, Gray, Tunstall, Bonaparte, Reichenbach, and many
others, were published without a diagnosis. Nor do the International
Rules demand this. Article 25 (a) says : — -" The valid name of a genus
or species can be only that name under which it was first designated,
on the condition that this name was published and accompanied by
an indication, or a definition, or a description." If Mr. Bonhote had
[jublished a list in which occurred " Accentor harterti, British Hedge
Sparrow," as he suggests, of course his name would be a nomen nudum
and not available, because " Opinion 1 " has specially decided that the
word " indication " is not to be construed as including vernacular
names ! In the case of Forster's generic names for the Swallows
the case is, however, quite different, because " the citation of a type-
species " is held to make a generic name available. This has always been
the ojiinion of ornithologists, and to alter it would mean the alteration
of hundreds of the best known generic names. And, indeed, many
generic names are ten times clearer when a type-species is cited to
establish their meaning than when only a diagnosis is given, because
diagnoses for genera are difficult to make when one knows only a few
of the species belonging to the said genera, and they alter with the
increase of species in a genus, or when a larger genus of ancient authors
is divided into smaller modern groups.

The statement that two wrongs do not make a right is quite correct,
but the opposite was never my opinion, and if Mr. Bonhote says we may
still, with a clear conscience, use Hirundo for the Swallows, Che'idon
for the Hovise-Martin, and Cotile. for the Sand-Martin, he does just what
he deprecates, i.e., he adopts a name {Chelidon of Boie) which is published
without a diagnosis, while he rejects Forster's earlier name ! Mr.
Bonhote might have looked up recent literature to find the name
Riparia frequently used, instead of charging me with " supporting
my statement by a single reference." Looking at my book, it is clear
to anyone that I, in order to save space, have not quoted any recent
literature, but only the first name given to the forms described in my
work. Suffice it to say that the name Riparia is universally used in
America, and almost so in Germany, since it has been adopted in
Reichenow's list of the birds of Germany, and the same author's some-
what important work on the Birds of Africa.

Mr. Bonhote's kindness in calling my attention to pages 888 and
969 in the Proc. Inst. Zool. Congr., Berlin, is fully appreciated by me,
but I had seen them before, and there is nothing in those pages which
prevents me from preserving the original spelling of the names j^githahs.

264 BRITISH BIRDS.

philomelos, etc., although one might also use the Latin ending us,
instead of the Greek os, as zoological names are supposed to be
latinized. These names, however, were pvirposely spelled in this way
by their authors, and there is no evident error of transcription, lapsus
calami, or typographical error in them. What Mr. Bonhote found
on page 969 are not " rules," but " recommendations," and I follow
them when making new names, and that is the meaning of the recom-
mendations, which are not the same as the " rules."

Ernst Hartert.

BRITISHDIRDS

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. E,. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Noeman F.

ticehurst, m.a., p.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 9, Vol. IV. February 1, 1911.

PAGE

The Tradescant Museum. By W. H. IMullens, ]M.A., LL.]\I.,

F.L.S ■ 266

Fiu-ther Observations on the Song-Periods of Birds. By C. J.

and H. G. Alexander . . . . ' . . 274

Xotes : —

Recovery of Marked Birds . . . . . . . . . . 279

A Marked Teal (James Bartholomew) . . 280

On " Ringing " smaller Birds (N. H. Joy) . . . . . . 281

The Irish Coal-Tit (H. F. Witherby) 283

British Willow-Tit in West Scotland —

In Renfrewshire (Robert W. S. Wilson) 284

In Kirkcudbrightshire (The Duchess of Bedford) . . . . 284

British Willow-Tit in Lincobishire (H. F. Witherby) . . . . 284

American Water-Pipit at St. Kilda (H.F.W.) 285

Lesser Redpoll Nesting in Essex (C. L. Collenette) . . . . 286

The Northern Great Spotted Woodpecker as a British Bird

(H. F. Witherby) 286

Little Owl in Warwickshire (A. Geoffrey Leigh) . . . . 287

White-tailed Eagle in Carnarvonshire (H. E. Forrest) . . 288

Pintails in Staffordshire (John R. B. Masefield) . . . . 288

Goosanders and Cormorant in Bedfordshii-e (Harry Lewis) . . 288

Little Stints in Anglesey (R. W. Jones) 288.

Fork-tailed Petrel in Sliropshire (H. E. Forrest) . . . . 289-

Short Notes : — Scottish Ornithology for 1909. Bii-ds at Fair
Isle. Continental Song-Thrushes, Goldcrests and Great
Tits at the Isle of May. Marsh-Warbler at St. Kilda.
Hawfinch Nesting in Scotland. Holboll's Redpoll in
Scotland and England. Coues's RediDoll at Fair Isle.
Northern Bullfinches in Scotland. Great Spotted
Woodpeckers Breeding in Scotland. Supposed
Lesser Kestrel in Lincolnshire. Glossy Ibis in the
Outer Hebrides 289

The late Charles Kingsley Siddall 293

Review : — Report on the Immigrations of Summer Residents

in the Spring o/ 1909 294

Letters :— " The Irish Jay " 296

Warbler with Double-barred Wing in Sussex . . . . 296

( 266 )
THE TRADESCANT MUSEUM.

BY
W. H. MULLENS, M.A., LL.M., F.L.S.

In these daj^s, when every town of any importance in
this country boasts of a more or less well-equipped
museum, it seems somewhat strange that the first English
museum of which we have an}' knowledge or account
was formed less than two hundred and seventy years
ago, and that it owed its inception, not to a native of
these islands, but to the enterprise of a Hollander and
his son who had settled in this countr3\

This was the famous Tradescant Museum, an account
of which was published in 1656 entitled : —

Musseum Tradescantianum : / or, / a Collection / of / Rarities./
Preserved / at South-Lambeth neer London / By / John
Tradescant./

This small duodecimo work has now become very
scarce owing to the fact that " Prefixed to it were prints
of both father and son, which from the circumstance of
being engraved by Hollar, has unfortunately rendered
the book well kno\vn to collectors of prints,* by whom
most of the copies have been plundered of the impres-
sions." Of the two Tradescants but little is known,
and that partly conjectural. John Tradescant the elder
was, according to Anthony Wood, a Dutchman by birth,
and seems to have settled in this country during the
reign of James I. As a young man he is said to have
travelled and collected in Europe and Asia, and to have
accompanied a fleet which sailed against the Algerines
in 1620, and some few years after this we find him settled
at South Lambeth, where he had " a Physic Garden
of the greatest extent." In 1629 he obtained the
appointment of gardener to Charles I., and seems to have
died about 1650. He left a son of the same name, who
inherited his father's tastes, voyaged to Virginia, returned

* Facsimile reproductions of the title page and the two Hollar
prints accompany this article.

S\£ufaum Tradefcantianunut ,
A COLLECTION

RARlVlES.

PRESERVED

At South-Lambeth neer London

By
JohnTradescant.

L O N 'D o N

Printed by folw Grtfwo»d^ and ari to be fold by
NathanAe! Broske at the An^el in Cornhiil,

M. DC. LVi,

268 BRITISH BIRDS.

thence with a large collection of seeds and plants,
and published the Catalogue of the Museum. As he
informs us in an address " To the Ingenious Reader " : —

" About three yeares agoe (by the perswasion of some
friends) I was resolved to take a Catalogue of those Rarities
and Curiosities which my Father has scedulously collected,
and my-self with continued diligence have augmented, and
hitherto preserved together : they then pressed me with that
Argument, that the enumeration of these Rarities, (being
more for variety than any one place known in Europe could
afford) would be an honour to our Nation, and a benefit
to such ingenious persons as would become further enquirers
into the various modes of Natures admirable \\orkes, and the
curious Imitators thereof : I readily yielded to the thing so
urged and with the assistance of two worthy friends (well
acquainted with my design) we then began it, and many
examinations of the materialls themselves, & their agreements
with several Authors. . . ."

The book itself is a source of never-ending interest
and amusement to the curious reader. As the late
Professor Newton said in his address to the Museums
Association in 1891, " Did time permit, I would gladly
go over this little book page by page, for I believe there
is hardly a leaf but would furnish the text for a sermon."

We must here content ourselves with some account of
Tradescant's list of })irds with which he occupies the
first four pages of the book, and which he heads, " Some
kindes of Birds, their Egges, Beaks, Feathers, Clawes,
and Spurres."

Amongst the " Egges " in the museum he enumerates
" Crocodiles, Estridges, Soland goose or Squeedes from
iScotland. Divers sorts of Egges from Turkic : one
given for a Dragons egge," and " Easter Egges of the
Patriarchs of Jerusalem," while the " beaks or heads "
include those of the " Griffin, Pellican, Shoveller, and
thirty other severall forrain sorts, not found in any
Author, and sixteen several strange beaks of Birds from
the East India's," but it was amongst the "Feathers and
Clawes " that the chief treasures of the collection reposed
— here were " Two feathers of the Phoenix tayle " and

THE TRADESCANT MUSEUM. 269

" The clawe of the bird. Rock ; who, as Authors report,
is able to trusse an Elephant."

Beside these marvels, the " Legge and claw of the
Cassawary or Emeu that dyed, at S. James's, West-
minster," is but commonplace, while among the " whole
birds enumerated " space forbids us to mention more'
than " The Bustard as big as a Turky, usually taken by
Greyhounds on Newmarket-heath " and " The Dodar,
from the Island of Maritius, it is not able to flie being so
big," Of this last-mentioned bird, the famous Dodo,
it may be interesting to give a short account. The speci-
men mentioned by Tradescant is thought by Strickland
{The Dodo and its Kindred. London, 1848. pp. 22, 23)
to be identical with that which Lestrange saw alive in
1638. O how it stirs the blood of the modern ornithologist
to think of the good old days when live Dodos were
exhibited in the London streets ! Lestrange 's account
(Sloane MSS., 1839, 5, p. 9) is as follows :—

" About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture
of a strange fowle hong out upon a cloth, and myself e with one
or two more then in company went in to see it. It was kept
in a chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the
largest Turky Cock, and so legged and footed ; . . . coloured
before like the breast of a young cock fesan, and on the
back of dunn or deare colour. The keeper called it
a Dodo. . . ."

Be this as it may, the sad and. future history of
Tradescant's Dodo — which, by the way, the famous
Francis Willughby inspected, " We have seen this
Bird [i.e., the Dodo] dried, or its skin stuft in Tradescant 's
Cabinet " {The Ornithology, 1678, p. 154) — was as follows :
— When Tradescant's collection was bequeathed to Elias
Ashmole the Dodo with other specimens passed into the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Here it remained entire
till 1755, " when the Vice-Chancellor and the other
Trustees, to whose guardianship the worthy Ashmole
had confided his treasures, came in an unlucky hour to
make their annual visitation of the museum . . . when
this unhappy specimen, then at least a century old . . .

JOHN TRADESCANT, THE ELDER.
{After the engraving by W. Hollar.)

JOHN TRADESCANT, THE YOUNGER.
(After the engraving by W. Hollab.)

272 BRITISH BIRDS.

decayed by time and neglect was ordered to be removed/'
Fortunately, however, " a small portion of this last
descendant of an ancient race escaped the clutches
of the destroyer. The head and one of the feet were
saved from the flames, and are still preserved in the
Ashmolean Museum " (Strickland, p. 32).

We have no space to deal with the remainder of
Tradescant's book here ; it contains in all one hundred
and seventy-eight pages of catalogue, of which by far
the larger portion is devoted to his botanical collection,
and ends with a list of " Principall Benefactors to the
precedent Collection " — beginning with King Charles,
and Queen Mary, and enumerating many of the most
famous men of the day, including Elias Ashmole, with
whom the j'ounger Tradescant became acquainted in
1650, through his lodging at Tradescant's house. John
Tradescant the younger died in 1662, and bequeathed
his collection to his friend, to whom it passed in 1677
after the death of Tradescant's widow, and it then
became incorporated in the famous Ashmolean Museum.
Tradescant's Museum, or " Ark " as it was generally
called, " attracted the curiosity of the age, and was
much frequented by the great, " and it is therefore not
surprising to find that the ever-indefatigable Evelyn
knew it well. Under date of September 17th, 1657,
he notes : —

" To see Sir Robert Needham at Lambeth, a relation of
mine ; and thence to John Tradescant's musseum, in which
the chiefest rarities were, in my opinion, the ancient Roman,
Indian, and other nations' armour, shields and weapons ;
some habits of curiously-colour'd and wrought feathers,
one from y' phoenix wing as tradition goes. Other innumer-
able things there were, printed in his Catalogue by Mr.
Ashmole, to Avhom after the death of the widow they are
bequeath'd and by him design'd as a gift to Oxford."

And, again, on July 23rd, he records : " Went to see Mr. Elias
Ashmole's library and Curiosities at Lambeth. . . . The
famous John Tradescant bequeathed his Repository to this
gentleman, mIio has given them to the L^niversity of Oxford,

THE TRADESCAIST MUSEUM. 273

..." [Diary of John Evelyn. By H. B, Wheatley. Vol.11,
pp. 94, 336.)

The Tradescants, father and son, lie buried in Lambeth
Church3^ard, under the family monument, which was
erected in 1662 and repaired in 1770 by public subscription
from drawings of the original in the Pepysian Library.
To them " as the parents of British Musaeology " our
debt of gratitude is great, and may their memories long
flourish.

( 274

^

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE SONG-PERIODS
OF BIRDS.

BY
C. J. AND H. G. ALEXANDER.

In our previous article on this subject (Vol. I., p. 367) we
gave the song-periods of most of the recognized songsters
as observed in Kent and Sussex. We have not noticed
any distinct differences in a year's observations at Reading
and Cambridge, so that we may assume that these periods,
M'ith the corrections given at the end of this article, hold good
for the south-east of England generally, except in so far as
some species pass the winter in some parts and not in others.
The songs of some of the species with which we deal in the
present article are not always recognized as such ; in some
it is difficult to say which notes really constitute song. We
have not attempted a definition of song, but have discussed
the notes of the various sisecies in detail belo^^'.

The Titmice and Nuthatch.

The songs of the species of this group are nearly all repetitions
of separate notes ; several species have more than one song.
A song is recorded for the Long-tailed Tit m various works,
but we have not heard it.

Great Tit [Parus m. newtoni*). — The songs consist of one,
two or three notes repeated in rapid succession ; those of
two and three notes generally ending with a single note.
Period. From the middle of August to the middle of June ;
the period during which it sings regularly is from the end
of December or early January to the beginning of June ;
only occasionally during the rest of the period, except in
September and early October, when in some years it sings
frequently.

Coal-Tit (P. a. britannicus*) . — Two notes repeated
rapidly, the emphasis on the second. Period. Similar to
that of the Great Tit, but it generally sings more in autumn,
and may sing occasionally during most of the summer months.

Marsh-Tit (P. p. dresseri*). — The songs are described in
Vol. IV., p. 147. Period. Occasionally in November and
December : frequently from early January to the end of
March or early May. We have also recorded it in June,
July and October.

* We assuine tliat the birds observed by us are of the British form.

SONG-PERIODS OF BIRDS. 275

Willow-Tit {P. a. kleinschmidti*). — See Vol. IV., p. 147.

Blue Tit {P. c. obsctirus*). — There are two varieties of
the song : — (1) A shrill note, repeated three times and followed
by a trill ; (2) the same shrill note two or three times, followed
by a lower note twice. Period. Almost the same as that of
the Great Tit, but it sings rather more in August and less in
September and October than that species.

Nuthatch (Sitta e. britannica*). — The song is a very loud
bubbling note, repeated rapidly so as to form a trill. Period.
Rarely in August and September ; frequently from the end
of January to the beginning of May. We have also records
during mild spells in the other winter months.

Starling, Jay and Magpie.

Starling {Sturnus vulgaris). — Period. Occasionally in the
second half of July, regularly from early August to the
beginning of May, and occasionally on to early June.

Jay {Garrulus g. rufitergum*). — A low warble, only audible
at a short distance.

Magpie {Pica rustica). — A confused chattering. We have
not enough observations to state the period for either of these
species.

Non-Passerine Orders.

Of the remaining orders of birds which breed in our neigh-
bourhood we know of no songs among the Owls, Hawks,
Herons or Gulls.

Probably the screech of the Swift and the " churr " of
the Nightjar must be considered as songs ; with the possible
exception of the Magpie, the Swift is the only species we
know which makes any attemjDt at singing in concert. The
Swift and the Nightjar both sing almost throughout their
stay at their nesting-j^laces, unless the Aveather is unfavour-
able.

Woodpeckers.

The Wryneck and all three Woodpeckers have a cry
composed of a single note repeated a number of times, but
it does not seem to have the same function in all these species.
In the Wryneck {lynx torqiiilla) there is no doubt that it
is a song ; it is uttered from the arrival of the bird to early
June, and occasionally to the middle of July ; after the young
are out a harsh rattle is often made. The corresj)onding note
of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker {Dendrocopus m.
comminutus*) is perhaps now used as a call simply, being
replaced as a song by the drumming, but we have not heard

276 BRITISH BIRDS.

the call during the late summer, when the birds are presumably
moulting.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker {D. m. anglicus*)
apparently makes a similar call only very rarely ; its song
is the drumming noise, and its ordinary call a single sharp
note. We have not heard either of these species drum in
the autumn.

The Green Woodpecker {Gecinus viridis) makes a number
of different notes ; the full laughing cry, which we take
to be the song, is, "we believe, only uttered from January
to late summer, and not in autumn ; this species also drums,
but apparently not often.

Cuckoo {Cuculus canorus). — Period. From arrival to late
June, generally stopping within a few days of the 20th ; a
few sometimes continue till the first week in July.

Pigeons.

All the three Pigeons make a " coo," which seems to
constitute the song ; as far as we know none of them makes
any other note : —

Wood-Pigeon [Columba palumbus). — Occasionally in
January and February, and regularly from March to the
beginning of October.

Stock-Dove (C. cenas). — It sings later in the autumn
than the Wood-Pigeon, and possibly less in the summer.

Turtle-Dove {Turtur communis). — Irregularly for a week
after arrival, and then regularly to the beginning of August.
Wo have a record as late as the 23rd of August, 1910 (Reading).

Rails.

The call of the Corn-Crake {Crex pratensis) seems to be a
song, as it is uttered regularly only up to about the end of
June. The " sharming " of the Water-Rail [Rallus
aquaticus) seems to be made chiefly in March and April.
We know .of no song in the case of the Moor-hen or Coot.

Waders.

Of the waders breeding in our district the Lapwing,
Snipe and Redshank have definite songs.

Lapwing {Vanellus vulgaris). — -The earliest record we have
is on January 13th, 1910 (Tunbridge Wells) ; occasionally
in February, regularly from the middle of March to the middle
of May, and occasionally to the close of the month.

Snipe {Gallinago coslestis) (drumming). — Chiefly in April ;
we have records as early as February 24th, 1908 (Tunbridge
Wells), and as late as July 24th, 1910 (Tunbridge Wells).

SONG-PERIODS OF BIRDS. 277

Grebes.

We have never heard the Great Crested Grebe utter any
song : the bi-sexual display is generally j^erformed in silence.
The Dabchick {Podicipes fluviatilis) has a loud song, uttered
by botli sexes t ; it sings chiefly in March, April and May,
but also up to August and in many of the winter months.

We have a few additions to make to the list of Passerine
birds given in the previous article ; these, we believe, comj)lete
tlie species singmg in our district.

Whinchat {Pmtincola rubeira). — From arrival to the end
of June.

Dartford Warbler (Sylvia ii. darffordiensis*). — Our
observations on this species are not sufficient for us to state
its period with precision : we have heard it in late autumn
as well as in spring.

Grasshopper- Warbler [Locustella noevia). — From arrival
to the middle of July.

Grey Wagtail {Motacilla melanope). — We have heard it
in April at its nesting-station at Tunbridge Wells, and in
October at Reading and Cambridge.

Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola). — From soon
after its arrival to the middle of June, but never regularly.

Hawfinch {Coccothraustes viUgaris). — March, April and
May.

House-Sparrow {Passer domesticus) . — We presume that
the more lively chirps of this species constitute a song, but
we have no notes as to its period. f

Tree-Sparrow (P. montanus). — Local in our district, and
we have only isolated observations.

Lesser Redpoll [Linota rufescens). — The breeding in-
dividuals sing from their arrival in March to the middle of
August, and again from the middle of September to their
departure in early October ; sometimes when the winter
birds are numerous they sing a little in December and January.

Bullfinch {Pyrrhula e. pileata*). — Appears to sing most
in spring ; we have also heard it in June, July, August and
December.

Crossbill {Loxia c. curvirostra). — In 1910 we heard it
from the middle of March to the latter part of April.

We have also a few corrections to make to the song-periods
given in the article in Vol. I.

+ See E. Selous, Bird-life Glimpses.
X See F. J. Stubbs, Vol. III., p. 155.

278 BRITISH BIRDS.

It may be well to state that in all cases the periods are
those of the most persistent singers ; there is a great deal of
individual variation, but we have not yet made any records
of this.

Song-Thrush (p. 369). — Occasionally sings on into early
August.

Blackbird (j). 369). — Occasionally continues its autumn
song into October.

Stonechat (p. 372). — We have recorded it up to the first
week in July.

Garden- Warbler (p. 371). — Records about the middle of
August in 1909 (East Kent) suggest an occasional autumn-
singing between moulting and departure (c/. Lesser White-
throat).

Reed-Warbler (p. 371). — Has a distinct autumn song in
early SeiDtember.

Tree-Creeper (p. 370). — May sing right through August,
like the Wren.

Meadow-Pipit (j). 370). — Sometimes goes on into the
beginning of September.

Martin (p. 372). — Continues right on to nearly the end of
September.

Goldfinch (p. 372). — We have heard it in every month
except January, so it probably sings all the year, except when
moulting.

Greenfinch (p. 370). — Sings regularly to the end of August.
We have twice recorded it in autumn, viz., October 11th,
1808 (East Kent), and November 6th, 1909 (Cambridge).

Common Bunting (p. 372). — A\liere it is resident it
apparently sings during all the winter months. It is silent
all through September.

Yellow Bunting (p. 370). — Occasionally continues just
into Sej)tember. We have recorded an autumn song as
foUows :— October 10th, 13th, and 15th, 1908 (Tunbridge
Wells) ; October 4th and 8th, 1910 (Reading).

CiRL Bunting (p. 372). — Sings up to early September, and
all through the winter, but we do not kno\A' quite A\hen it
recommences in autumn.

Skylark (p. 370). — May sing occasionallj^ up to early
December and again at the end of the month.

OTES

EECOVERY OF MARKED BIRDS.

In addition to those already acknowledged, I have received
subscriptions towards the expenses of the " marking scheme "
from Major H. Trevelyan, Mr. Norman H. Joy (second sub-
scription), Mr. W. C. Tait, Mr. W. I. Beaumont, and Mr. T. C.
Hobbs. H.F.W.

Pied Wagtail {Motacilla luguhris). — B.B., No. A858, marked
by Mr. H. W. Ford-Lindsay at Pett, Sussex, on June
19th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Goncallo,
Guarda, Beira, Portugal, on December 15th, 1910. The
recovery was reported in the Actualidade of Guarda,
and full details were very kindly supplied by the Editor
of that paper.

Starling {Sturnus vulgaris). — B.B., No. 11,772, marked by
Mr. W. E. Suggitt at Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, on
September 10th, 1910. Recovered between Malton and
Great Driffield, Yorkshire, on December 31st, 1910.
Reported by the Rev. E. M. Cole.

Ringed Plover {Mgialitis hiaticola). — B.B.,No. A691, marked
by Mr. Howard Bentham, at Ravenglass, Cumberland,
on June 14tli, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered between
Bangor and Donaghadee, co. Down, on January 19th,
1911. Reported by Mr. Jas. Gorman.

Common Tern {Sterna fluviatilis). —B.B., No. 20,399, marked
by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumber-
land, on July 23rd, 1910, as a nestlmg. Recovered at
St. Bees, Cumberland, on August 28th, 1910. Reported
by Miss M. Garnett.

Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridihundus) . — B.B., No. 30,101,
marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Ravenglass,
Cumberland, on June 11th, 1910, as a nestling. Re-
covered at Blackpool, Lancashire, on December 28th,
1910. Reported by Mr. W. Coates.

B.B., No. 30906, marked by Messrs. Robinson and
Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered in the rade de Lorient,
Brittany, France, on January 2nd, 1911. Reported by
M. C. Angevin, officier-marmier de la flotte Lorient.

280 BRITISH BIRDS.

B.B., No. 3775, marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley
at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June lOtli, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered at Lancaster on January 2nd,
1911. Reported by Mr. C. Griffiths.

Lesser Black-backed Gull {Larus fuscus). — B.B., No.
9811, marked by Mr. W. I. Beaumont at Black Isle,
Lynn of Lorn, Argyllshire, on July 4th, 1910. Recovered
nine miles from Aveiro, Portugal, on December 15th,
1910. Mr. Beaumont took great trouble in identifying
(by marking down the parent-birds) this and other
nestlings ringed at the same time, but as both Herring-
and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were breedmg on the
same island he could not be positively certain of his
identification, although he thinks he made no mistake.
Reported by Mr. W. C. Tait and Mr. J. D. Pereira da
Graca. We are most grateful to Mr. W. C. Tait for
the great trouble he has taken in making the ringing
scheme as widely kno^^■n as possible in Portugal, and for
the great help he has given us in securing full details of
this and other Portuguese records.

Woodcock (Scolopox rusticula). — A Woodcock with a ring
marked A. Cong, 10, was reported by Mr. W. C. Tait
as having been shot in the parish of Covide, about
forty miles north of Oporto, Portugal, on December 28th,
1910. Lord Ardilaun informs me that this bird was
hatched in the woods at Cong, co. Galway, in the spring
of 1910, and was ringed just as it was about to fly.

A MARKED TEAL.

On the evening of December 20th, 1910, when " flighting "
I shot a Teal {Nettion crecca) drake at Glenorchard, near
Glasgow, which had on its left leg a ring inscribed " H. Chr. C.
Mortensen. Viborg. Danmark. 1045 Y." I wrote to Dr. C. B.
Ticehurst, who has now kindly informed me that the Teal
was ringed by Herr Mortensen on October 19th, 1909, at Isle
Eano, south-west Denmark. It was caught in the duck-
decoy there that morning, and liberated the same evening at
8 p.m. James Bartholomew.

[Another of these Teal, marked at the same place as the
above on October 18th, 1909, was reported as having been
shot on a branch of Milford Haven on December 2nd, 1910
(Field, 24. xii. 1910, p. 1214). For previous records see
Vol. III., pp. 251, 252.— Eds.]

NOTES. 281

NOTES ON "RINGING" SMALLER BIRDS.

Having ringed over seven hundred birds of forty-three
species, of which only about thirty individuals required the
large-sized ring, I have probably had more practice, as far
as the smaller birds are concerned, than most people in this
fascinating pastime, and I therefore venture to put on record
a few of my experiences — in the hope that they may be of
some help to others this year.

The medium-sized rings exactly fit Blackbirds, Thrushes
and Starlings. They can therefore be put on and simply
pinched up with the fingers as soon as it is found that they
cannot slip over the foot of the nestling — in the case of young
Blackbirds and Thrushes when they are about half-fledged,
and some time before they attempt to fly from the nest,
and in young Starlings when they are still almost naked.
Fully-fledged nestling Starlings readily scramble back into
their nesting-holes, but it is very difficult to induce nearly
full-fledged birds in open nests to remain in the nest when
once frightened from it. That they always come to grief
when disturbed too soon is certainly not the case, as the
Thrush recorded from Norfolk {supra, p. 208) was one of
five, hardly able to fly, which refused to stay in their nest
after being marked. When I think that the nestlings which
I am about to mark are likely to fly from the nest, I very
cautiously put my hand over all of them at once, and contrive
to pick them up en masse and jjut them in my pocket. Having
ringed them I again manage to get them all together in my
hand and thus replace them in the nest, holding my hand
over them for a short time before quietly removing it. There
is almost always one particularly active and vociferous
member of the brood, and this one I try to get well under
the others, because should it get a chance it will fly out and
disturb all the rest. Nestling Wrens and Finches are easily
frightened, and insist on leaving the nest when only partially
fledged and long before they can fly, so they should be
marked early. Different broods of Robins vary very much
in this respect.

The smallest-sized ring fits very few of the smaller birds
exactly. Instead of making the lumen smaller by pinching
it into an oval shape, as suggested with the instructions
sent with the rings, I find it more convenient (and I think
it safer for the bird, because it fits the leg better) slightly to
overlap the ends of the ring. Great care must be taken,
as suggested in the instructions, to see that the ring cannot

282 BRITISH BIRDS.

slip over the foot of each bird, and quite a moderate amount
of force must be used in testing this.

I have marked most of the young in three broods of Gold-
crests, and in one case had the satisfaction of seeing the
young birds about for several days quite unencumbered by
their shining bracelets. When one looks into a nest containing
nearly full-fledged Gold crests, it appears at first sight to
be empty. The young birds are found to be clinging tightly
to the lining of feathers all round the interior of the nest.

What has become of all the marked nestlings in the neigh-
bourhood of Bradfield, Berks, where I ringed so many birds ?
I marked about one hundred and seventy Blackbirds and
Thrushes within a mile of my house, yet since July, when
some were recovered in fruit-nets, in spite of careful watch,
I have seen only one of these birds, viz., a Blackbird, on
January 4th, 1911. I have also seen or caught besides those
already recorded the following birds : — •

Great Tit [Parus major). — Nestling in nest-box, ringed
May 31st, 1910, seen at cocoanut close by on December 11th,
1910. I recognized this bird by the fact that it was one of
the only brood in which I pinched up the ring without over-
lapping the ends.

Blackbird {Turdus merula). — Adult male caught in
fruit-net and ringed (No. 11,236) July 25th, 1910. Seen on
several occasions close by and captured alive December 29th,
1910.

Starling {Sturnus vulgaris). — Nestling in nest-box, ringed
(No. 7462) May 15th, 1910, caught in wire cage-trap about
two hundred yards away January 13th, 1911.

Starling. — Nestling in nest-box, ringed (No. 10,062),
June 1st, 1910, caught in wire cage-trap about two hundred
yards away January 13th, 1911.

It is interesting to note that the Blackbird above mentioned
and the Hedge-Sparrow recorded in this volume on page 8
were almost the only adult birds I marked during last summer.
The Starlings were taken in a cage-trap made as described
by Dr. Ticehurst {ante, j). 237). This trap has j? roved to be
most useful. I have taken over one hundred and twenty
Starlings in four days, although I only visited it twice a day.
About six per cent, of the Starlings are caught a second
time, but when the trap is baited for Tits one finds it is
necessary to set free two or even three ringed Blue Tits
whenever it is visited. I have found it necessary to add a
door to mine, so that I can enter the trap and catch the
Starlings with my hands, as it takes too long to catch over
thirty birds in a butterfly-net. N. H. Joy.

NOTES. 283

THE IRISH COAL-TIT.

At the December meeting of the British Ornithologists'
Club Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant exhibited some specimens of
Coal-Tits from Ireland, and described the bird as a new species
under the name of Parus hihernicus {Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XXVII.,
pp. 36 and 37).* This interesting bird differs from
Parus ater hritannicus chiefly in liaving the light patches
covering the sides of the head and neck, and the occipital spot
yellow, the breast and belly yellow, in marked contrast to
the buff of the flanks, and the mantle and back more
strongly washed with olive-buff. These characters are much
more marked in some individuals than in others. Mr. Ogilvie-
Grant has examined examples from the following counties : —
Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, West Meath and Sligo ; those
from the last-named county, which were sent to him by Mr.
Collingwood Ingram, being the first he had seen.

For the present I am inclined to regard the bird as a
geographical form rather than a species, as Mr. Grant considers
it, but a full knowledge of its distribution must be obtained
before this can be determined, and Mr. Grant informs me
tliat he will shortly be in possession of further details on this
point. At present, examples from co. Down present a some-
what puzzling problem, since of some specimens obtained at
Clandeboye in January, 1904, by Mr. Grant himself, all
except one are indistinguishable from P. a. hritannicus.
This one, however, is distinctly tinged with yellow on the
cheeks, and has the upper parts as strongly washed with
olive-buff as any of the typical specimens of P. hihernicus,
A specimen obtained on January 19th, 1911, at Hillsborough,
CO. Down, and kindly sent to me by Mr. N. H. Foster, has.
a slight tinge of pale yellow on the lower part of the
belly, but is otherwise like P. a. hritannicus. A closer-
study of the Irish Coal-Tit will, I thmk, show that it is;
a somewhat variable geographical form, and that while
some examples are strikingly distinct, others are barely
distinguishable, or perhaps indistinguishable, from P. a.
hritannicus.

H. F. WlTHERBY.

* It is most regrettable that before the pubKcation of the Bulletin
a note appeared, on the authority of Su- WilHam Ingram, in the Daily
Mail (December 28, 1910. No. 4593, p. 3), which, although inaccurate
in many particulars, contains a sufficient description and the Latin
name " Parus hibernicus " to allow it to stand as the first description
of the bird according to the present rules of zoological nomenclature.

284 BRITISH BIRDS.

BRITISH WILLOW-TIT IN WEST SCOTLAND.

In Renfrewshire.

On December 19th. 1910, I obtained a Tit at Giffnock,
Renfrewshire, wliich. on being submitted to Mr. H. F.
Witherby, was identified as a Willow-Tit {Parus atricapillus
Meinschmidti ) .

The " Marsh " Tits have rather a curious distribution in
the west of Scotland, and until this has been worked out it
is impossible to say M'hether both P. palustris dresseri and
P. a. kleinschmidti are represented or only the latter.

Robert W. S. Wilson.

In Kirkcudbrightshire.

My experience of the Willow-Tit in the stewartry of Kirk-
cudbright is very limited. I only know of it in one valley,
where it is fairly jDlentiful.

I have at different times obtained two specimens for the
Royal Scottish Museum, one of which was sent to Dr. Hartert
for examination, and botli were identified as Parus atrica-
pillus kleinschmidti.

I have never met \\\t\\ the Marsh-Tit in Scotland.

M. Bedford.

[In view of the fact that all the " Marsh " Tits examined
from the Forth and Moray areas liave been proved to be
Willow-Tits (c/. supra, p. 159), and that, so far as I know,
no Scottish-taken example of any form of Parus pahistris is
in existence, the above interesting notes are most significant.
It would seem that we are on the way to prove that the
Marsh-Tit is entirely replaced in Scotland by the Willow-Tit,
and it will be extremely interesting to follow this up by dis-
covering at which point the breeding distribution of Parus
palustris dresseri begins. — H.F.W.]

BRITISH WILLOW-TIT IN LINCOLNSHIRE.

Amongst some birds kindly sent to me for examination by
Mr. G. H. Caton Haigli were seven " Marsh-Tits," procured
near Grainsby, Lincolnshire. These birds all proved to be
British WUlow-Tits {Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti), and
Mr. Caton Haigh has never procured a Marsh-Tit (P. palustris
dresseri) in his district. He tells me that the Willow-Tit, as
it now proves to be, is a rare bird in Lincolnshire, and he
seldom sees it. Those examples which he has seen have
always been single birds in company with other Tits, except
on one occasion, wlien lie saw three of these birds together.

NOTES. 285

The dates of the specimens are as follow : — October 5th,
1896 ; December 3rd, 1894 ; December 28th, 1899 : January
10th, 1897 ; January 22nd, 1895 ; January 25th, 1895 ;
February 5th, 1895.

Dr. Hartert has very kindly confirmed my identification of
the specimens.

H. F. WiTHERBY.

AMERICAN WATER-PIPIT AT ST. KILDA.

Mr. W. Eagle Clarke announces {Ann. S.N.H., 1911, p. 52)
that during his visit to St. Kilda in the autumn of 1910 (Sep-
tember 1st to October 8th) he " met witli quite unlooked-for
success." Fifty-four species on passage came under his notice,
and of these thirty-five were new to the avifauna of the island.
Among them was an example of the American Water-
Pipit {Anthus spinoletta rubescens), which Mr. Clarke pro-
nounces to be new to the British list. Howard Saunders
{Manual, p. 142) rejected previously recorded occurrences,
and Professor Newton argues {Yarrell, ed, IV., Vol. I, p. 590.
footnote) that Macgillivray's first description {Man. Brit. Birds,
p. 169) of specimens obtained in 1824 near Edinburgh refers
to A. s. rupestris, while his more elaborate description on
pp. 170 and 171 refers to A. s. rubescens {= ludovicianus ; pen-
sylvanicus) and that of the female to A. s. rupestris !

The bird appears to have been first named by Tunstall
{Orn. Brit., p. 2), who called it Alauda rubescens from the
Red Lark of Pennant {Brit. Zool. Birds, II., p. 239), who
took his description from Edwards {Gleanings, pi. 297), where
a bird from Pennsylvania is figured. Edwards said he also
found this bird near London.

In the Check- List of North American Birds (1910, p. 328),
the bird is said to breed in the Arctic zone from north-eastern
Siberia, northern Alaska, northern Mackenzie, on both sides
of Davis Strait south to the Great Slave Lake, northern
Quebec and Newfoundland, and from the Aleutian Islands
to Prince William Sound, as well as on high mountains
south to California and mid Mexico. It winters from the
Southern States to Guatemala.

Two examples are recorded by Giitke from Heligoland,
one on November 6th, 1857, and another on May 17th, 1858
{Heligoland, p. 344).

The American Water-Pipit is much like the typical form,
but may be distinguished by its larger size, the more tawny
colouring of the underparts, and by the penultimate pair of
tail-feathers being white to the tip on the outer web. H.F.W.

2S6 BRITISH BIRDS.

LESSER REDPOLL NESTING IN ESSEX.

On July 16th, 1910, I found a nest of the Lesser Redpoll
{Linota rufescens) with three young, about seven feet from
the ground in the top of a straggling gorse bush on the Golf
Links, Woodford Green. Both birds were attending the j'oung.
On visiting the nest on the 20th I found it torn out. One
or two pairs of Redpolls have been seen in the immediate
neighbourhood for the last three seasons, but I have not been
able to find a nest before. C. L. Collenette.

THE NORTHERN GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
AS A BRITISH BIRD.

Although there is much circumstantial evidence to show
that the Northern Great Sj)otted Woodpecker [Dendrocopvs
major major) frequently occurs in Great Britain, and especially
in Scotland, I do not think that any English sj^ecimens have
been recorded as having been examined since Dr. Hartert
described the British bird as distinct in 1900. It is advisable
therefore to put on record that a specimen kindly lent to me
by Mr. Caton Haigh, who picked it up dead on the sea-bank
at North Cotes on October 12th, 1898, has been pronounced
by Dr. Hartert to be D. m. major, as has a j^oung male obtained
by myself on the south Yorkshire coast on Seiatember 14th,
1909. Dr. Hartert also informs me that there is a specimen
of the northern form in the Tring Museum, labelled Irchester
(presumably in Northamptonshire), December 13th, 1889,
from the Rev. H. H. Slater's collection. It is noteworthy
that a great irruption was recorded in the autumn of 1889.

With regard to Scotland, in the Annals of Scottish Natural
History (1908, pp. 217, 218), Mr. W. Evans showed that
those Scottish breeding- birds which had been examined
were of the British race and not of Scandinavian origin, as
had been thought possible. In the course of his investiga-
tions, ho\\"ever, he examined a bird shot in west Berwickshire
in March, 1906, which was undoubted^ D. m. major. In
the same journal (1908, pp. 209-16, and map, c/. British
Birds, II., p. 238) Mr. Harvie-Brown published a paper, in
which Le summarized the advance of the Great Spotted
Woodpecker in Scotland, and wrote briefly of the autumn
and winter immigrations of birds ^A"llich are no doubt of the
northern form. They seem to be annual immigrants in small
numbers, and are recorded eveiy seven or eight to twelve or
fifteen years in great numbers, recalling the " irruptions "
of Crossbills. Mr. Harvie-Bro\Mi states that normally the
migrants are mostly recorded from localities south of the
Grampians, but in years of irruiJtions the whole of the east

NOTES. 287

side of Scotland from the most northerly islands is visited.
Through the kindness of Mr. J. H. Gurney, who is in possession
of the specimen, I have been able to submit to Dr. Hartert
for examination that curious albescent example of a Great
Sj)otted Woodpecker which is referred to at some length
by the late Professor Newton in Yarrell (ed. IV., Vol. II.,
p. 484), and was at one time erroneously thought to be a
specimen of D. leuconotus. Tliis bird was obtained in Unst
(Shetland) by Saxby in September, 1861, which is the year
of the first irruption mentioned by Mr. Harvie- Brown in the
paper above quoted, and it is very satisfactory to know from
Dr. Hartert that it is an undoubted example of D. m. major.

The immigrations of this bird undoubtedly extend to the
east coast of England, and it is recorded {Yarrell, II., p. 473)
that the 1861 visitation referred to above was traced from
the Shetlands to the Isle of Wight. Selby wrote in 1833
that in Northumberland scarcely a year passed withoat
some of these birds being obtained in October and November.
Mr. Abel Chapman refers to these " migrants from Northern
Europe " at irregular intervals in Northumberland and
Durham {Bird-Life of the Borders, 2nd ed., pp. 132, 133), and
Mr. T. H. Nelson writes {Birds of Yorks, Vol. I., p. 275)
that, " on the seaboard during the autumn migration this
Woodpecker is of almost annual occurrence, and is observed
from September to November," and adds that in some
years they are numerous. Mr. Nelson also states (I think
on the authority of the late J. Cordeaux, Naturalist, 1890,
1). 7) that the irruption in October, 1889, was coincident
with a great migration of this bird observed by H. Giitke
in Heligoland. In Norfolk it has long been known as an
immigrant, and it probably reaches the shores of Kent (c/.
Hist. Birds of Kent, p. 234). Dendrocopus major major may
therefore be considered, like the Crossbill, as a regular immi-
grant in autumn to the east coast of Great Britain in small
numbers, and at irregular intervals in large numbers. It is
very advisable, however, that more specimens should be
critically examined, and I shall be very glad to compare any
specimens sent to me for the purpose. It seems very likely
that the Irish examples are of the northern form.

H. F. WiTHERBY.

LITTLE OWL IN WARWICKSHIRE.
On November 29th, 1910, an adult male Little Owl [Athene
noctua), the fourth Warwickshire specimen, was shot at
Stratford-on-Avon ; it was preserved by Messrs. Spicer
and Sons, Suffolk Street, Birmingham, at whose shop I
exammed it when set up. A. Geoffrey Leigh.

288 BRITISH BIRDS.

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE IN CARNARVONSHIRE.

A PARAGRAPH lias been going the round of the newspapers
to the effect that a " Golden Eagle," which had been raiding
the sheep on the mountains of Lleyn during the latter half
of November, had at length been shot in the wing and captured
alive. The Eagle is in the possession of Mr. Godfrey Fitzhugh,
Wrexham, who is endeavouring to heal the injury to the
wing. He informs me that it is an immature Haliaetus
alhicilla, as I had anticipated. It was taken near Abersoch
on November 29th, 1910. This is the first authenticated
occurrence of the species in Carnarvonshire (c/. Vert. Fauna
N. Wales, p. 228). H. E. Forrest.

PINTAILS IN STAFFORDSHIRE.

The following are the recent records of Pintails {Dafila
acuta) in Staffordshire, as far as I have been able to ascertain
them : — An immature male at Barlaston in November, 1885 ;
five on Galley Pool, October 22nd, 1890, and three there
December 3rd, 1895 ; four shot at Leigh in 1895 ; one at
Bloxwich in February, 1898 ; a male shot at Hilderstone
February 4th, 1901 ; and the further records in December
British Birds (p. 218). John R. B. Masefield.

GOOSANDERS AND CORMORANT IN BEDFORDSHIRE.

On December 26th, 1910, 1 noticed for the first time two female
Goosanders {M. merganser) on the Woburn Park ponds, and
the birds are still here (January 27th, 1911).

On December 31st I also saw a Cormorant (Phalacrocorax
carbo) on another pond in the park. As I believe these
birds have seldom been recorded from Bedfordshire, these
occurrences may be worth noting.

Harry Lewis.

LITTLE STINTS IN ANGLESEY.

It may be worth while adding another instance of the
occurrence of Little Stints {Tringa minuta) in Anglesey to the
few " meagre records " which are contained in the Vertebrate
Fauna of North Wales. On the shore at Rhosneigr, on May
23rd, 1907, I watched from very close quarters with my
glasses a party of fifteen of these pretty little Avaders, and when
ultimately I apiDroached them they permitted me to come to
A\ ithin a distance of five yards before taking \A'ing.

R. W. Jones.

NOTES. 289

FORK-TAILED PETREL IN SHROPSHIRE.

On the 24th December, 1910, 1 had brought to me for identifi-
cation a bird which had killed itself against the telegraph-wires
outside Shrewsbury Station. It was a Fork-tailed Petrel
{Oceanodroma leucorrhoa), and is the eighth example recorded
in Shropshire within the last thirty years. Two days earlier
a bird resembling a Swift in size and general appearance
had been seen flying over the house-tops in the middle of the
town, and this may possibly have been the Petrel.

H. E. Forrest.

Scottish Ornithology for 1909. — The usual " Report "
which appears annually in the Annals of Scottish Natural
History is this year undertaken jointly by Miss E. V. Baxter
and Miss L. J. Rintoul, Mr. J. Paterson, who had previously
provided these Reports for some years, having retired from
this activity. The new authors, who are well known for their
most useful work on the Isle of May, have done their task well,
giving a most useful introduction {Anii. S.N.H., 1910, pp. 132-
148) and a carefully compiled list of records under specific
headings (pp. 193-211). One serious omission must, how-
ever, be noted — there is no indication in the majority of the
records as to whether the information is new or has been
previously published. In some cases references are given,
but in a large number of records which have already been
published no indication of the fact is given, and this will
indubitably lead to confusion and duplication. The following
records do not appear to have been noticed previously in these
pages, and it will be seen that the majority hail from Fair
Isle, and many are given with insufficient data, to which
practice we must again express strong objection. All the
dates are for the year 1909.

Mistle-Thrush {T. viscivorus). — One at Fair Isle April 21st.

Black Redstart {B. titys).—A female at Fair Isle October
14th.

Red-spotted Bluethroat [C. suecica). — At Fair Isle
" spring and autumn."

Lesser Whitethroat {S. curruca). — Single birds at Fair
Isle April 23rd and May 4th, and small numbers from August
25th to October 2nd.

Barred Warbler {S. nisoria).—A female at Fair Isle m
" autumn."

Yellows-browed Warbler (P. superciliosus).— Four at
Fair Isle between September 28th and October 4th.

Siberian Chiffchaff {P. tristis) .—One at Fair Isle m
" autumn."

290 BRITISH BIRDS.

Wood- Wren {P. sibilatrix). — One at Fair Isle May 5th.

Reed- Warbler (^4. streperus). — One at Fair Isle in
" autumn."

Grey-headed Wagtail {M. flava horealis). — Fair Isle,
" rejoorted both in spring and autumn."

Yellow Wagtail [M. raii). — One at Fair Isle April 23rd.

Richard's Pipit {A. richardi). — One observed at Fair Isle
in " autumn."

Golden Oriole {0. galbula). — One seen on Fair Isle on
May 26th.

Red-backed Shrike [L. collurio). — A bird of the year found
dead on the Flannans Sei^tember 14th — the first record for
the Outer Hebrides.

H' Great Grey Shrike {L. excuhitor). — One at Fair Isle on
October 18th.

Hawfinch (C. vulgaris). — One at Fair Isle May 8th.

Siskin (C spinus). — A few at Loch A^ve November 25th.
Apparently only one previous record for Argyll. Two at
Fair Isle April 23rd, and remarkable numbers between Septem-
ber 22nd and October 18th.

Ortolan Bunting {E. hortulana). — At Fair Isle on " spring
and autumn passages."

Rustic Bunting [E. rustica). — A male at Fair Isle in
" autumn " — third record for Scotland.

Little Bunting {E. pusilla). — One at Fair Isle in "autumn."

Lapland Bunting (C. lapponicus). — Single birds at Fair
Isle in " spring and autumn."

Wood-Lark [A. arhorea). — Four at Fair Isle in January.

Wryneck (/. torquilla). — Single birds at Fair Isle on May
8th and 12th.

Greenland Falcon {F. candicans). Single birds at the
Flannans on December 1st, 2nd, and 14th, previously recorded
as one only [cf. supra, p. 31) ; one on the Butt of Lewis
December 4th.

Turtle-Do VE [T. communis). — Single birds at Fair Isle
on May 20th and 27th and July 7th ; at Syre (Sutherland)
on July 1st ; at Dunrossness (Shetland) and the Flannans
on September 10th.

Grey Phalarope {P. fulicarius). — At Fair Isle twice in
January and once in October (c/. supra, p. 32). Birds probably
of this species at Sule Skerry in January and September.

Great Snipe {G. major). — One at Fair Isle in September.

Birds at Fair Isle. — Among the birds recorded from Fair
Isle in 1910 by Mr. W. E. Clarke {Ann. S.N.H., 1911, p. 53),
besides those mentioned elsewhere in our pages, are : —

NOTES. 291

Bewick's Swan (C. bewicki), King-Eider (^S*. spectabilis),
Red-necked Plialarope {P. hyperboreus) and the Yellowshank
{Toiayius flavipes) — all being new to the avifauna of Fair Isle,
and the last-named to that of Scotland.

Continental Song-Thrushes, Goldcrests, and Great
Tits at the Isle of May. — In connection with the notes which
appeared in our last number (pp. 245-8) on these birds, it
is very interesting to compare the following records from the
Isle of May by those excellent observers, Miss E. V. Baxter
and Miss L. J. Rintoul {A7171. S.N.H., 1911) :~Turdus m.
Tmisicus — the birds procured from the " rushes " of Song-
Thrushes in September and October, 1910, all proved to be
of the British race, but several of those obtained in the autumn
of 1909 were of the continental form (p. 2). Eegulus c. cristatus
— eight specimens procured on various dates between
September 10th and October 17th, 1910, were all of the
continental form, except one taken on September 15th, which
Avas of the British race. Goldcrests came in great numbers
(p. 3). Parus m. major — one was obtained on October 15th,
1910 (p. 3). Robins and Hedge-Sparrows were very plentiful,
l)ut were all apparently of the British race, except one Hedge-
Sparrow taken on October 6th, which was a doubtful A. m.
modularis.

Marsh- Warbler at St. Kilda. — Mr. W. E. Clarke mentions
[Ann. S.N.H., 1911, p. 52), as one of the results of his visit
to St. Kilda from September 1st to October 8th, 1910 (see
above, p. 285), the capture of an exam^Dle of Acrocephalus
palustris, which is new to the avifauna of Scotland.

Hawfinch Nesting in Scotland. — As has been several
times noted in these pages, Coccothraustes vulgaris is becoming
a frequent nester in south-east Scotland. Mr. W. M'Conachie
now records (Anfi. S.N.H., 1911, p. 53) the nesting in 1910
of a i^air at Lauder (Berwickshire), where the destruction of
jieas caused by these birds had been noticed for three years.

Holboll's Redpoll in Scotland and England. — With
reference to the records {supra, p. 254) on the influx of Mealy
Redpolls in October and November, 1910, it is interesting to
note that vast numbers were observed in Scotland, and that
among them several si^ecimens of the rather doubtful race
L. linaria holboeUi were detected. One is recorded from the
Isle of May, on October 23rd, 1910, by Miss E. V. Baxter
and Miss L. J. Rintoul {Ann. S.N.H., 1911, p. 4). The bird
is recorded also by Mr. W. E. Clarke from Fair Isle with
no data {t.c, p. 53), and in " some numbers " {t.c, p. 54),

292 BRITISH BIRDS.

from the mainland, presumably, but unfortunately no data
are -given.

Mr. W. Evans kindl}^ informs me {in Hit.) that lie obtained a
specimen of this form near Dunbar (Haddington) on October
29th, 1910, and submitted it to Dr. Hartert, who confirmed
the identification. Holboll's Redpoll has very seldom been
recorded from the British Islands (c/. Vol. I., p. 182), and
never before so far as I know from Scotland, though it has
doubtless occurred and has escaped detection.

Mr. F. W. Frohawk has very kindly shown me a male
specimen of this form which was caught at Cambridge on
December 12th, 1910, and identified by him.

I have referred above to this form being a doubtful one.
It differs from the typical bird only by its larger bill and
longer wing, but it is well kno\\'n that the measurements
vary, and some birds with large bills have short wings and
vice versa. Moreover in Russian Lapland in 1899 I found
both forms with nests on the same breeding-grounds, and
shot both forms out of the same little family-parties. At
the same time until the question is finally decided, specimens
with the characters of L. I. holboeUi should be carefully
recorded. — H.F.W.

CouEs's Redpoll at Fair Isle. — Coues's Redpoll {L.
hornemanni exilipes) is also recorded by Mr. W. E. Clarke
{i.e., p. 53) from Fair Isle, but no data are given. This
Redpoll has previouslv only been known from Yorkshire
(cf. Vol. I., p. 183).

Northern Bullfinches in Scotland. — With reference
to the notes {supra, pp. 211 and 250) on the occurrence of
P. p. pyrrhula in Shetland and Yorkshire, several are recorded
from the Isle of May (October 22nd, 1910, two ; October 26th,
two ; November 2nd, one) by Miss E. V. Baxter and Miss
L. J. Rintoul {Ann. S.N.H., 1911, p. 4), and others were
reported from Unst (Shetland) and Fair Isle to Mr. W. Eagle
Clarke, who remarks that they seem to have been first noticed
on October 24th, and that in some localities as many as ten
were seen on single days {t.c, p. 54). We could have Avished
for more details of these interesting occurrences.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers Breeding in Scotland. —
With reference to the note on this subject on page 256 and
Mr. Millais's observations in Perthshire, Mr. J. B. Dobbie
MTites me that the bird has to his certain knowledge nested
in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld since 1907 and probably
before. Mr. Dobbie also informs me that Mr. George Black-

NOTES. 293

wood is convinced that not less than twenty pairs nest annually
in that district. This observation should be compared with
other Perthshire nesting-records in 1907 (Vol. I., p. 281) ;
while Mr. Harvie-Bro\\'n has already showTi that the bird
had reached Dunkeld m 1908 (.4rm. S.N.H., 1908, p. 212).—
H.F.W.

Supposed Lesser Kestrel in Lincolnshire. — In the
Naturalist (1910, p. 345) Mr. C. S. Carter recorded that an
immature female Falco cenchris had been shot at Grainthorpe
on October 9th, 1909. Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh has, however,
examined the specimen and finds it to be a common Kestrel
in rather worn and faded plumage.

Glossy Ibis in the Outer Hebrides. — -A Glossy Ibis
(Plegadis falcinellus) is recorded by Mr. H. Newton {Field,
10. xii. 1910, p. 1094) as having been shot in South Uist
" last month " {i.e., November, 1910).

The late Charles Kingsley Siddall. — It is with much
regret that we record the death, which took place on November
16th, 1910, of Charles Kingsley Siddall, at the age of thirty-
two years. Mr. Siddall was a contributor of useful notes
to our pages, and we have received an interesting little
memorial tribute from his parents in the shape of an
illustrated booklet containing some of his observations,
and entitled Bird-Life in a Suburban Garden.

KTWm

Report on the Immigrations of Summer Residents i7i the Spring
of 1909 ; also Notes on the Migratory Movements and
Records received from Lighthouses and Light-vessels during
the Autumn of 1908. By the Committee appointed by
the Britisli Ornithologists' Club. (Forming Vol. XXVI.,
Bull. B.O.C. Edited by W. R. Ogilvie-Grant.) 25 Maps.
Witherby & Co. 6s.

This, the Fifth Report of the B.O.C. Migration Committee,
will be welcomed by all students of migration. It is in the
same form as the previous volume, but is considerably more
bulky, chiefly by reason of a great increase in the records for
the autumn of 1908, and in the separate chronological accounts
of the movements at the Lights in the sj^ring of 1909 and
in the autumn of 1908. There seems to us little benefit
to be derived from these separate accounts of the movements
at the Lights, since all the information is contained in other
parts of the reports, and pages 191-221 and 279-331 might,
perhaps, have been omitted. We are glad to see in this report
that the Committee have widened the scope of the inquiry
to include records published in current literature. It is
unfortunate that the Scottish sj^ring-records are not
available for the purposes of these B.O.C. Reports. In the
spring of 1909, for example, single Redstarts {R. phoenicurus)
were seen at extraordinarily early dates in Scotland,
at Fair Isle on March 22nd, and at Lerwick (Shetland)
on March 28th, while the first mainland Scottish record
came from Carmichael on April 19th {Ann. S.N.H., 1909,
p. 195) ; but in the Migration Report now under review
the bird is first recorded on April 4th (Hants), and in
the extreme north of England not until April 21st, two days
after the Scottish mainland record. On the other hand, the
Garden- Warbler {8. hortensis) is first recorded from Scotland
on May 10th {Ann. S.N.H., 1910, p. 196), although it had
reached Westmorland on April 27th. The Tree- Pipit {A.
trivialis) was noted on Fair Isle on April 6th, a few days after
its first appearance in the south of England, The House-
Martin (C. urhica) was seen in Scotland before it was noted
in the north of England, and it is evident that a careful com-
parison of the two sets of records would well repay the labour
involved, could some arrangement be made by the Migration
Committee to have access to the Scottish reports in time.

REVIEW. 295

Turning now to interesting items which may be parti-
cularized, we have the first Blackcap {S. atricapilla) recorded
from Lancashire on March 12th, the second from Northumber-
land on March 15th, and the third from Hampshire on March
17th, and the next not until April 2nd. It seems clear that
these three early individuals had wintered not far away.
A Chiffchaff, another bird which occasionally winters here
(c/. Vol. II., p. 247 ; Vol. IV., p. 30), was observed in Cornwall
on February 3rd, and these winter Chiffchaffs, as suggested
above on page 30, may possibly be P. tristis. A Common
Sandpiper {T. hypoleucus) in Lancashire on March 21st may
also refer to a bird which had wintered in our islands.
Fieldfares {T. pilaris) are recorded up to May 19th in
Cumberland and Cheshire, and to May 23rd (in flocks) in
Northamptonshire. Reed- Warblers (^4. streperus) were seen
in Buckinghamshire on April 5th — an early date. A Wryneck
(/. torquilla) is recorded from Durham on May 13th and one
from Cornwall on May 9th. Cuckoos (C. canorus) are recorded
in March from Sussex on the 27th, in Cornwall on the 29th,
in Surrey and Yorkshire on the 31st. The Land-Rail
(C. pratensis) was again very scarce in the south-eastern
counties. A Bluethroat (C. suecica) is recorded from the
Shipwash Light-vessel (Suffolk) on the night of March 22nd.
Black Redstarts {R. titys) were seen in Kent on April 15th,
and in Yorkshire on the 24th. A Great Grey Shrike [L.
excubitor) was seen at Monachty (Cardigan) on May 8th,
and a Golden Oriole {0. galhula) at Penrhyndeudraeth
(Merioneth) on May 8th. A good many Honey-Buzzards
(P. apivorus) are recorded for September and October, 1908,
Two Garganeys [Q. circia) were seen near the Land's End on
May 5th. Two Scoters {CE. nigra) were seen at Northwood
(Middlesex) on April 24th. A Grey Phalarope {P . fulicarius)
was killed and " many " were seen at the Smalls Light
(Pembrokeshire) on the night of October 23rd, 1908.

H.F.W.

LETTERS

To the Editors of British Birds.
THE " IRISH JAY."

Sirs, — The first reference to the coloration of Irish specimens
■of the common EngUsh Jay is in a MS. note of the late Mr. A. G. More
in his owTi interleaved copy in mj^ possession of his List of Irish Birds
■contained in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin, 1885. It runs thus : —
" The Irish Jay is of a warmer and richer colour than the English
bird. E.W." " E.W." stands for Edward Williams, whose practical
knowledge of Irish birds was extensive and reliable. The inference
of doubt due to the word " thinks " in the quotation in British Birds,
Vol. IV., p. 234, is absent.

In the second edition of the same list, 1890, which contains the first
published mention of the distinction, it is referred to thus : — -" Mr.
Edward Williams has noticed that the Irish Jay is of a warmer and
richer colour than the English bird."

Thus it will be seen that Williams drew our attention nearly thirty
years ago to a distinction which we were since all familiar with, and
which is now made responsible for yet another trinomial in the British
bird list. The perplexity and confusion which have resulted from the
never-ending multiplication of varieties were, I suppose, inevitable,
but it will end in a common English name being the best method of
identification. Richd. M. B.ajirington.

Fassaroe, Bray,

To the Editors of British Birds.
WARBLER WITH DOUBLE-BARRED WIXG IX SUSSEX.

Sirs, — On December 31st, 1910, in the company of Midshipman
•Charles V. Jack, H.M.S. " Agamemnon " — a very competent and
careful field-naturalist — I was walking along the road between Seaford
and Litlington, Sussex, when my attention was drawn to a small,
warbler-like bird which was feeding in some low brambles quite close
to the roadside. It invariably tried to take its prey on the wing, but
the day was cold and raw, with a southerly wind, so that an occasional
gnat was its only chance.

We watched it for nearly fifteen minutes. The whole of the jjlumage
was oUve or greenish, including the breast, which, however, paled off
towards the belly. There was a very distinct white band over the eye,
and two bands on the wing, and the bird was in size midway between a
Goldcrest and a Willow- Wren, but was short and squat.

I took it to be a Yellow-browed Warbler, except that the breast was
so dark. Perhaps a correspondent can help me ? I tried to secure it
next day, but it was nowhere to be found.

I may say in conclusion that the Black Redstart is quite abundant
here this winter. Xorman Gilroy.

Seaford, Sussex.

BRiimDiRD:

EDITED BY II. E. AVITHERBY, E.Z.S., M.B.O.U,

assisted by

Eev. F. C. E,. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., and Norman F.

ticehurst, m.a., p.r.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents or Number 10, Vol. IV. March 1, 1911.

PAGE

On the DeveloiDment of a Young Kestrel, by A. Geoffrey Leigh 298
The Wood-Pigeon Diphtheria : 1909-10— III., by C. B.

Ticehurst,M.A.,M.R.C.S.,L.R.C.P., M.B.O.U. .. .. 304

Notes : —

" British Birds " Marking Scheme (H. F. W. ) . . . . 306

Removal of F^ces by Birds (Oliver G. Pike) . . . . 306

Extraordinary Nest Building (C. W. Colthrup) . . . . 307

Arrival of the Redstart in 1909 (C W. Colthrup) . . . . 308

Black Redstart in Carnarvonshire (R. W. Jone.^) . . . . 308

Black Redstart in Wigtownshire (John N. Kennedy) . . 309

Song-PeriodofDartford Warbler (Howard Bentham) .. 309

Chiff chaff in Kent in Winter (H. G. Alexander) . . . . 310

Brown-backed Warblers, not Grey-backed Warblers, in

Sussex and Kent (H. F. Witherby) . . . . . . 310

On the Nesting of the Tree-Sparrow (B. B. Hh iere) . . . . 311

Hooded Crows in Carnarvonshire (R. W.Jones) .. .. 313

Eggs of the Cuckoo (C. W. Colthrup) . . . . . . 313

The Diurnal Flight of the Barn-Owl (Eric B. Dunlop) . . 314

Montagu's Harrier in Norfolk (W. Portal) .. .. 315

Rough-legged Buzzard in Northumberland (J. M. Charlton) . . 315

ShaginSuffolk(Rev. Julian G. Tuck) .. .. .. 315

Gadwall in Surrey (Howard Bentham) .. .. .. 316

Red-crested Pochard in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . 316

TlireeEggsinaWood-Pigeon'sNest(C.W. Colthrup) .. 316

Stock-Dove Chasing a Jackdaw (Eric B. Dunlop) . . . . 316

Zone-marked Egg of Black-headed Gull (Howard Bentham) 317

Oyster-Catchers Following the Plough (Nevin H. Foster) . . 317

Early " Drumming" of Snipe (Tom Smith) .. .. 318

Short Notes : — Rare Birds at the Isle of May. White Wagtail
Breeding at Fair Isle. Early Breeding of the King-
fisher and Dipper in Derbyshire in 1910. Supposed
Spoonbill in co. Donegal. Supposed Occurrence of
the Spotted Sandpiper in Yorkshii-e. Wood-Sandpiper

in CO. Donegal .. .. .. •• •■ 318

Review : — The British Warblers — A History, with Problcriis

of their Lives . . . . . . . • • ■ 320

w

( 298 )
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUNG KESTREL.

BY

A. GEOFFREY LEIGH.

As up to the present little seems to be recorded regarding
the development and habits of nestlings and young birds,
perhaps a few notes on two young Kestrels [Falco
tinnunculus), which I reared last year, may be of interest
to readers of British Birds.

On May 23rd one of the keepers in the district where
I live showed me a nest of this species containing five
eggs, incubation having already commenced ; these
I examined occasionally during the next month, but it
was not until June 20th that I found any young, the nest
on that date containing two chicks and two addled eggs,
the fifth having disappeared. One of the nestlings had
its eyes well opened, and was covered with thick white
down, with the exception of a small naked patch on the
breast ; from subsequent observations I concluded that
it was seven days old. The other chick had evidently
only been out of the shell a few hours, the down being
much sparser and the eyes closed ; from the fact of this
bird being only just hatched, it is evident that in this
case incubation lasted about twenty-eight days.

Both adults being unfortunately killed, I took the two
chicks, and placed them in a box filled with sticks, with
a slight covering of dead grass, and for some time I fed
them on liver and bird-meat ; I had to have the elder
killed, owing to its breaking a leg, but the other, of which
I knew the exact age, I reared successfully, making careful
notes on the development of its plumage, which was as
follows :

Between the ages of seven and ten days the colour of
the down completely changed from white to warm light
brown. As the birds were in the nest during this time
I could not make very minute examinations, but I am
convinced that this was a change in colour only and not
a fresh growth of down. During the same period the

DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUNG KESTEEL. 299

blood-quills appeared on the tail and wings, the former
bursting on the twelfth day, the latter on the thirteenth.
Up to this age the area beneath the eye, and extending
from the beak to behind the orbit, had been devoid of
down, but on the sixteenth day pin-feathers appeared

FIG. 1. KESTREL. TWENTY-SEVEN DAYS OLD.

here, bursting the following day ; the scapulars also
appeared on the sixteenth day, the feathers of the rump
following a day later. At the age of eighteen days
the feathers of the flanks, thighs, breast and crown of the
head appeared, the tail and wing-coverts and mantle-
feathers being apparent on the nineteenth day. I
noticed that at this age the down and feather-scale pulled

300 BRITISH BIRDS.

off during preening was frequently swallowed ; perhaps
this was to accustom the digestive organs to the throwing-
up of pellets at a later date. By the time the bird
had reached the age of twenty-six days feathers had
appeared on all the tracts of the body, although still
plentifully mixed with down (see Fig. 1). This down
disappeared rapidly during the next week, and at the age
of thirty-three days remained only on the crown of the

FIG. 2. KESTREL. THIRTY-THREE DAYS OLD.

head, scapulars, rump, and at the bases of the flight-
feathers (see Fig. 2), although with the older bird (which
I had to have killed) it continued on the forehead and not
the crown. The down on the head was very obstinate,
and was not altogether gone until the forty-ninth day,
although that on the body was gone at the age of forty-one
days.

Between the ages of thirty-three and forty-seven
days the bird grew very rapidly in size, the flight-feathers

DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUNG KESTEEL. 801

and tail lengthening considerably, especially the former ;
this can be well seen by noticing the comparative lengths
of the wings and tail shown in Fig. 2 (thirty-three days
old) and Fig. 3 (forty-seven days old). In the latter
two or three small tufts of down are still adhering to the
feathers of the crown.

With regard to the gradual acquisition of the full
powers of the adult Kestrel I made the following notes.

FIG. 3. KESTREL. FORTY-SEVEN DAYS OLD.

The meat upon which the chicks were at first fed was
held in the beak while the tongue was thrust out beneath
it, and then quickly withdrawn, so that the tongue-spurs,
catching in front of the meat, dragged it into the mouth.
It may be noted that the coloration of the tongue was
very interesting, being salmon-pink with black spurs,
and a transverse black bar between them and the tip.

As soon as the chick could stand up, at the age of
sixteen days, the muscles of the legs must have developed

302 BRITISH BIRDS.

very rapidly, for on the following day it was able to stand
on a plucked bird, previously cut open, and tear it to
pieces. After this I had verj^ little trouble with it, for
six days later it ate an entire bird with only the larger
feathers removed. By this time it threw up castings,
composed of the bones and feathers of the birds I gave it,
and also of the wing-cases of beetles which it must have
captured itself.

Its method of eatmg a bird was always preciseh^ the
same, the head being attacked and eaten first, after which
the body was plucked leisurely, the youngster regalmg
itself from time to time with small pieces of meat from the
breast and neck. The whole of the body being plucked
almost clean, the wings were torn off and swallowed,
followed b}^ the legs, claws and all, then the breast, and,
finally, the abdomen. Several times I noticed it
deliberately swallow a flight- or tail-feather, as though
under the impression that it was necessar}^ for its well-
being to do so — perhaps to bind together the castings.
The beaks of strong-billed birds were carefully separated
from the skull and rejected, as were also the sternum and
cranium of any large bird, though these only after they
had been " nibbled " clean of meat.

With regard to the acquirement of the power of flight,
the wings were exercised freely from the sixteenth day
onwards, the bird eventually succeedmg in raising itseK
by them for a few seconds and, at the age of thirty-two
days, flying to the top of its deserted pen, a height of
about three and a half feet. The foUowdng day it made
several flights, one of at least fifty yards, and from that
time it flew round the garden constantly, in possession of
its fuU liberty.

The way in which the art of hovering was acquned was
interesting, the bird spreading its wings, either whfle
perching or on the ground, and as soon as a gust of wmd
came rising two or three inches and beating the wings
vigorously, supported b}^ the A\ind. In this way it
eventually learnt to hover at wiU, and was seen to drop

DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUNG KESTREL. 303

on prey from a height of about thirty feet at the age of
forty-three days.

I have elsewhere referred to the fact that the Kestrel
captured beetles, and these with worms formed its food
when first I stopped feeding it regularly. When captured
the beetle was held in one foot and the head nipped off,
the wing-cases being then removed and sometimes eaten,
and the body following last. Worms were simply held
while being pulled into pieces small enough to swallow
conveniently. When not hungry the bird frequently
played with its prey like a kitten, tapping it with its
clenched foot, running round it as it crawled away, and
jerking the head back, exactly as does the domestic cat.
When beetles or worms were not forthcoming, a stone
or piece of wood served its purpose equally well.

The Kestrel always showed great interest in birds of
all species, and especially Swallows and Martins ; it made
several unsuccessful attempts to capture these, but
apparently concluding that they were too quick, it turned
its attention to birds of less powerful flight, and at the
age of forty-nine days succeeded in killing two — a Robin
and a Warbler. From this age it fed itself entirely, and
eventually disappeared on August 12th, being then fifty-
four days old.

( 304 )
THE WOOD-PIGEON DIPHTHERIA: 1909-10.— III.

BY
C. B. TICEHURST, m.a., m.b.c.s., l.e.c.p., m.b.o.u.

During the winter of 1909-10 the readers of British
Birds were asked to make notes of the occurrence of
Wood-Pigeon Diphtheria, and send in their results on the
schedules provided. Of fifty communications sent in
thirty gave positive evidence of the disease, while the re-
mainder were negative. I must here thank those who
have so kindly assisted by sending in schedules.

During 1908-9 there was evidence only from eight
localities of this disease whereas in 1907-8 there was a
marked epidemic.-" During 1909-10 the numbers of
Wood-Pigeons affected did not come up to those of 1907-8,
though there were considerably more than in 1908-9.

Geographical Distribution. — As in 1907-8 most of
the records of any numbers of Wood-Pigeons suffering
from disease came from the south-eastern counties,
though the distribution was not so markedly confined to
the neighbourhood of the Thames Valley as it was then.
The chief centre seemed again to be in the following
counties : Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire,
Hampshire and Wiltshire, and numbers of diseased birds
were noted at tAvo places in Kent and Sussex, and some
in Surrey, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Further
west there were records of a fair number in Dorset and
Devonshire, and many at one place in Gloucestershire.
Further north sporadic cases were reported from
Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and from several
places in Norfolk, a iew in Cheshire, while fair numbers
were reported from one place in southern Westmoreland.
From Scotland and Ireland only (very few) negative
reports were received.

General Remarks. — Out of fifty reports received,
only eight indicated that Wood-Pigeons were more

* For the results of the first enquiry see Vol. II., pp. 69-77 ; and for
the second Vol., IIL, pp. 213-214.

WOOD-PIGEON DIPHTHEEIA. 305

numerous than in past years ; in three of these places,
in northern Lincohishire, south-west Surrey and eastern
Morayshire — there was no evidence of disease ; in the
remaining five locahties — in Dorset, Gloucestershire,
Norfolk, Berkshire and Hertfordshire — fair numbers of
diseased birds were noted, except in Norfolk.

The counties from which reports were received indicat-
ing a high percentage of disease were Hertfordshire,
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Devonshire,
Dorset, Gloucestershire, Sussex, Kent, and Westmoreland,
but the numbers in these counties did not seem to
approach those noted in 1907-8. Most observers agreed
that the numbers of immigrant Wood-Pigeons were much
fewer than usual, and in some places none came at all ;
and it seems clear from the evidence of two observers,
that in at least two localities the disease broke out in
native birds, though in a few other cases it was remarked
that there was no disease until migrants from elsewhere
appeared. Though some occurrences were recorded in
November and December, the majority of cases seemed
to have occurred in January and February. Both old
and young birds were noted to be affected, and one
observer found a nestling in November with the disease.

The supply of acorns and beech-mast seems in most
places to have been an average one, but in parts of
Devonshire and Norfolk acorns were apparently more
plentiful than usual, and the same applies to the beech-
mast in parts of Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Devon-
shire.

There was no evidence in the reports received of trans-
mission of the disease, and no record of any other species
being found dead of this disease ; and two observers
stated that where the disease was noted, although
numbers of game and other birds abounded, no birds
except Wood-Pigeons were found affected.

OTES

" BRITISH BIRDS " MARKING SCHEME.

In addition to those already acknowledged, I have received
subscriptions towards the expenses of the " Marking Scheme "
from the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, Mr. W. Mayall (third
subscription), Mr. Howard Bentham, Mr. M. Portal, Mr. W.
Davies, Mr. C. F. Archibald and Miss M. Garnett.

I am very glad to be able to report that the response to
m}^ appeal for funds towards the expenses of the Marking
Scheme has been sufficiently encouragmg to enable me to
decide to issue whatever rings may be required for the coming
season. I should mention, however, that the amount received
does not yet cover the costs incurred last j'car, so that more
subscriptions will be most welcome.

By the advice of several experienced " ringers," I am making
certain alterations in last year's arrangements.

1st. A list of birds with the size of ring suitable for each
will be issued.

2nd. The sizes will be designated by numbers, and new
sizes will be introduced as follows : —

No. 1 size = former " small " size.

No. 2 size = former " medium " size.

No. 3 size is a new size for Black-headed Gulls, etc.

No. 4 size = former " large " size.

No. 5 size is a new size for Gannets, Cormorants, etc.
3rd. The " instructions " on the back of the schedules
have been revised, and should be carefully read.

All those who are Avilling to assist in the ringing this year
should apply for a list of the birds, so that they can determine
how many rings of each size they Avill require. Those who
have rings and schedules left over from last j-ear should use
these before apptying for new ones. H.F.W.

REMOVAL OF F.^CES BY BIRDS.

In reference to the notes that have appeared on this subject?
it may interest readers of British Birds to know that my
experience is that it is only the female birds that swallow
the fceces. The female Song-Thrush nearly always swallows
them, and I am inclmed to think that these form her chief
food-sui)j)ly during the time of feeding the young. My
bioscope pictures clearly show how she Mill wait at the nest

NOTES. 807

after feeding and ravenously snatch up the fceces, while the
male bird carries them away. This also applies to the Black-
bird. The female Chaffinch will swallow them ; the male
picks them up and drops them some distance away from the
nest. Also the Linnet. All the Warblers that I have watched
seem to carry them away. Oliver G. Pike.

[There is evidently considerable individual variation in
this habit. In 1897 when I first observed the habit in the
Mistle-Thrush I noted that both parent-birds undoubtedly
swallowed the fceces of the young in the nest I watched, and
I suggested that the habit might save the time of the parent-
birds in procuring food for themselves, since there was likely
to be nourishment in the fceces {cf. Knowledge, 1898, p. 66).
Writing of a pair of Blackbirds, wliicli he watched incessantly
for a whole day, T. D. Weir states (MacGillivray, British
Birds, II., J). 96), " except in one or two instances, the Black-
birds swallowed all the droppings of their brood" He makes
the same observation concerning the Mistle-Thrush (p. 124)
and the Song-Thrush (p. 138), and it is clear that in all three
cases both parent-birds are referred to.— H.F.W.]

EXTRAORDINARY NEST-BUILDING.

On April 22nd, 1906, 1 was walking along a hedge near Croydon
when I came across a couple of Hedge-Sparrows {Accentor
modularis) in a very excited state and vociferating loudly.
I watched for a time to see what was the cause of it, thinking
that some enemy was near. I found, however, that each
bird was building a separate nest in the hedge, and so close
together that the nests were touching. The birds were not
quarrelling, and from their actions I should judge them to be
a pair. The photograph here reproduced shows the nests,
which, however, were never finished, nor were eggs laid in
them.

Another case of extraordinary nest-building came under
my notice at a farm in Hampshire in the spring of 1905. In
this case a pair of Chaffinches {Fringilla coelebs) made no less
than nineteen attempts at nest-building, two of which resulted
in finished nests. In one of these a brood of young was hatched,
and afterwards deserted owing to the nest being inspected by
one of the men on the farm.

The nests were built in an open cowshed, along the front
of which ran a beam supporting the rafters which held the
roof. The nests were placed on this beam in between the
rafters. Those at either end of the beam were mere founda-
tions about an inch high, but as the middle of the beam was

308

BRITISH BIRDS.

reached the nests on either side became larger and more
finished, the two central ones being quite finished. These
were not secured to the beam in any way, and could be taken
out and replaced without injury. C. W. Colthrup.

"--^Mi

'^^^^irn^.

'M^misi

TWO NESTS BUILT SIDE BY SIDE BY ONE PAIR OF

HEDGE-SPARROWS.

(Photogi-a})hed hy C. W. Colthrup.)

ARRIVAL OF THE REDSTART IN 1909.
With regard to the remarks on the date of the arrival of the
Redstart [Ridicilla phmnicurus) in the spring of 1909, in the
review of the last B.O.C. Migration Re/port [supra p. 294), it
may be worth noting that I saw one at East Dulwich on
March 28th in that year. C. W. Colthrup

BLACK REDSTART IN CARNARVONSHIRE.

On December 27th, 1910, I was sauntering on the Great
Orme's Head, North Wales, and at a spot locally known as
Pentrwyn I glanced from the walled road, which encircles
the headland, do^^^lward at the sea, and simultaneously a

NOTES. 309

female Black Redstart {Ruticilla titys) flew from a heap of
stones near the base of the seaward side of the wall, but alighted
a few yards further along the cliff. Though the bird was not
a moment at rest, I had three or four excellent views of it
through ray binoculars before it disappeared.

A Black Redstart was seen on Traeth Mawr in 1888 (c/.
Vert. Fauna N. Wales, p. 82), but, as I am unable to tell
whether it was on the Carnarvonsliire or the Merionethshire
side of the estuary, I cannot readily say whether the present
record is the first or second for the county. Perhaps Mr.
Haigli will place the matter beyond dispute ?

R. W. Jones.

[Mr. Caton Haigh informs us that this bird was got on the
Merionethshire side. — Eds.]

BLACK REDSTART IN WIGTOWNSHIRE.

I HAVE to record an occurrence of the Black Redstart [Ruticilla
titys) — the first, I beHeve, for Wigtownshire. On January
15th, 1911, while walking over a piece of rocky waste-ground
near the sea, about a mile to the south of the little village of
Port Patrick, I flushed the bird, and before it disappeared
over a hillock I caught a glimpse of the reddish colouring of
its tail. I followed and when it rose again, distinct^ saw
the reddish tail. As the bird was rather shy I approached
again cautiously, and watched within a few yards for several
moments before it flew off. It was very nearly as large as a
Rock-Pipit, the back, wings and head being of a brownish
grey. When it flew off again, I saw quite plainly the reddish-
chestnut outer tail-feathers, the rump being of the same
colour. I saw the bird once more at close- quarters before it
flew down to the rocky slopes at the base of the cliff, but,
although I climbed down after it, I did not find it again.

John N. Kennedy.

SONG-PERIOD OF DARTFORD WARBLER.

With reference to the Messrs. Alexander's interesting article
on the song-period of birds (pp. 274-8), the following notes
regarding the Dartford Warbler [Sylvia undata), which
are based on four years' observation in Surrey, will perhaps
be of interest.

The bird sings occasionally during the latter half of March,
under favourable weather-conditions ; regularly from early
April to the middle of July, especially towards evening ; less
frequently during the last two weeks of July, and casually
in the first few days of August.

310 BRITISH BIKDS.

I have heard the song on a few occasions during September,
but further observations are necessary before I can pubhsh
a decisive statement as to the period of autumnal singing.

Howard Bentham.

CHIFFCHAFF IN KENT IN WINTER.

On December 19th, 1910, near Tunbridge Wells, I saw a
ChiffchafF (Phylloscopus rufus) which seemed to be quite
vigorous and in good plumage. It was uttering the usual
call-notes (not the song) frequently, and I noticed that it was
distinctly j^ellowish on the breast ; these two facts seem
sufficient proof that it was not Phylloscopus tristis. I also
saw the dark legs, and so knew that the bird Avas not a WilloAv-
Wren. A few days later I saw what I sui:)pose to have been
the same bird quite half-a-mile from the original spot, but on
January 1st it Avas at exactly the same spot as on December
19th. Since then it seems to have disappeared.

H. G. Alexander.

BROWN-BACKED WARBLERS, NOT GREY-BACKED
WARBLERS, IN SUSSEX AND KENT.

At the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club held on
November 16th, 1910, Mr. A. F. Griffith exhibited a siDecimen
of a Warbler which he identified as the Grey-backed Warbler
[Aedon familiar is, Menetr.) The bird was an adult male, and
had been shot at Ninfield, Sussex, on May 13th, 1910. It
was examined in the flesh by Mr. L. C. Edwards at the shop
of Mr. Bristow, taxidermist, St. Leonards, and had subse-
quentlv been jjurchased by Mr. Griffith and presented by him
to the Booth Museum at Brighton [cf. Bull. B.O.C., XXVII.,
p. 29). Dr. Hartert has examined this specimen and finds
that it is undoubted^ of the race called A . galactodes syriacus
(Hempr. and Ehr.), which is distributed from Herzegovina
and southern Dalmatia throughout Greece to Asia Minor
and northern Syria. A. g. familiaris, which is decidedly
greyer and less brown on the upper-parts than A. g. syriacus,
has a more eastern range, being found in the south Caucasus,
Persia, Mesopotamia, Transcaspia, Turkestan, Afghanistan
and Baluchistan. The Rufous Warbler (A. g. galactodes) is
very much more rufous on the ujiper-jiarts than either of the
forms mentioned above, and is found in Portugal, southern
Spain and north-west Africa. A. g. syriacus, the new bird to the
British list, ma}' perhaps be called the Brown-backed Warbler.
It will be remembered that Mr. J. B. Nichols recorded and
figured in our first volume (p. 257) the first British specimen
of a bird identified as the Grey-backed Warbler {A. g.

NOTES. 311

familiaris). This bird was shot at Hythe, Kent, on July 15th,
1907, and Mr. Nichols has very kindly allowed me to examine
it and compare it with specimens of A. g. syriacus, kindly
lent to me by Dr. Hartert. I find that this bird also is clearly
of this form, and is much browner and darker than specimens
of A. g. familiaris from Persia in my collection. The Grey-
backed Warbler must thus come off the British list and be
replaced by the Brown-backed Warbler {A. g. syriacus)
represented by these two specimens. H. F. Witherby.

ON THE NESTING OF THE TREE-SPARROW.

In February, 1910, I had some nesting-boxes made — de-
signedly for the use of Tits — and put them up in an orchard,
about eiglit miles from Norwich. The commonness of the
Tree-Sparrow {Passer montanus) in this particular district
caused me some misgivings as to their ultimate success, so
far as the encouragement of Tits went ; and these mis-
givings were fully jastified. Out of seven boxes, one remained
emiDty, one was successfully occupied by a pair of Nuthatches,
whilst Tree-Sparrows obtained possession of the remaining five.
As the observations made upon these five boxes are not, I
think, without some slight points of interest as regards the
nesting-habits of this bird, I am venturing to give them in
diary-form. The points of interest to which I allude are : —

1. The long interval of time between the building of the
nest and the laying of the eggs.

2. The fact, which I have never myself seen definitely stated,
of the light-coloured egg in the clutch being the last egg laid.

3. The success displayed in ejecting other birds from their
selected nesting-site.

Box 1. March 16th. — Half-finished Tree-Sparrow's nest
in box. March 2&t\\. — Nest added to. April Qt\\. — Apparently
finished ; copious lining of feathers. April 21st. — Nest
empty ; pei-haps still more feathers added. April 26th-
May 9th.— No change; still empty. May 20th.— Three
eggs (ordinary type). May 21st. — Four eggs (ordinary type).
May 22nd. — Five eggs (one light one).

Box 2. April 6th.— Empty. April 26th. —Half -built
Tree-Sparrow's nest. May 3rd.— Nest finished; large
quantity of feathers. May 9th-15th.— Unchanged ; nest
empty. May 20th.— Four eggs (ordinary type) . May 22nd—
Five eggs (one light one).

Box 3. March 16th.— Half -built Tree-Sparrow's nest.
March 26th. — Nest apparently almost finished. April 6th. —
Nest finished; plenty of feathers. April 21st.— Nest still

312 BRITISH BIRDS.

empty. April 26th. — Nest pulled out by my orders. May
3rd. — A Blue Tit's nest in the box, containing two eggs.
May 9th. — Blue Tit dead and squashed flat in the nest on top
of four eggs, and a Tree-Sparrow's nest built over it. May
15th. — Tree-Sparrow's nest contains one egg (ordinary dark
type). May 20tli. — Five eggs (one light one).

Box 4. April 2l8t.— Pair of Great Tits building. May
3rd. — Great Tit's nest finished. May 9th. — Nest still empty,
and some loose pieces of dry grass added to it, not worked into
the nest but laid upon the top of it. May 15th. — A Tree-
Sparrow sitting upon the box, and inside a nearly finished
nest built on top of the Great Tit's nest. May 20th. — Nest
apparently finished, but no eggs.

Box 5. March 16th. — Half-finished Tree-Sparrow's nest.
April 6th. — Nest apparently finished ; plenty of feathers.
April 2lst-May 3rd. — ^No change. 3Iay 9th. — I pulled out
the nest. May 15th.— House-Sparrow's nest, with four eggs.

In this last case it may be thought that the original nest
was the work of the House-Sparrows, but I had frequently
seen a pair of Tree-Sparrows about this box, and think the
early nest belonged to them. In this particular district the
Tree-Sparrow is well named, all the nests I have found being
in holes in trees, whilst the tiles of the buildings are mono-
polized by House-Sparrows. The tenant of the orchard
wherein my nesting-boxes were hung, took from under the
tiles of his house eighty House-Sparrows' eggs on May 20th,
and one hundred on June 3rd.

As regards the time of nesting of the Tree-Sparrow, Howard
Saunders in his Manual writes : — " Two and even three broods
are reared in the season, the first being hatched about the
middle of April." I have never found Tree-Sparrows' eggs in
Norfolk earlier than May 20th, though 1 have looked for them
in their usual nesting-haunts from the beginning of April on-
wards. Seeing the birds busily building at the latter end of
March, one might easily be led to the conclusion that they were
early layers, but that this conclusion would not necessarily be a
correct one the above notes, 1 think, go to show.

B. B. Riviere.

[Mr. Riviere's note is of considerable interest, as it aj^pears
to explain an apparent discrepancy in the accounts of the
breeding-habits of this species. I have always found it to be
rather a late breeder, like the House-Sparrow (except under
artificial conditions, such as in steam-heated engine-sheds).
The first eggs are generally laid about mid-May in t!ie south of

NOTES. 313

England, but in the Midlands mostly towards the end of May,
and in the Shetlands and S. Kildanot till the third week in June.
Yet Mr. J. W. Fawcett, writing in the Naturalist for 1890
(p. 353), states that in Durham the nesting-season begins at
the end of February or in March, if the weather be favourable ;
but if backward, not till the end of March or the beginning of
April ! In all probability nest-building is carried on at
these periods, but the eggs are not laid till considerably
later. The period during which the nest remains empty ap-
pears to be very variable (from two to six weeks in the cases
quoted by Mr. Riviere), and further observations on this point
would be useful, as well as with regard to the question as to
whether the light-coloured egg is always the last to be laid.
Mr. Riviere is, however, not the first to make this assertion,
for the late Dr. Rey states in his work on the Eggs of Middle-
European Birds that the light-coloured eggs of both Tree and
House-Sparrow are without exception the last laid eggs in
the clutch (p. 305 and 308).— F.C.R.J.]

HOODED CROWS IN CARNARVONSHIRE.

Since the visitations of the Hooded Crow [Corvus comix) not
only to Carnarvonshire but also to the other most northerly
counties in Wales are so exceptional, the fact that a pair were
seen on December 31st, 1910, on the Carnarvonshire side of
the Rhos-on-Sea golf-links (through Mhich the county boundary
runs) will doubtless prove of interest to many ornithologists.
They were observed by Mr. T. A. Goodfellow, of Gloddaeth,
for the accuracy of whose identification I can vouch. On
January 7th, 1911, he saw a single "hoodie" at the same
place, but he prefers to think that it was one of the pair which
were seen just a week earlier. R. W. Jones.

EGGS OF THE CUCKOO.

In Vol. 2 p. 424) I gave some notes on Cuckoos' eggs found
in 1908.

On June 14th, 1909, I visited the locahty in Surrey where I
found the eggs numbered 2 and 5, and again discovered a
Cuckoo's egg in the nest of a Tree-Pipit the exact counterpart
of Nos. 2 and 5 ; and as the eggs are of a type not commonly
seen, I think it fair to assume that the same bird visited the
locality again in 1909.

In the New Forest, Hampshire, on June 7th, 1909, I found
a Tree-Pipit's nest containing three eggs of the red-spotted
form and a Cuckoo's egg. I removed the latter and one of the
former, and on returning to the place later in the day found
the Tree-Pipit still on the nest. On visiting the nest the next

314 BRITISH BIRDS.

day, both the remaining eggs were sucked. On the same day
I found another Tree-Pipit's nest, containing three eggs of the
grey-blotched type, and a rather small Cuckoo's egg with a
pale cream ground-colour, sprinkled all over with small dark
spots, usually only sparingly present on Cuckoos' eggs.

That Cuckoos do not always remove one or two of the eggs
of the foster-parents, I think is proved by the fact that at the
end of June, 1910, I found in Sussex a nest containing seven
eggs of the Tree-Pipit and one Cuckoo's egg, all of which were
well incubated.

On June 21st, 1910, in Surrey, I found a Pied Wagtail's nest
containing three rather small eggs and tAvo Cuckoos' eggs.
One of the latter was large and similar to a Skylark's egg,
with a zone of darker brown markings round the larger end
and a few small dark spots characteristic of Cuckoos' eggs.
The other Cuckoo's egg was smaller, with the ground-colour
similar to that of a Pied Wagtail's egg, with large
blotches on the larger end. The top of the egg was capped
with a patch of violet-grey markings, and a few small dark spots
were also distributed sparinglv over the egg. A friend of mine
in Sussex gave me a clutch of four Red-backed Shrike's eggs
and a Cuckoo's egg taken from the nest on June 4th, 1910.
The Cuckoo's egg is very striking : the ground-colour is a
pale pink and the usual markings of a rich red-brown, very
like those on some Kestrels' eggs ; the usual characteristic
smaU spots are also of an intense red-brown.

C. W. COLTHRUP.

THE DIURNAL FLIGHT OF THE BARN-OWL.

The Barn-Owl {Strix flammea) has been regarded by many
as a purely night-flying bird, having been given the reputation
of being utterly unable to see its way about by the hght of
day ; a few notes on its diurnal flight may therefore be of
interest.

The period at which this si^ecies may be most often seen
abroad whilst the sun is yet high in the heavens, is wlien there
are young to provide for. At such a time I have frequently
known the Barn-Owl to make flights far from home throughout
a summer's day, obviously not in the least incommoded by
the brilhant sunshine. Indeed, its vision must be very acute,
for it may be seen to f)ounce and secure some luckless rodent
from amongst the herbage, where its presence cannot possibly
be an easy matter to detect. I have also known it convey
food to its sitting mate (before any of the eggs had hatched)
during the daytime.

NOTES. 315

Exceptionally, I have known this Owl behave in a similar
manner during the winter months. On January 28th, 1910,
there was a very heavy fall of snow accomj)anied by a strong
wind; many large drifts were formed. On the 29th, at 3 p.m.,
a Barn-Owl was noted hunting over the fields, and the following
day at the same hour a bird of this species was behaving in a
similar manner in another locality. No doubt these birds had
been prevented by the storm from securing sufficient food at
night, and so were impelled by hunger to come out in the
Hght of day.

When a Barn-Owl is suddenly disturbed from its dark retreat
during the hours of dayhght, it naturally cannot see distinctly
until the iris has become adapted to the stronger hght,
and so it blunders in' its flight ; this, no doubt, has given rise
to the idea that this species cannot see except between sunset
and sunrise. Eric B. Dunlop.

[Waterton wrote {Nat. Hist. Essays, p. 274. Ed. N. Moore):
" I have repeatedly seen it catch mice in the daytime, even
when the sun shone bright." — Eds.]

MONTAGU'S HARRIER IN NORFOLK.

A MALE Montagu's Harrier {Circus cineraceus), in immature
plumage, was found dead at Weeting Hall, near Brandon,
Norfolk, last autumn, having hit a telegraph-wire. Possibly
this was one of those which were protected at great cost on
one of the Broads last year, and were successfully reared

W. Portal.
ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD IN NORTHUMBERLAND.
On November 14th, 1910, an immature male Rough-legged
Buzzard {Buteo lagopus) was shot at Seaton-Delaval, Northum-
berland. The bird was a very dark specimen, and had been
observed in the neighbourhood for a fortnight.

J. M. Charlton.
SHAG IN SUFFOLK.

On January 23rd, 1911, an immature Shag {Phalacrocorax
graculus) was sent to me by post with a request to name it,
and the following account of its capture : — " My son was
riding his bicycle home the other evening about 7.30, and
the bird seemed dazzled by the lamp, and flew up against it.
He jumped off and caught it, and the next morning I cut the
wing-feathers and turned it into a very large pond which I
have in front of my house. Unfortunately this was partially
frozen over, and the bird dived and got under the ice, and was
drowned." This occurred near Lavenham in west Suffolk
about thirty-two miles from the sea. Julian G. Tuck.

816 BRITISH BIRDS.

GADWALL IN SURREY.

On August 14th, 1910, and again on the 28th, I noticed four
Gadwall {Anas strepera) amongst a large flock of ]\Iallard
frequenting a pond in the neighbourhood of Lingficld. The
two species, although consorting with one another when on
the water, usually kept strictly apart whilst circling rajDidly
overhead, the actions of the Gadwall on the wing very closely
resembhng those of the Mallard.

Although hable to be overlooked, unless seen in flight,
when the white wing-spot is a prominent feature, the Gadwall
is certainly a very infrequent visitor to Surrey at the present
day. HowAED Bentham.

RED-CRESTED POCHARDS IN SUSSEX.

TowAEDS the end of January, 1911, a flock of Red-crested
Pochards {Netta rufina), consisting of fourteen or sixteen
birds, settled on the Marsh near Boreham Bridge, Sussex.
A duck and drake were shot on Januarj^ 17th, and another
drake on February 5th. As far as I know at present these
are the only three that have been shot, and they ^\•ere preserved
by Mr. Bristow, who kindly gave me an opportunity of seeing
them. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

THREE EGGS IN A WOOD-PIGEON'S NEST.

At Brighton, Sussex, on May 13th, 1909, I flushed a Wood-
Pigeon {Columba palumbus) off a nest containing three eggs
shghtly incubated. C W. Colthrup.

[Records of three and four eggs in the nests of Wood-Pigeons
were given on p. 155 of this volume. — Eds.]

STOCK-DOVE CHASING A JACKDAW.

On April 21st, 1904, when visiting some rocks in which both
Stock-Doves (C. ceiias) and Jackdaws (C. monedula) breed, I
was witness of rather an unusual incident.

One of the Stock-Doves was seen to chase a Jackdaw for
some distance ; another Jackdaw joined the birds, and subse-
quently several more. A Jackdaw struck the Stock-Dove,
knocking a number of feathers out of it ; the latter bird then
flew off. Whether the Jackdaw Avhich Avas pursued had
made an attempt upon the Stock-Dove's eggs, I am unable to
ssi-y, but it seems probable that the Stock-Dove acted in this
unusual manner in defence of its nest.

A somewhat similar case of a Wood-Pigeon swooping at a
Peregrine is recorded by Mr. G. F. Mathew in the Zoologist
for 1876. Eric B. Dunlop.

NOTES. "317

ZONE-MARKED EGG OF BLACK-HEADED GULL.

When at Ravenglass guUery, Cumberland, during June, 1910,
I examined a clutch of three Black-headed Gull's {Larus
ridihundus) eggs of the olive-brown type, one of which, as
will be seen from the accompanying photograph, was quite
abnormal in aj^pearance, being encircled by a pale greenish-
blue band of about a quarter of an inch in breadth, the light
portion of the shell showing no markings with the exception
of a few faint lilac spots.

Judging from their uniformity of size and shape, all three
eggs were the product of the same bird, and in the case of the

abnormal specimen it would appear that some accident
before the egg was deposited, prevented the olive colouring
matter from extending over the entire surface of the shell.

Howard Bentham.

[An explanation of such cases, which are well known to
occur occasionally in the eggs of both Waders and Gulls,
was siggested on page 220 (December number) of this
volume. — F.C.R.J.]

OYSTER-CATCHERS FOLLOWING THE PLOUGH.
At the end of December, 1910, I witnessed the, to me, unusual
sight of about fifteen Oyster-Catchers {Ihemato'pus ostralegus)
following in the wake of a man ploughing, and feeding on the
organisms thereby unearthed. They were in company with
numerous Lapwings and Gulls (Black-headed and Herring),
and all were acting in the same manner. The field in which
this was observed was at St. John's Point, co. Down, Ireland,
and was situated some three hundred yards from the shore.

Nevin H. Foster.

318 BRITISH BIRDS.

EARLY "DRUMVIING" OF SNIPE.

On February 7th, 1911, a delightfully spring-like day, a Snipe
{Gallinago coelestis) was heard " drumming " close to my home
at Whiston. This is a very exceptional date — at any rate
for North Staffordshire — and I can only account for it when I
take into consideration the prevalence of unusually mild
weather for the time of year. We never expect to hear Snipe
" drumming " before mid-March, although previous to that
date they go through similar aerial movements without
producing a sound which is audible to anj'one standing be-
neath them. I might add that although Snipe have commenced
to " drum " so early. Skylarks, which generally are in full
song by Candlemas, have not yet begun to sing (Feb. 9th).

Tom Smith.

Rare Birds at the Isle of May. — Miss E. V. Baxter
and Miss L. J. Rintoul, whose good work we have frequently
had cause to mention, again visited the Isle of May in the
autumn of 1910, and made a number of interesting observa-
tions {Ann. S.N.H., 1911, pp. 1-6). The following interesting
birds are recorded, all being in 1910 : — Greenland Wheatear
{Saxicola oe. leucorhoa) — almost daily from September 6th
to October 12th. Lesser Whitetliroat [Sylvia curruca) — one
September 13th. Siberian Chiffcliaff {PhyUoscopus r. tristis) —
a single example of this very rare visitor was secured on
October 16th. Scarlet Grosbeak [Pyrrhula erythrina) — one
was obtained on September 7th. Ortolan Bunting [Emheriza
hortulayia) — twice seen. Lapland Bunting [Calcarius
lapponicus) — a young female on October 4th. Wood-Lark
{Alauda arborea) — one on October 16tli. Hoopoe {Upupa
epops) — one on October 1st. Sooty Shearwater [Puffinus
griseus) — one was watched on October 16th.

White Wagtail Breedikg at Fair Isle. — In the course
of some interesting notes on the birds observed in north-east
Iceland, the Duchess of Bedford mentions (/&*.*, 1911, p. 1)
that during a flying visit to Fair Isle in the begimiing of July,
1910, some White Wagtails " which were evidently breeding
there again," were noticed. A pair of Motacilla alba bred in
Fair Isle in 1909 {vide supra, p. 30), and it should be noted
that it is doubtful if M. lugubris breeds in the Shetlands,
although it does so in the Orknej'S.

Early Breedikg of the Kingfisher and Dipper in
Derbyshire in 1910. — In the " Zoological Record for Derby-
shire, 1910" {Derby Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Journal, 1911,
p. 215) the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain records the nest of a King-

NOTES. 319

fisher {Alcedo ispida) with at least three eggs, which was
accidentally cut into on March 31st, near Ashburne. This is
an extraordinarily early date for eggs, as the usual time for
this district is about the last week of April or the beginning of
May. A nest of a Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus) is also reported
with five eggs on the River Dove on February 10th (p. 213).

Supposed Spoonbill in co. Donegal. — A bird shot at
Inch on November 12th, 1910, and at first thought to be a
Flamingo, is judged by Mr. D. C. Campbell from a sketch and
description to be a Spoonbill {Irish Nat., 1911, p. 40).

Supposed Occurrence of the Spotted Sandpiper in
Yorkshire.— In the Naturalist (1911, pp. 100-101) Mr. W.
Greaves gives some details regarding a specimen of Totanus
macularius which is supposed to have been shot at Hebden
Bridge about 1899, but the history of the specimen is so
confused and uncertain that it seems inadvisable to accept
the record as fully authenticated. There is only one authentic
record of the occurrence of this species in Yorkshire, viz., the
bird obtained at Whitby on March 29th, 1849 {Birds of Yorks.,
p. 628).

Wood-Sandpiper in co. Donegal. — Mr. D. C. Campbell
records {Irish Nat., 1911, p. 39) that a specimen of Totanus
glareola was shot on August 17th, 1910, at Brenagh, Upper
Lough S willy. The Wood-Sandpiper has only occurred six
times previously in Ireland,

REVIEW.

The British Warblers — A History, with Problems of their Lives.
By H. Eliot Howard, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. Part V. Coloured
and Photogravure plates. (R. H. Porter.) 2ls. net. per Part.
This fifth Part of Mr. Howard's interesting work* is chiefly
concerned with the habits of the Reed- Warbler, but it also
contains a description and brief details of the distribution
of the Melodious Warbler. There are a number of plates of
different species, both in colour and in black andwhite, executed
by Mr. Gronvold in the excellent style which has characterized
all his drawings in this work. Mr. Howard finds the Reed-
Warbler rather unemotional compared to the subjects he has
previously written about, and its actions during sexual excite-
ment do not call for much notice. With regard to nesting-
habits, Mr. Howard has much of interest to say. He asks how
is the nest begun, and whether it is more frequently attached
to new or old reeds, and whether the new reeds, as they grow
up, push up the nest or slip through it. In one case the author
found a nest attached to both old and new reeds, and he sug-
gests that there was danger of its being overturned by the new
reeds growing up, because the joints of the reeds in any case
would eventually push the nest up. The depth of the nest he
considers absolutely necessary for the safety of the young,
although not for the eggs. Incubation appears to commence
after the laying of the fourth or fifth egg, and lasts fourteen
days after the last egg is laid. The male takes its full share in
incubating, but does not seem to brood the young, although
it feeds them diligently. The fceces of the young are both
swallowed and carried away. At the age of ten days the
young climb about the reeds and return to the nest, but on the
eleventh day they are fully fledged.

In this Part Mr. Howard devotes many pages to a dis-
cussion of his theory of the necessity for possession of a
" territory " by a bird in the breeding -season. He brings
forward some strong arguments to show that birds fight for
their " territory " rather than for the females, and that the
possession of it is so vital a necessity that it provides the cause
for the hurrying forward in the spring of the males in advance
of the females, amongst warblers for example, as well as for
the driving away of the young by such birds as Falcons and
Moor-hens. In the struggle for " territory " the author also
gives an explanation for the extension of the range of species,
and we strongly advise our readers to study Mr. Howard's
arguments concerning his interesting theory. — H.F.W.

* For notices of previous Parts, see Vol. II., pp. 67'8 ; Vol. III., pp.
62-4 ; Vol. IV., pp. 62-4.

BRITBttDIRDS

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBV, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

assisted by

Rev. F. C. E,, Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u,, and Norman F.

ticehurst, m.a., f.b.c.s., m.b.o.u.

Contents of Number 11, Vol. IV. April 1, 1911.

PAGE

On the Plumage of the Nestling Barn-Ow], by W. P. Pyeraft,

A.L.S., M.B.O-.U. .. .. .. .. .. 322

The 1909 Irruption of the Crossbill as Observed in the British

Isles, by H. F. Witherby and C. J-. Alexander . . . . 326.

The Crossbill as a British Bird, by H. F. Witherby . . 332,

Notes : -

Recovery of Marked Birds . . . . . . 335-

Black Redstart in Essex (Walter B. Nichols) . . . . 336

Continental Goldcrests in Kent, Sussex, and Hanijjshire

(N. F. Ticehurst) . . . . . . . . 337

Willow-Tit in Lancashire (T. A. Coward) . . . . 337

Great Grey Shrike in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . 337

The British Great Spotted Woodpecker (Claud B. Ticehiu'st) 337

Hoopoe in Cheshire in Winter (Richard E. Knowles) . . 338

The Diurnal Flight of the Barn-Owl (F. W. Smalley) . . 339

Shag not Cormorant in Bedfordshire (Harry Lewis) . . 339

Long-tailed Duck in Kent (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . 339

Common Eider in Sussex (N. F. Ticehurst) . . . . 339

Snipe Pursued by Falcons (J. M. Cliarlton) . . . . 340

Early " Drumming " of Snipe (F. W Smalley,
Hugh S. Gladstone, Collingwood Ingram, M. Wiham

Portman 340

Extraordinary Nest-Building (John R B. Masefield) . . 341

Sale of Gilbert White MSS 342;

Short Notes : —Breeding-Habits of the Willow- Wren. Hen-
Harrier in Cheshire. Glossy Ibis in Yorkshire.
Changes of Plumage in the Red Grouse. Glaucous

Gull in Carnarvonshire. . . . . . . . 342~

Review: — T/ie Terrestrial Mammals and Birds of North-east

Greenland . . . . . . . • • • 354

Letters :— The Movements of Young Rooks .. .. 347

Willow-Tit or Marsh-Tit in Dumfriesshire . . 347

A Baikal Teal in Devonshire . . . . . . 348-

( 322 )

ON THE PLUMAGE OF THE NESTLING
BARN-OWL.

BY
W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S.,.M.B.O.TT.

In 1907 I described, in the pages of British Bikds (Vol. I.,
pp. 162-167) the nesthng-down of the Tawny aiid Barn
Owls, and in the present communication I desire to make
a few comments on that paper, made necessary by the
discovery of new facts gleaned from fresh material.

For the sake of those readers who may not have read
my earlier papers on the subject of nestling-down, I may
remark that I have sho^^^l that in manj' birds two genera-
tions of nestling-do\\Ti are successively developed before
the typical or teleoptyle plumage appears. These two
generations, constituting the protoptyle and mesoptyle
plumages, apparently answer to degenerate, ancestral,
teleoptyle plumages. In a large number of species the
earliest of these, the protoptyle do^\^l-plumage — which is
the most degenerate, being formed of umbelliform feathers
— ^has been entirely suppressed, while in some cases a
like fate has overtaken the mesop)tyle dress, when the
3'oung remain naked till the " contour " or teleoptyle
feathers appear. When only one generation of nestling-
down is developed, we may conclude, with certainty,
that this is the mesoptyle generation, and that the earlier
one has disappeared.

This mesoptyle dress presents a most interesting series
of grades of development, being most perfect — least
degenerate — in the Martineta Tinamou {Calodromus
elegans), which I described in the Ibis (1895, p. 1) from
specimens sent me by Dr. P. L. Sclater. In this bird
each feather has a well-marked scapus, or stem, bearing
a series of rami and radii which bear a close approximation
to those of the later " contour " or teleoptyle feathers.
In no other birds have I yet seen quite such perfect
^nesoptyles. Probabh', however, the newly-hatched

PLUxAIAGE OF THE NESTLING BARN-OWL. 323

Megapodes will be found to present the same peculiarity
After these, the best developed, or shall ^ye say the least
degenerate, mesoptyles are those of the Tawny Owl
{Syrnium aluco) in which a large, though loose, " vane "
is present, and this is faintly barred, thus presenting a
striking contrast with the earher protoptyle plumage on
the one hand, and the " contour " or tehoptyh fea'thers
on the other. This mesoptyU dress is worn for some weeks
after hatching, long after the wing- and tail-quills have
completed their growth, but it is not, as I imagined, worn
"until the autumn moult." Rather, it is gradually
replaced by the contour-feathers, which are worn till the
following year. This much I gather from a specimen
killed on June 28th, 1910. In this the head and upper-
parts are fully feathered, while contour-feathers are
appearing on the fore-breast and flanks, the rest of the
under-parts being still clad in the mesoptyle, barred do^ra.
Thus the under-parts would not probably be completely
feathered till, say, the middle of July.

And now as to the Barn- Owl {Strix flammea) : The
white, woolly down which clothes the nestling Barn-Owl,
I concluded, in the paper to which I have already referred,
was a degenerate form of the semi-plumous type of down
seen in the Tawny and other Owls, and hence a degenerate
mesoptyle dress. I then believed, however, that the earher
protoptyle dress, or down of the first generation, had been
suppressed, but I suspected that traces, at any rate, of
this vanished covering would be found when younger
specimens could be examined.

Until June, 1910, I had not sufficient evidence at my
command to settle this point, but I am now happily able
to set all doubt at rest, having been furnished with two
nesthngs which retain unmistakable remains of the
protoptyle dress. These remains, on the mesoptyles of the
trunk, are mere vestiges, recalhng those which I recently
described in Dr. F. D. Godman's Mojiograph of the
Petrels (p. xvii). On the peripheral disc feathers, how-
ever, they are quite distinct and possess a short stem,

324

BRITISH BIRDS.

though this merges at its base with the distal ends of
the rami of the mesoptyle by which it is thrust out.

In the down-feathers of the trunk, being somewhat
older and more advanced, the jjrotoptyles, have been split
up. During this process many of the rami have been lost,
but many remain attached to the mesoptyle rami.

The protoptyles are much smaller feathers than those
of the succeeding generation, but structurally do not
appear to differ in any important particulars. Both
generations indeed are in a degenerate condition.

f^oto\pH^^

vni:sc>v^v|\c

SEMI-DIAGRAMMATIC FIGURE OF THE FIRST AND SECO]Sri>
GENERATIONS OF NESTLING DOWN IN THE BARN-OWL.

My contention is proved, however, that the long down-
feathers borne out on the ends of the contour-feathers
(teleojjtyles) are down-feathers of the second generation
{mesoptyles) .

The Owls, unhke the Accipitres, have no down-feathers,
when adult, hence there are no pre-plumulse.

PLUMAGE OF THE NESTLING BARN-OWL. 325

But in addition to the foregoing structural details I
am able to carry the matter a stage further. Mentioning
the facts just set forth to my friend Mr. J. L. Bonhote,
he kindly sent me a few, but most interesting, notes which
he had already made on this same theme. After the
appearance of my paper on the Tawny Owl, already
referred to, he made a point of settling the down-sequence
of the Barn-Owl for himself, and succeeded, by the help
of some birds bred by himself in 1909. In a letter to me
in the early part of 1911, he writes : " When first hatched,
the young Barn-Owl is covered with a very short, close,
white down. At about eight or ten days old this down
is cast, and the long, white down figured in your book
{A History of Birds) makes its appearance. This second
down differs from the second plumage of the Tawny Owl,
in that it is pure down and not mesoptyle." In this
last particular, Mr. Bonhote is mistaken, having under-
stood my term " mesojityle " to indicate a feather inter-
mediate in structure between a down-feather and a contour-
feather. This is not the meaning of the word. The term
"tnesoptyle denotes sequence, not structure. Mr. Bonhote
continues : " The second down-plumage is, however,
soon cast, at about the age of eight weeks, and when the
young leave the nest they are practically fully-feathered."

( 326 )

THE 1909 IRRUPTION OF THE CROSSBILL AS
OBSERVED IN THE BRITISH ISLES.

BY
H. F. WITHERBY and C. J. ALEXANDER.

The arrival and early progress of the Crossbills * in the
British Isles was shoAvn in a series of maps, prepared by
Commander Lynes and published in Vol. III. (PI. xii.,
p. 228) ; it will therefore only be necessary here to give
a brief summary of that part of the movement.

The first record was from Pair Isle on June 23rd, 1909 ;
this was followed by others from the Shetlands, Orkneys,
and Outer Hebrides, and from Durham and Merioneth-
shire before the end of the month.

During July, Crossbills were observed in all parts of
England except the extreme south-west, in a number of
places in Wales, and in a few widely-separated places in
Ireland.

How long actual arrivals from oversea were taking
place cannot be determined for certain ; the latest record
of their being seen at sea was from off the Shetlands
about August 10th. The records from off Scarborough,
Yorkshire, at the end of June, from off the Fame Islands,
Northumberland, on July 9th, the Outer Dowsing light-
vessel (off the Wash), in July, and from a ship making
for Hamburg from Hull on August 1st, show that arrivals
took place on the east coast of England as well as further
north ; so that it is probable that the rather later appear-
ance of the first invaders in the south of England was due
primarily to the southern part of the west-moving wave
being behind the northern part, and not to these first
southern birds having landed in the north of Scotland
and afterwards worked their way southwards, though
some maj' have taken this course.

* All the examples taken in England and examined were of the
typical form Loxia curvirostra curvirosfra, but Mr. W. Eagle Clarke
has remarked that those obtained in the Scottish Isles and examined
by him (eleven specimens) had finer bills than any collected in England
which he had examined, and he suggests that these birds may have
had a different origin {.cf Ann. Scot. yuf. Hist., 1910, p. 67).

THE 1909 IRRUPTION OF THE CROSSBILL. 327

During the latter part of July, when Crossbills were
so much in evidence in England, their numbers were
already decreasing in the Scottish Islands, most of the
birds leaving by the end of August, and probably moving
southwards, though a few lingered on to the end of
September or early October. In England they apparently
continued to increase well into August, but they were so
constantly moving about locally that any larger move-
ments passed unobserved. In some places, however,
they passed on again at once, presumably not finding
suitable feeding-grounds, while coastal movements were
noted even so late as the end of September and the
beginning of October. The only record from the
Isle of Man was on August 14th. From this time
onwards, Crossbills seem to have been plentiful in
nearly all the pine-wood regions visited by observers ;
while ma.ny smaller coniferous plantations and isolated
trees were visited from time to time. Records of the
presence of the birds at some time through the winter were
received from all the English counties except Cumberland,
Nottinghamshire,Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset-
shire,De vonshire , and Cornwall ; and in Wales from Denbigh-
shire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire, and Breconshire.

It seems probable that the absence of records from
Cornwall and the fewness of those from Wales, were really
due to scarcity of Crossbills in the western parts of the
country, and not only to lack of observers ; it should be
noted that the only record from Devonshire was of a
single bird, killed while the immigration was proceeding,
and that one of the records from Merionethshire was of a
flock at the same period ; the records from Denbighshire
and Montgomeryshire are from places not far from the
English border ; the locality for the Breconshire record
is not given ; so that only the records from Denbighshire
(H. E. Forrest, III., 259, and T. Ruddy, HI., 409) and
the remaining record from Merionethshire (H. E. Forrest,
III., 259) give evidence of the presence of the birds far
into Wales.

328 BRITISH BIRDS.

From the country lying to the south and east of a hne
drawn from the Wash to Portland Bill, i.e., on the
Cretaceous and Tertiary strata (leaving out the wolds of
Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), records are far more numerous
than elsewhere ; the chief counties from which there are
a number of records outside this area are Shropshire and
Staffordshire. Probably one reason for this abundance
of records is that the Cretaceous and Tertiary systems
include a number of beds giving rise to sandy soils much
planted with pine trees. Such are the Lower Greensand
in Bedfordshire ; drift over the Chalk in western Suftolk
and Norfolk ; the Bagshot beds of eastern Berkshire,
north-eastern Hampshire and western Surrey ; the
Lower Greensand of south-western Surrey, and the same
formation across Kent ; the Tertiarj- beds of the New
Porest ; and the sand}" members of the Hastings beds in
Sussex and Kent, Tilgate and Ashdown Forests. It
should, however, also be borne in mind that this part of
England probably contains more observers of birds than
elsewhere.

NESTING.

The earliest recorded nest was one found on January
12th, 1910, near Thetford, Norfolk, with three nestlings
(H. Noble, III., 302); the latest were on May 25th, on which
date. one with two eggs Avas recorded in St. Leonard's
Forest, Sussex (J. Walpole-Bond, IV., 49-50), and one
with five eggs near Ashford, Kent (H. R. Tutt, IV.,
82). More were found in March and April than in
February or May. The time of nesting, positions of the
nests, and number of eggs (most often four, less so three
and five) seem to have shown no unusual features (com-
pare, for instance, the account in Newton's " YarreU,"
Vol. II., pp. 197 and 198). Two nests are recorded in
spruce (N. Tracj^ IV., 22, and J. Beddall Smith, IV., 187),
and two in larch (W. J. Kempe, IV., 121, and J. Beddall
Smith, IV., 187) ; in all other cases where the kind of tree
in which the nests were built is stated, it is Scotch pine.

THE 1909 IRRUPTION OF THE CROSSBILL. 329

The male birds were noted singing by various observers,
from the end of February to the end of April. The
majority of the records of nesting are from the south-
eastern district already defined, but some few are from
further west.

Nests were found in the following counties : — Kent
(many), Sussex (many), Surrey (many), Hampshire
(many), Berkshire (several), Essex (two), Suffolk (many),
Norfolk (many), Somersetshire (one), Gloucestershire
(several), and Staffordshire (one), while in Lincolnshire
a bird was seen carrying nesting-material, and in
Bedfordshire young birds were observed being fed.

It appears that generally only a small proportion of
those present in any district nested, the others remaining
in flocks throughout the spring.

DEPARTURE.

The Crossbills departed from different districts at
various dates ; in some cases all had gone by the end of
1909 ; in other cases, they showed little or no diminution
till well into the summer of 1910 ; the majority of the
records, however, speak of the main departure as being
either in Februar}^ or in April and May.

The main departures recorded took place as follows : —

1909. Dec. — Hertfordshire, Hitchin.

1910. Jan. — Cheshire, Alderley Edge ; Oxfordshire

(N.W.), Corn well.

1910. Feb.— Kent (S.W.), Edenbridge ; Hampshire
(N.), Basingstoke ; Suffolk, Bury St.
Edmunds ; Shropshire, Dowles ; Nor-
thumberland, Stocksfield - on - Tyne ;
Surrey, south-east ; Denbighshire
(S.E.), Llangollen.

1910. Mar.— Surrey (N.),Banstead; Surrey (S.W.),Farn-
ham ; Shropshire (centre), Wenlock.

1910. April— Kent (S.), Tenterden ; Surrey (S.E.),
Oxted; Berkshire (S.E.), Crow-
throne ; Berkshire, Reading ; Hert-

330 BRITISH BIRDS.

fordshire (W. and N.W.), Wcatford,
Berkhampstead, Tring; Norfolk, Nor-
wich ; Suffolk (N.W.), Brandon ;
Northamptonshire (centre), Ketter-
ing ; Staffordshire (N.) ; Breconshire.
1910. Maj- — Kent (S.W.), Hever ; Sussex (east
centre), Uckfield ; Surrey (no locality) ;
Essex (N.W.), Bardfield; Bedford-
shire (W.), Woburn ; Gloucestershire
(N.W.), Mitcheldean ; Westmorland
(W.), Windermere.
1910. June — Kent, Maidstone ; Sussex (N.), St.
Leonard's Forest ; Hampshire (N.W.),
Whitchurch ; Lincohishire, Lincoln ;
Norfolk (west centre), Swaffham.
1910. July — Sussex (N.), Horsham ; Hampshire

(N.E.), Aldershot.
1910. Aug. —Hampshire (S.E.), Wickham ; Stafford-
shire (west centre), Stretton.
1910. Sept. —Sussex (N.E.), Tunbridge Wells ; Suf-
folk (N.W.), gradually from Septem-
ber to November.
1910. Oct. — Suffolk (east coast), Aldeburgh.
In most cases odd birds or small parties were seen after
the majority had left ; one or two observers found a few
still staying on right into the winter (e.g., Hampshire —
New Forest ; Kent and Sussex — Tunbridge Wells).

The only record of actual departure seems to be that
from the Shetlands on February 27th, 1910 (III., 373) ;
but an increase in Perthshire in March and April (IV., 122),
and the presence of passing flocks in various localities in
England in April, May, and June, all confirm the records
given above, showing that, taking the country as a whole,
the departure was going on from February to June.

What was probably a fresh immigration on a small scale
was noted in Faii- Isle, the Shetlands and Outer Hebrides
from the end of June to September {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist.,

THE 1909 IRRUPTION OF THE CROSSBILL. 381

1910, p. 245; 1911, p. 54), although it is just possible
that the appearance of these birds was due to movements
northward from England.

REFERENCES.

British Birds : Vol. HI., pp. 82-83, 123-125, 162-163,
190-194, 226-228 (and maps), 258-261, 302-306, 331-
333, 371-375, 400-410; Vol. IV., pp. 20-22, 47-53,
81-83, 121-122, 185-187, 211-213, 250.
We are also greatly indebted to a number of correspon-
dents, who have very kindly given us valuable information
concerning the departure of Crossbills from their districts,
and this has been incorporated with that derived from
published records, under the heading " Departure,"
above.

( 332 )
THE CROSSBILL AS A BRITISH BIRD.

BY

H. F. WITHERBY.

Since the recent irruption of the Common Crossbill
{Loxia curvirostra curvirostra) I have been at some pains
to make out the true status of the Crossbill as a British
bird, and for this purpose I have made a somewhat care-
ful digest of the records of nesting and of the remarks
on occurrences of the bird in the various local faunas, as
well as in standard works, and the conclusions I have
reached are set out below.

With regard to the records of nesting, it must always
be borne in mind that the Crossbill migrates in its
juvenile plumage and in family-parties, and I know of
places where it appears in such parties regularh' in June
and Jul}' ; but these birds do not breed in these localities.
and are as certainly migrants as are the Fieldfares and
Redwings which appear a few months later. The migra-
tion of these birds in their juvenile plumage is contrary
to our experience of other Passerine birds, and this fact
has seldom been recognized by those who have considered
the presence of Crossbills in family-parties to be good
evidence of their having bred in the neighbourhood.
Such birds may very well have crossed the North Sea,
and so long as they can fly well and can feed themselves,
their presence in a neighbourhood is no proof that they
were bred there.

Nor is the mere presence of adult birds in the breeding-
season a sure sign that they are nesting in a locality,
because they undoubtedly frequentl}^ stay throughout
the 3'ear in a place without breeding ; and it also must be
remembered that they have been kno\Mi to nest in every
month of the year, and that their times of migrating are
in consequence rather uncertain.

It is, therefore, most necessary to obtain actual proof
when Crossbills are suspected of nesting in a locality,
either by the discovery of the nest or by watching the

THE CROSSBILL AS A BRITISH BIRD. 333

birds collecting nesting-material, or by observing the
young being fed by the parents, or by obtaining examples
so young that it may be quite certain that they were
unequal to a prolonged flight.

The status of the Common Crossbill as a British bird
may be summarized thus : —

England and Wales. — An early autumn-immigrant
arriving from mid-June to August ; regular in its
appearance in some districts but irregular in most, and
especially so in north-western and south-western England
and in Wales. Periodically (every three to ten years)
it arrives in great numbers and becomes much more
generally distributed, and frequently stays over the
following spring and into the summer, but authentic
records of nesting are few and far between. The facts
that most of the nesting-records refer to springs imme-
diately following an " irruption," and that up till now
no authentic case has been recorded of the bird breeding
in two successive years in the same district, show that it
cannot be classed as a resident, but only as a migrant,
breeding sporadically.* It has nested in the following
counties, the dates within square brackets referring to
probable but not positive records : — Devon, 1839, 1894.
Somerset, 1910. Hants., 1839, 1858, 1877, 1892, 1910.
Berks., 1882, 1889, [1898], 1899, 1910. Sussex, 1791, 1840,
1910. Surrey, [1899], 1910. Kent, [1833], [1839], [1894],
1910. Gloucester, 1839, 1910. Oxon., [1839]. Leicester,
1839. Staffs., 1910. Hereford, [1895]. Salop., 1880,
[1895], [1896]. Northants., 1892, 1904. Beds., [1899] 1910.
Essex, 1910. Suffolk, 1815, 1822, 1885, 1889, 1910.
Norfolk, 1829, [1887], 1889, 1910. Lines., [1910].
Yorks., 1829, 1840, [1855], 1872, 1876, 1902. Durham,
1838, 1856. Cumberland, 1839, 1856, [1865]. Northum-

* Since writing the above I have received the interesting news from
Mr. P. F. Bunyard. Mr. B. B. Riviere and Mr. Meiklejohn and the Rev.
J. R. Hale and Mr. C. D. Borrer, that they have found a few Crossbills
nesting this spring in localities where tliey were breeding last year.
These cases of nesting are undoubtedly due to the gi-eat irruption of 1909,
and do not affect my argmnent that the bii-d only nests sporadically.

334 BRITISH BIRDS.

berland, [1821], 1838, 1869. Cheviot Hills, 1898. Car-
narvon, 1890 or 1891. Merioneth, [1897]. Montgomery,
1880.

Scotland. — ^An early autumn-immigrant as in England,
but apparantly not so regular ; subject to similar irrup-
tions, when it appears in numbers in the far northern
and western isles. Breeds sporadically and rarely in
southern Scotland, and may also do so in the territory
of Loxia c. scotica, but proof is so far wanting. The
Common Crossbill seems to have nested in the following
counties :— Ayr, 1864, [1884]. Dumfries, [1838-91, 1888.
Kincardine, 1903. Linlithgow, 1839. Stirling, 1839.

Ireland. — Xow resident, but not indigenous. Ap-
parently only migrates to Ireland in j^ears of " irruptions."
Following the irruption of 1838, it bred in co. Tipperary,
in 1867 in co. Kildare ; since 1868 it has settled down in
Fermanagh ; since 1881 in King's county ; between 1883
and 1895 in Westmeath. Following the irruption of
1887-8, it increased and bred more widely, and is now
established (with fluctuations) in large plantations of
conifers in each province (c/. R. J. Ussher, Birds of
Ireland).

The Scottish Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra scotica, Hart.

The published information with regard to the distribu-
tion and immigrations of the Scottish Crossbill, which is
confined as a breeding-bird to Scotland, is very scanty,
and much more observation must be made concerning it
before we can give at all a complete account of its status.
From the information available this appears to be as
foUows : — Resident in northern Scotland, where it breeds
from south-eastern Sutherland, throughout the INIoray
Basin southwards to Dunkeld (Perth), westward to Loch
Maree (western Ross), and eastwards to Huntley (Banff).
Has occurred sporadically in winter in very small numbers
in the following southern counties of Scotland, but does
not appear to be a regular migrant from the data at
present available : — Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Fife.

OTE5

RECOVERY OF MARKED BIRDS.

In addition to those already acknowledged, I have received
subscriptions towards the expenses of the " marking scheme "
irom Mrs. Patteson, Mr. Arthur Bankes (second subscription),
Mr. R. L. Russell, Mr. Jas. Bartholomew (second subscription),
Mr. W. T. Blackwood, Mr. J. M. Goodall, Mr. J. R. B. Masefield,
Mr. D. Sibbering Jones, and Mr. E. Arnold Wallis. H. F. W.

Blackbird {Turdus inerula). — B.B. No. 10448, marked by
Mr. J. Hutton (Gamekeeper to Mr. J. Bartholomew) at
Torrance, near Glasgow, on June 6th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered at Mathry, Letterston, Pembrokeshire, on
January 28th, 1911. "^ Reported by Mr. T. Griffiths.

Redbreasts {Erithacus ruhecula). — B.B. No. 4937, marked
by Mr. N. H. Joy at Bradfield, Berkshire, on April 28th,
1910, as a nestling. Recovered two miles from the place
where ringed on Februarv 1st, 1911.
B.B. No. 5809, marked by Mr. H. W. Ford-Lindsay at
Pett, Sussex, on May 29th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered
at Guesthng, Sussex, on January 15th, 1911.
B.B. No. 11322, marked by H. W. Ford-Lindsay at Pett,
Sussex, on July 10th, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered at
Fairlight, Sussex, on February 2nd, 1911.

Starlings {Sturnus vulgaris). — B.B. No. 784, marked by
Col. R. H. Rattray at Tonbridge, Kent, on November 24th,
1909, as an adult. Recovered at Southborough, Tun-
bridge Wells, Kent, on February 15th, 1911. Reported
by Mr. J. Wright.

B.B. No. C234, marked by Mr. N. H. Joy at Bradfield,
Berkshire, on February 1st, 1911. Recovered at
Gillitigham, Kent, on February 20th, 1911. Reported
by Mr. A. Tuson.

B.B. No. 11121, marked by Mr. W. E. Suggitt at Clee-
thorpes, Lincolnshire, on October 15th, 1910. Recovered
at Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, on March 20th, 1911.
Reported by Mr. F. Horton.

Jay [Garrulus glandarius). — B.B. No. 8219, marked by Mr.
N. H. Joy at Bradfield, Berkshire, on June, 1st, ' 1910,
as a nestling. Recovered two miles from the place
where ringed on February 28th, 1911.

336 BRITISH BIRDS.

Lapwing {Vanellus vulqaris). — B.B. No. 10761, marked by-
Mr. J. Hutton at Torrance, near Glasgow, on June 15th»
1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Gouran, co. Kilkenny,
Ireland, on February, 28th, 1911. Reported by Mr. P.
O'Malley.

Common Tern [Sterna fltiviatilis). — B.B. No. 20265, marked
by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley at Ravenglass, Cumber-
land, on July 23rd, 1910, as a nestling. Recovered on
LaAvkland Moor, Clapham, Yorkshire, in September,^
1910. Reported by Mr. William Fox.

Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridihundas). — B.B. No. 9469,
marked by Mr. J. Murray (Gamekeeper to Mr. H. S,
Gladstone), at Durisdeer, Dumfriesshire, on June 26th.
1910, as a nestling. Recovered at Croft Spa, near
Darlington, Durham, on February 7th, 1911. Found
by Mr. T. Wall, and reported by Mr. J. H. Hutchinson.
B.B. No. 9489, marked by Mr." J. Murray, at Durisdeer,
Dumfriesshire, on June 29th, 1910, as a nestling.
Recovered near Perth on August 1st, 1910. Reported
by Mr. Geo. Willoaks.

B.B. No. 30462, marked by Messrs. Robinson and Smalley
at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered at Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, on
February 20th, 1911. Reported by Mr. Jas. Young.
B.B. No. 30545, marked by Messrs. RobinsonandSmalley
at Ravenglass, Cumberland, on June 13th, 1910, as a
nestling. Recovered at Morecambe Bay, near Ulverston,
Lancashire, in October, 1910. Reported by Mr. H. B.
Jurney.

BLACK REDSTART IN ESSEX.

As the Black Redstart (Ruticilla tiiys) is not of frequent
occurrence in Essex, it may be worth while recording that a
male, in dull, worn-looking plumage, was about my garden
(at Bradfield, near Manningtree) and the vicinity during the
afternoon of March 22nd, 1911. W^alter B. Nichols.

CONTINENTAL GOLDCRESTS IN KENT, SUSSEX,
AND HAMPSHIRE.

It would appear from the Migration Reports of the B.O.C.
Committee that large migrations of Goldcrests do not occur
every year. The autumn of 1910, however, proved to be
one of these years, and I therefore kept a special look-out for
birds of the Continental race. Mr. H. S. D. Byron, whom I
had asked to procure specimens of migrating Goldcrests, kindly

NOTES. 337

sent me a series of fifteen from Thanet (East Kent), shot on
October 14th, 15th and 19th ; all of these, with two exceptions,
were of the Continental form [Regulus c. cristatus). On
October 24thj I shot a male, also of this race, in a pile of
faggots on the sea-shore near Pevensey, Sussex, and as this
was in the afternoon, it is quite possible that it was a straggler
from a small flock that had already jDassed on. On October
30th and November 4th, others were taken at St. Catherine's
Lighthouse, Isle of Wight. Prior to this, the last " Goldcrest
year " was 1908, and through the kindness of Mr. A. McL.
Marshall I have lately re-examined the series that he obtained
in that autumn from St. Catherine's Lighthouse. Out of a
dozen specimens, two males, killed on November 1st, are
Continental birds. N. F. Ticehurst,

WILLOW^TIT IN LANCASHIRE.

I RECENTLY examined two " Marsh " Tits in the Warrington
Museum, and suspecting that they were Willow-Tits {Parus
atricapillus khinschmidti) , obtained permission to submit
them to Mr. H. F. Witherby, who confirmed my opinion.
One of these birds, Mr. Madeley informs me, was killed at Pad-
gate, near Warrington, in 1890, but the locality and date of the
other specimen, which has been in the museum about forty
years, cannot be traced. In both birds the brown-black caps,
the graduated tail, and pale edges to the secondaries, are very
distinct, and the flanks of the Padgate bird are well marked
with buff. I have not, up to the present, identified the Willow-
Tit in Cheshire ; black-capped Tits which I have examined in
other museums, and those which I have been able to watch
closely in the field, have all been Marsh-Tits.

T. A. Coward.

GREAT GREY SHRIKE IN SUSSEX.
Although not an unusual visitor to us, I think it of sufficient
interest to record a male shot on the marshes at Pett, on
January 18th, 1911. H. W. Ford Lindsay.

THE BRITISH GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.

Dr. Hartert, who first differentiated Dendrocopus major
nnglicus {Nov.Zool, 1900, 528), gave as its distinguishing charac-
ters the slender, narrow bill, the relatively short wing, and the
usually more rusty colour of the under-parts. When examin-
ing a series of Great Spotted Woodpeckers lately, I was
struck by a further characteristic, viz., the relative shortness
of the first primary. This is best brought out by measuring

338 BRITISH BIRDS.

the distance between the tip of the longest primary-covert
and the tip of the first primary. In six specimens each of
the two races D. major major and D. major anglicus, I found
this measurement to be as follows ;—

D. major

major.

D. major

anglicus

8 mm.

female

0

male

8-5 „

male

0

female

9-5 „

J)

2 mm.

female

11-5 „

) J

3 „

male

12-5 „

5 „

male

12-5 „

5-5 „

? sex

I must here note that these specimens were easily dis-
tinguishable, apart from this characteristic, by the characters
defined by Dr. Hartert. I found the length of the wings to
vary in the British race from 126-5 mm. to 132 mm., and in
the northern race from 132 to 142. The difference in the
bills in the two races is seen best by putting the two together
and looking down from above, when the narrowness of the
bill of the British bird is most striking ; this difference can
even be seen in birds of the two races just out of the nest.

Claud B. Ticehurst.

HOOPOE IN CHESHIRE IN WINTER.

I THINK it will interest the readers of British Birds to hear
that a Hoojioe (Upupa epops) has been located on some
private grounds near Macclesfield, Cheshire, recently. It
was first observed on December 20th, 1910, and was continually
viewed from the house, generally feeding on the ground,
turning over leaves or small dead branches broken off by the
winds, until January 28th, 1911.

As the bird is such a rare visitor to Cheshire and is some-
times caged, I have been waiting for news of one having been
lost, but with no results, and I have enquired from the keeper
of Lord Newton's aviaries, a few miles away, but no such bird
has escaped from there.

It is possible that the cold snap of weather about the date
January 28th made the bird move on. I do not think it was
shot, at all events in this neighbourhood. The land surround-
ing the wooded grounds where it took up its temporary
residence is farmed by an intelHgent man who was keen on
its preservation. Richard E. Knowles.

[The Hoopoe is a very rare visitor to Cheshire, ha\ing been
recorded four times only ( Vert. Fauna of Cheshire, Vol. I., p 267).
Its occurrence anywhere in the British Islands in winter is
exceptional, but not unprecedented, examples having been

NOTES. 339

recorded in November from Scotland, Hampshire, and Surrey ;
in December from Lincolnshire, Suffolk, Devon, and Ireland ;
in January from Yorkshire, Kent, and Ireland ; and in February
from Ireland.

The possibihty, however, of the bird recorded above by
Mr. Knowles being an escape from captivity should not be
overlooked, although Mr. D. Seth-Smith informs us that the
Hoopoe is not often kept in captivity. Should any of our
readers know of a Hoopoe having recently escaped we should
like to be informed. — Eds.]

THE DIURNAL FLIGHT OF THE BARN-OWL.

With reference to Mr. Eric B. Dunlop's note {supra, p. 314)
regarding the diurnal flight of the Barn-Owl (Slrix flamniea),
I may say that here in the extreme north of Lancashire \\e
see the Barn-Owls flying all day during the winter-months,
and I am inclined to attribute this purely to lack of a sufficient
food-supply ; and anyone who has kept Owls in confinement
will agree with me, that they need a greater amount of food
than other birds, such as Hawks and Falcons.

F. W. Smallby.

SHAG NOT CORMORANT IN BEDFORDSHIRE.

In the February number of British Birds (p. 288) I reported
the occurrence of a Cormorant at Woburn. The bird remained
here over a week and then died. I found it some time after-
wards near the pond, and have ascertained that it is a Shag
(Phalacrocorax graculus) and not a Cormorant.

It did not occur to us when we saw it alive, that it was likely
to be a Shag so far inland — more than sixty miles from the sea.

Harry Lewis.

LONG-TAILED DUCK IN KENT.

A FINE specimen of the Long-tailed Duck {Harelda glacialis)
was obtained at Jury Gap, near Rye, on March 4th, 1911.
It was an adult male in perfect condition.

I examined it at Mr. Bristow's, who had the bird for pre-
servation. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

COMMON EIDER IN SUSSEX.
Although Borrer (Birds of Sussex, p. 358) describes the Eider
(Somateria mollissima) as a regular autumn and winter visitor
to the Channel off the Sussex coast, and quotes Booth, who
states that he had frequently recognized these birds there,
they probably keep so far out to sea that they are seldom seen,

340 BRITISH BIRDS.

and still less frequently shot or recorded — in fact, I can only
call to mind a single example being shot during the last fifteen
years. It is, therefore, perhaps worth recording that a small
flock of eight or ten have spent this last winter off the east
Sussex coast between Hastings and Pevensey Bay. They appear
to have arrived about the middle of November, 1910, and
have been seen by several people, sometimes close in-shore.
Six of them have been killed at different times ; a fine adult
male was shot on November 23rd, and, with a female obtained
on January 15th, 1911, has been acquired for the Hastings
Museum. Two more adult males were shot, on Decem'ber 31st
and January 19th ; an immature male, having only a few white
feathers on its neck, on January 2nd, and a second female on
January 29th, 1911. ^ N, F. Ticehurst.

SNIPE PURSUED BY FALCONS.
On March 5th, 1911, on returning from a walk up the Itchen
Valley (Hants), and while passing the edge of a wood through
which the road ran, a bird suddenly came at a great pace
straight through the branches and ivj" leaves overhead, and
settled on the road. I saAv it Avas a Snipe {Gallinago ccelestis)
and it immediately ran up into some bushes near the road.
A moment after I heard screams above and saw two " hawks "
hovering, and parrying at one another. For a few seconds
they continued, then separated and flew off in different
directions. I then went up to the Snipe and had almost
touched it when it rose in a fluster and flew slowly away,
almost touching the ground, and ahghted some thirty yards
off up the road, where it squatted flat.

Shortly afterwards I saw one of the " hawks " wheehng
round some distance off, and descend some thirty feet nearer
the earth ; then it came flying slowly over, and I distinctly
saw that it was a Peregrine {Falco peregrinus). It passed on
and disappeared. In about three minutes the Snipe also rose
and flew s\Aiftly away. The Falcon had evidently stooped
at it, and its companion had probably done so also, and so
had caused both to miss it.

There were as many as fifty or sixty Snipe in the flooded
meadow by the river, and they were flushed in flocks of from
fifteen to twenty birds in each. I observed one " drumming "
and giving its call, and I think this was the bird stooped at
by the Falcon, as it was the only one which had remained
fl3dng about. J. M. Charlton.

EARLY " DRUMMING " OF SNIPE.
With reference to Mr, Tom Smith's note re the " drumming "

NOTES. 341

of Snipe, I may say that Snipe " drum " during every month
of the 3'ear. Mild weather has nothing to do with it. Many
times when waiting at " flight " during the winter-months 1
have heard Snipe " drum," in fact it seems a common practice
with Snipe every evening when they "come in " at " flight,"
especially so if the evening be calm. F. W. Smalley.

In reference to the note by Mr. Tom Smith on the early
"Drumming" of Snipe {supra, p. 318), I may mention that
in 1906 I heard a Snipe " drumming " on February 4th in the
Outer Hebrides.

What is more remarkable, to my mind, is that I heard one
" drumming " in 1909, on August 1st. I was out shooting
wild-fowl and flushed a Snipe which I missed with both
barrels, when, to my astonishment, after flying a short distance,
it commenced to " drum," and continued to do so, wheeling
about in the air for upwards of ten minutes before alighting.

Hugh S. Gladstone.

With regard to Mr. T. Smith's letter on this subject, allow
me to say that I observed a Snipe " drumming " near Rivers-
town, CO. Shgo, on December 10th, 1910. Drawing my host's
attention to it, he assured me that he had frequently heard
Snipe " drumming " in this part of Ireland during the winter
months, and that the incident was not very unusual.

The late Colonel Irby {Orn. Straits of Gib., 2nd Ed., p. 278)
writes as follows : —

" I never heard the drumming noise of the Snipe in
Andalucia, though at home in England I have occasionally
heard them drumming of an evening in the New Forest as
early as the 20th of January." Collingwood Ingram.

With reference to the note on tliis subject, I may record that
I have heard Snipe " drumming " in the Poole Harbour
district, Dorset, on the following dates : February 16th, 1908 ;
February 4th, 1909; March 3rd, 1910; 'March 5th, 1911.

M. WnXIAM PORTMAN.

EXTRAORDINARY NEST-BUILDING.
A FEW years ago I had under observation a somewhat similar
case to'^that given by Mr. C. W. Colthrup {supra, p. 308) in
my own grounds, except that in this case the two nests built
adjoining one another in the same shrub were thoss of a
Hedge-Sparrow and a Song-Thrush. Urxfortunately, both
nests were deserted before the eggs were hatched.

John R. B. Masefield,

342 BRITISH BIRDS.

SALE OF GILBERT WHITE MSS.

The following brief particulars of a number of manuscripts
connected with Gilbert White, of Selborne, which were sold
by auction by Messrs. Sotheby on March 16th, will, we think,
be of interest to the readers of British Birds. The chief
item is thus described in the catalogue : —

" 341 FLORA SELBORXIENSIS, with some coincidences
of the coming and departure of the birds of passage and
insects, and the appearing of reptiles for the j^ear 1766,
manuscript on 62 pp., the last page consisting of notes
of events in August, 1767.

"This mteresting httle work, which is quite unpublished,

is separate from and additional to the Garden Calendar

which Gilbert White kept regularly from 1751 onwards ;

it proves that he was a real botanist."

This manuscript was bought by Mr. W. Mark Webb, Hon.

Secretary of the Selborne Society, for £61.

Other " lots " of interest were the manuscript Introduction
to " The Fauna of Gibraltar " (Porter, £4 5s.) by John, brother
of Gilbert White, and two letters from Colonel George Montagu
(author of the " Ornithological Dictionary") written in 1789
and discussing ornithological questions raised in the
" Natural History of Selborne " (Porter, £2 4s.) Other letters
and documents are of interest chiefly on historical or personal
grounds, and need not be alluded to here.

Breeding-Habits of the Willow-Wren. — Mr. S. E.
Brock has contributed a very valuable paper (ZooL, 1910,
pp. 401-417 and cf. 1911, p. 72) on this subject, basing his
facts on observations of twenty-two pairs of Willow- Wrens
[Phylloscopus trochilus) Avhich he AAatched with wonderful
patience and assiduity in a plantation in Linhthgowshire.
The paper should be carefully read by all those interested in
the subject, and here we can onlv draw attention to some of
the points made by Mr. Brock. The question of unpaired
birds is an interesting one to which the author has given some
attention, and it is only by very close and careful observation
that we can learn Avhat projaortion of unpaired birds there may
be, and why they should be mateless. The author shows that
in the case of the Willow- Wren at all events, the "territory"
of the male is not always strictly adhered to, and he thinks
that perhaps too much stress has been laid (presumably by
Mr. HoAvard in his Warblers) on the precise demarcation of
these " territories." In one case he located the nests of three
Willow- Wrens in one piece of ground which was not included

NOTES. 343

in the " territory " of any of the males, and two of these nests
were only thirteen yards apart. He gives exact details of the
positions of twenty-one nests, dates of the laying of the eggs,
and the number of eggs laid (ten of &ix, four each of five and
seven, one each of four and eight) and young hatched
(only one egg out of one hundred and twenty failed to hatch).
In four cases there were apparently second broods — two of
four and two of three eggs each. Among several interesting
cases of nests in one year being near the site of a nest in a
pre\aous year, the following is remarkable : — In 1908 a nest
was built two feet from the ground in a spruce-bush ; in 1909
there was a nest within twenty yards of this site ; in 1910
one ^^athin eight ysrds of the 1909 site, and a second brood
in the same year was actually reared in the 1908 nest, which
Avas sheltered and had remained intact and only required
rehning with feathers. Mr Brock also gives much valuable
information on the sexual habits of the birds, incubation,
feeding of the young, nature of the food, and habits of the
young after fledging.

Hen-Harrier in Cheshire. — An immature female Circus
cyaneus is recorded by Mr. A. Newstead (ZooL, 1911, p. 113)
as having been shot near Broxton, but the date is doubtful.
The bird is now only a rare wanderer to Cheshire (c/. Vert. F.
Cheshire, p. 282).

Glossy Ibis in Yorkshire. — Mr. E. W. Wade records
(Nat., 1911, p. 116) that a specimen of Plegadis falcinellus was
obtained about the second week of October, 1909, at Ulrome.
This is additional to the examples already recorded as having
occurred in various parts of Yorkshire about the same time
{vide Vol. III., pp. 229, 230 and 308).

Changes of Plumage in the Red Grouse. — A lengthy
paper on this subject by Dr. E. A. Wilson, with twenty-four
coloured plates from his own drawings, appears in Part IV.
of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1910 (pp. 1000-
1033). Dr. Wilson's paper is founded upon the material
collected for the Grouse Disease Inquiry, and describes not only
the sequence of the plumages of both male and female, but
the ''■ local variations," the effect of disease upon the plumage,
and the order of growth of the primaries in the young bird.
The paper has been revised by Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant in
the absence of Dr. Wilson in the Antarctic

Glaucous Gull in Carnarvonshire. — An immature
example of Larus glaucus was shot on February 23rd, 1911,
at Deganwy (A. Newstead, ZooL, 1911, p. 117). The bird is
a rare visitor to northern Wales.

The Terrestrial Mammals and Birds of North-east Greenland :
Biological Observations. By A. L. V. Manniche. Illus-
trated. (Copenhagen : Bianco Lunos.)

This book, which forms the first part of the fifth volume of
the scientific results of MyUus-Erichsen's Danish Expedition
to north-eastern Greenland (1906-1908) will be read with great
interest by all British ornithologists, on account of the valuable
notes on the breeding-habits of many northern birds. Most
of these observations were made by the author in the vicinity
of Danmarks Havn (Cape Bismarck, lat. 76° 46' N.), where
the ship of the expedition lay for about two years. Herr
Manniche was fortunate in having in this neighbourhood a
comparatively fertile low coast-country, where animal hfe
was richer than in any other tract visited by the expedition.
Thirty-eight species of birds were noted, and of these eighteen
were found nesting, seven others were certainly breeding
but no nests were found, and thirteen were more or less
accidental visitors.

The following birds were found breeding : Snow-Bunting,
Greenland Falcon, Eider, King-Eider, Ptarmigan, Ringed
Plover, Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling, Grey Phalarope,
Glaucous Gull, Ivory-Gull, Sabine's Gull, Arctic Tern, Buffon's
Skua, Black Guillemot, and Red-throated Diver. Those which
were certainly breeding, but whose nests were not found, were :
Raven, Snowy Owl, Brent Goose, Barnacle-Goose, Knot,
Kittiwake, and Fulmar.

The author discovered a number of Barnacle-Geese in a
marsh some ten or fifteen kilometres from the sea, and noticing
that they flew off towards a steep and barren mountain (Tre-
kroner), he set out in that direction, and arriving there found
that these Geese : —

" Were swarming to and fro along the gigantic mountain wall
like bees at their hive, and I heard a continuous humming, sounding
like distant talk. . .

" While some of the Geese would constantly fly along the rocky
wall, and sometimes mounted so high in the air that they disappeared
on the other side of the rocks, the majority of the birds were sitting
in couples upon the shelves of the rocky wall, some of which seemed
too narrow to give room for the two birds — much less for a nest. It
was only on the steep and absolutely naked middle part of the mountain
that the Geese had their quarters, and in no place lower than some
200 meters from the base of the chff . As the wall was quite inacessible,
I had to content myself by firing some rifle-balls against it in order
to frighten the birds and thus form an idea of the size of the colony.

REVIEW. 345

The birds which were ' at home ' then numbered some 150 individuals.
As far as I could judge, breeding had not yet commenced."

Herr Manniche has some interesting observations regarding
the moult of the Ptarmigan and other birds, and concerning
the dark and pale forms of the Fulmar, from which it would
appear that the dark-breasted birds greatly predominated
from about lat. 75" northwards.

Regarding the breeding-habits of the Knot, the author has
much of great interest to tell us, although he was not fortunate
enough actually to find a nest : —

" More than the other waders," he writes, " the Knots keep strictly
in couples immediately after their arrival. . . The pairing-notes of
the male filled the air everywhere a few hours after their arrival.

" The male suddenly gets uj) from the snow-clad gi-ound, and pro-
ducing the most beautiful flute-like notes, following an oblique line
with rapid wing-strokes, mounts to an enormous height, often so high
that he cannot be followed with the naked eye. Uj) here in the clear
frosty air he flies around in large circles on quivering wings, and his
melodious, far-sounding notes are heard far and wide over the country,
bringing joy to other birds of his own kin. The song sounds now more
distant, now nearer when three or four males are singing at the same
time. Now and then the bird slides slowly downwards on stiff wings
with the tail-feathers spread ; then again he makes himself invisible
in the higher regions of the air, mounting on wings quivering even
faster than before. . .

" Gradually, as in increasing excitement he executes the convulsive
vibrations of his wings, his song changes to single, deeper notes —
following qviickly after each other — at last to die out while the bird
at the same time drops to the earth on stiff wings strongly bent upward.
This fine pairing-song may be heard for more than a month everywhere
at the breeding-places, and it wonderfully enlivens this generally so
desolate and silent nature. The song will, at certain stages, remind of
the fluting call-note of the Curlew (Numenius arquatus), but it varies
so much with the temper of the bird, that it can hardly be expressed
or compared with anything else. . .

" Already, June 10th, I found an almost fully-developed egg in a shot
female. From the middle of June I often met with females, the be-
haviour of which made me suppose with certainty, that they had
commenced to bieed. In such birds I fovmd well-marked breeding
spots, and but quite small eggs in the ovaries. All the breeding birds
behaved in nearly the same way. When I carefully walked over a
larger table-land a bird would suddenly appear just before my feet,
rushing silently and as secretly as possible away between stones and
following furrows in the earth. When I — having vainly searched
for the nest — ra]iidly followed the bird, this would, with a short call,
fly high u]) in the air, disappear for some moments and again appear
a little farther forward on the jjlain, where it continued its silent running,
as it seemed, without the slightest inclination to go to the nest. If at
last I secured sucli a bird it always proved to be very thin and to have
breeding spots — certain signs that it had eggs or young ones. I have
from an ambush watched such birds for hours, but I never succeeded
in getting them to show me their nest.

" The breeding localities were quite the same as those of Calidris
arenaria : dry, stony, sparsely covered table lands, with clay or sand-

346 BRITISH BIRDS.

mixed ground. I met, however, always with the supposed breeding-
birds on rather extensive ])lains, and not on the small ' stone-islets '
in the moors, a fact that made my searches after the nests more difficult.
" I met with breeding birds as well south as north of the gravel-
banks plateau in the Stormkap territory, but I never found them close
to the shores of the firths."

Old nests, considered to be those of Knots, were found,
and birds were observed undoubtedly in company with young,
but no eggs and no downy young ones were actually seen,
though on August 22nd, 1907, three young able to fly, but with
plenty of down still left round the base of the bill, were
secured. " I did not see any old bird later than August 8th,"
is a significant note.

There is much here to interest us also concerning the breed-
ing-habits of the Sanderling, which was found in considerable
numbers, and photographs are given of the nest and eggs,
and of the bird on the nest, as well as a coloured plate
of the young in down. Herr Manniche did not succeed
in finding an incubating male, and it would appear
that after the eggs are laid the males join into flocks and leave
the country before the middle of July. The " tactics " of
the female in guarding her chicks are thus described : —

" Already when at a distance of some 200 or 300 metres from the young
ones, the old female would rush towards me, and by all kinds of flapping
and creeping movements in an opposite direction, try to lead me astray ;
all the while she would squeak like a young one and now growl angrily,
striving to draw my attention to herself only. Now and then she
would rise very high in the air in a direct rapid flight to disappear behind
a rock on the opposite beach of a lake, etc. From qviite another direc-
tion she soon appeared again just before my feet."

Of the Grey Phalarope's love-making the author gives a
delightful account, from which we may quote the following : —

" As the male seemed to pay no attention to her alluring movements
she flew rapidly up to him — producing as she left the water a peculiar
whirling sound with her wings, and uttering short angry cries — pushed
him with her bill, and then she returned to the water and took up her
swimming-dance. Now the male came out to her and the two birds
whirled around for some moments equally eager and with increasing
rapidity. Uttering a short call, the female again flew to a tuft sur-
roim^ded by water and waited some seconds in vain for the male ; again
she flew to the water to induce him with eager pushes and thumps to
accompany her. They again whirled violently around, whereafter
she, uttering a strong alluring sound flew back to the tuft, this time
accompanied by the male — and the pairing immediately took place."

The Snow-Bunting was quite the commonest bird of this
country, and was observed even so far north as lat. 83° 30' N.

We have quoted at length from Herr Manniche' s book, but
it should be read by all those interested in the breeding-habits
of these birds, more especially as the author has done us the
compliment of writing his narrative in Enghsh. H.F.W.

LETTERS

THE MOVEMENTS OF YOUNG ROOKS.
To the Editors of British Birds.

Sirs, — Regarding the British Birds Marking Scheme, I would suggest
that during the coming nesting-season, a httle more attention be given
to Rooks, whose movements require some clearing up. In the Blantyre
district of Clyde — which is a thorough " Rook coimtry," and which
contains within a three mile radivis, some half a score of rookeries and
upwards of eight hundred nests — practically all young Rooks have
migrated by the end of October. During the winter and early spring
months, you may walk this countryside day after day and have hundreds
of Rooks under observation, yet you will rarely see an immature, i.e.,
feathered -faced bird, amongst them. If all ornithologists who live in
" Rook country " would examine their Rook population, some very
interesting facts might be gleaned, for with a pair of serviceable
binoculars, even at a range of two hundred yards, the immature birds
will — for some time yet — be easily distinguishable from the adults.

Very little shooting of young Rooks takes place in this locality.
Nearly all nests are built high up amongst the branches of very tall
beeches, very few in fact being accessible to the climber.

WALTER Stewart,

WILLOW-TIT OR MARSH-TIT IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.

To the Editors of British Birds.

Sirs, — I have read wdth more than usual interest the notes on " The
British Willow-Tit in the West of Scotland " (supra, page 284).

As the author of the latest work dealing with Scottish Ornithology
(i.e.. The Birds of Dumfriesshire, 1910), I feel it behoves me, in view of
my inclusion therein (pp. 40-42) of the Marsh-Tit (Parus palustris
dresseri), to write to you a few words in explanation.

I must now confess that I cannot say with certainty whether it is
the Marsh- or Willow-Tit which occurs in this county. I have never
closely examined a locally-obtained specimen, and although I saw one
this autumn up Scaur Water, as I have done on former occasions, I
failed to procvu-e it. When I wrote my book, I thought (though I have
since learned that I had no right so to think) that the Willow-Tit was
confined to the south of the British Isles, and the specimen which in
my book (p. 41) I refer to as shot " in Capenoch Garden on August 1st,
1908," was so badly mauled by shot that it was only carelessly looked
at and then thrown away.

348 BRITISH BIRDS.

My correspondents, to whom I owe much of the information given by
me under the unfortunate heading of the " British Marsh-Titmouse,"
are unable to satisfy me convincingly as to whether their observations
apply to Parus palustris dresseri or Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti.

Under these circumstances I feel it my duty, so as to avoid possible
confusion hereafter, to write as I have done. The question, therefore,
now stands : — Do both the Willow- and Marsh-Tit occiu- in Dumfries-
shire ; or, if only one, which ?

Hugh S. Gladstone.

A BAIKAL TEAL IX DEVONSHIRE.

To the Editors of British Birds.

Sirs, — On February 3rd I received in the flesh an adult male Baikal
Teal (Nettion formosiim), which was shot by a coast-gunner near Ply-
mouth on January 26th, 1911. The specimen was first noticed by my
■friend, Mr. Charles Tracy, who sent the bird to me as something he
had not seen before. The bird was very fat but somewhat decomposed
at the time of arrival, but I have managed to make a good skin of it.
The position of the Baikal Teal as a British bird is at present somewhat
doubtful, but it has as much claim to inclusion in our lists as many
foreign visitors, for there is no reason that it should not visit us amongst
the mass of duck that are bred in Siberia and come westwards in winter.
On the other hand, numbers of imported Baikal Teal are now on private
waters in this country, whilst it has undoubtedly bred at VVoburn
and probably elsewhere. J. G, Millais.

fWe should not accept the addition of the Baikal Teal to the British
list for the very reason that it is so frequently kept in captivity, and
therefore liable to escape, It is said to have been obtained in France
and Ital}', but its usual winter-quarters are in China and Japan. — Eds.]

BRinSMDIRDS

EDITED BY H. F. WITHERBY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

ASSISTED BY

E-EV. F. C. R. JotJRDAIN, M.A.^ M.B.O.U., AND NoRMAN F.

TiCEHURST, M.A., P.R.C.S., M.B.O.U.

Contents of Number 12, Vol. IV. Mat 1, 1911.

PAGE.

On the Position? Assumed by Birds in Flight — HI. Alighting. By

Bentley Beetham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

The ^ligration of the White Stoik. By A. I-andsborough

Thomson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Notes :—

The Recent '" Remarkable Migration Phenomena " (N. F.

Ticehurst) 301

Blyth's Reed Warbler at Fair Isle.— A New British Bird . . 3fi2

Great Grey Shrike iji Montgomeryshire (H. E. Forrest) . . 363

Crossbills Breeding in England in 1911 : —

In Suffolk (P. F. Btmyard) 363

In Norfolk (B. B. Riviere) 364

In Kent (C. D. Borrer) 365

Bee-eater in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . . . . . 365

Hoopoe in Winter in Yorkshire (Wm. J. Clarke) . . . . 365

Rough-legged Buzzard in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) . . 366

White-tailed Eagle in Shropshire (H. E. Forrest) . . . . 366

Peregrine Falcon in Wiltshire (R. O. Mathews) . . . . 366

Breeding of Shoveler, Tufted Duck, and Garganey in Somer-
set (Rev. F. L. Blathwayt)

Goosander in Sussex (H. W. Ford-Lindsay) 367

Late Stay of Goosanders in Cheshire (T. A. Coward) . . . . 367

Nesting of the Great Crested Grebe in Somerset (Rev. F. L.

Blathwayt) ^^'^

;Short Notes :— Lanceolated Warblers in Scotland. :\Iealy
Redpoll in Mull. HolboH's Redpoll in Shetland.
Northern Bullfinch in Scotland. Northern Great
Spotted Woodpecker in Scotland. Spotted Sandpiper
in Yorkshire ^''^^

Xetters : — The Movements of Yoimg Rooks 370

A Baikal Teal in Devonshire 370

366

( 350 )

ON THE POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS
IN FLIGHT.

BY

BENTLEY BEETHAM, F.Z.S.

III. ALIGHTING.

The act of alighting appears to be not the least difficult
part in the performance of flight ; indeed, whether it be
regarded from man's standpoint or from the bird's, it
may well be accounted with the most difficult.

On a boisterous day when a bird Avishes to alight at
some particular point, its powers are often taxed to the
utmost. The obvious signs of this being so are the abrupt
and spasmodic turns, and the flapping of the Avings, and
the jerkj'^, erratic course immediately preceding the
alighting ; while not infrequently the clumsy and hurried
actions on touching the ground, plainh' show how com-
paratively little the flight had been under control the
moment before alighting.

That this is a real difficulty of which the birds are fully
conscious is, I think, shown by their preparing for alighting
long before they actually do so. Their first care is.
apparently to reduce their speed as much as possible, sO'
as still to leave them sufficient " way " to ensure some
stability in the air, and some power of guidance. They
soar round and round or approach slowly on a long,,
wavering course, trailing their feet as brakes, or advance
in a vertical!}^ zig-zag course, finding much resistance
in short but steep ascents. But even after these and
many other preliminary devices have been tried, birds
often get sadly knocked about on really boisterous days
when alighting on the cliffs. The difficulty lies not sa
much in the mere act of alighting, as in the setthng at
some particular spot. A bird must slow up, or the impact
would be too great for its leg muscles to cope A\dth ; and
the difficulty is that when slowing up and almost at a
standstill in the air, so to speak, it is greath' at the mercj'-

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 351

of the air-currents — a swirling gust of wind being able
then to carry it this way and that, whereas were it in full
flight an equal gust might hardly affect its onward course.
I have seen Guillemots and Puffins when on the point of
alighting, and despite their rapidly- beating wings, bodily
blown over in the air and hurled backwards thirty feet

FIGURE 1. — mTENT ON ALIGHTING.

{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

from where they intended to set foot. Frequently, too,
a bird, in wild weather or when agitated, Avill fail to effect
a landing, on a cliff for example, at the first attempt,
perhaps finding it has too much pace to risk a contact
with the rocks, or, having too little, a gust of wind will

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 353

" take hold " of it and bear it past the place it intended
to alight upon.

As when dealing with " Taking Flight," I illustrated
my remarks by photographs of the Gannet, it may be
well now to continue with the same bird, and to try to
follow some of its actions when alighting.

In Figure 1 the Gannet is approaching, intent on

FIGURE 3. — MAXIMUM OF RESISTANCE.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

alighting. The pace is comparatively slow, and is
being continually lessened, and the course of the bird is
being steadied by the trailing feet. The position of its
home is not indicated in the picture : it was on the top
of the column of rock, the base of which is vaguely
suggested at the left-hand side of the print. Each time

354

BRITISH BIRDS.

the bird approached its method was the same. It flew
along the cliii'-face until it reached a point nearly opposite
to the nest, but considerably below it ; then it swept
round abruptl}' until it faced the clitr, at the same time
giving its course a strong upward tendency, still trailing
its feet. Figure 2 shows the bird just after it had faced
round to the cliff and was sweeping upwards. As soon as

FIGURE 4. — JUST SET FOOT UPON THE LEDGE.
(Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

it arrived directly opposite to its nest, its one thought
was to stop the forward and upward impetus produced
by the great soaring approach.

Figure 3 shows plainly the measures adopted by another
bird— which, by the way, advanced in a more direct and
horizontal course, and had, therefore, a more direct
forward momentum to counteract. It flew straight for

POSITIONS ASSUMED BY BIRDS IN FLIGHT. 355

its nest, sweeping slightly upward until it found itself
almost opposite the place, and perhaps some five or six
yards distant from it. Then by a dexterous turn it threw
the plane of its greatest surface into a vertical position
and at right angles to the direction of its course, thus
offering the maximum amount of resistance possible.
The whole area of the wings, bodv, and tail is directly

FIGURE. 5. — THE WINGS HAVE COME CRASHING DOWN
UPON THE ROCKS.
{Photographed by Bentley Beetham.)

opposed and spread out to resist the bird's forward-
passage through the air, and it is interesting to note how
the tail has been extended to the utmost, fan-wise, so as
to increase as much as possible the effective area. It
will be noticed that the feet are thrust forward and the

356 BRITISH BIRDS.

webs extended in anticipation of the coming contact.
That a great strain is being placed upon the wings, and
that therefore a great resistance is being encountered,
is indicated by the curve of the primaries.

Figure 4 shows the position a moment later. The
bird has now got its feet upon the rock (or rather one
foot, for the other is thrust out horizontally on the nest,
having no doubt missed its mark, and can be of little, if
any, support), and appears to be almost stationary, but
as a matter of fact it has still a forward impetus which the
raised wings are trying to counteract. The bird has,
indeed, just set foot upon the ledge, and is falling forward
in the direction of its approach.

The last photograph (Figure 5) again carries us on a
brief moment. Now the bird has pitched forward on
to its breast, its wings having failed to find sufficient
resistance in the air to counteract the body's momentum,
and in consequence the wings have come crashing down
upon the rocks at the end of their strenuous beat. The
position of the tail is interesting ; in Figure 3 it is seen
fully expanded and depressed in order that its ventral
surface may oppose the forward progress, and now it is
turned upwards above the back so that its dorsal surface
may find resistance and try to counteract the tendency
to pitch forward on to the breast.

( 357 )
THE MIGRATION OF THE WHITE STORK.

BY

A. LAXDSBOROUGH THOMSON.
An important inquiry by the ringing-method has been
carried on for several years from the station at Rossitten
(East Prussia) into the migration of the White Stork
{Ciconia alba) ; in these pages attention has already been
drawn to this work and some of its earlier fruits (Vol. II.,
pp. 366-7 ; III., p. 86), but a paper has recently been
published fThienemann, Zool. Jahrbucher, Suppl. II., pp.
66.5-686, and plates 16-18) summarizing the results ob-
tamed up to date, and this fully deserves a brief account.
The case of the Stork is of interest to us apart from the
species' slight claims to a place on the " British List," not
only on account of its bearing on the general question of
migration, but also as an extremely fine example of the
successful application of the ringing method. While
summarizing the German results we may also refer to some
obtained by Mr. Mortensen, of Viborg, Denmark {Dansk
ornith. Forenings Tidsskrift, 1907, pp. 147, 155), and by the
ornithologists of the Royal Hungarian Ornithological
Central-bureau (Schenk, Aquila, Vols. XV., XVI.. XVII.).
(1) Autumnal South-easterly Migration through Europe. —
The following journeys have been performed by birds
marked with Mortensen (the three Danish and the first
German cases) and Rossitten rings (the remaining cases).
It may be noted that all the records refer to young birds
marked in the nest at the localities named first, and
recorded from the second localities in the early autumn of
the same years.

Viborg, Denmark, to Diekow, Brandenburg.

Viborg, Denmark, to Wulkow, near Frankfort-on-the
Oder.

Viborg, Denmark, to Marclowitz, Austrian Silesia.

Weseram, Brandenburg, to Hermannstadt, south-
eastern Hungary'.

Geschendorf, near Liibeck, to Michelwitz, near
Breslau.

Poppendorf, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, to Tenczinau,
Upper Silesia.

358 BRITISH BIRDS.

Lippehne, Brandenburg, to Kassa Bola, northern

Hungary.
Biihne, in the Harz Mountains, to Sehma, in the

Erzgebirge, not far from Chemnitz.
Langfelde, near Danzig, to Grubieszow, Government

of Lublin, Poland.
Agilla, East Prussia, to Sorquitten, East Prussia.
These journeys, it will be noticed, all have the same
south-easterly trend, thus crossing at right angles the
routes followed by most species at that season.

(2) Migration to and from Africa. — No marked Storks
have as yet been reported from the Balkan States, or from
Asia Minor, but three east Prussian Storks have been
obtained in Syria — one in the April following marking,
and the others in April and July of the second year after
marking ; there are also records of a Hungarian Stork
from Syria, and of an east Prussian Stork from Palestine
(August). Next we have a record of a Stork obtained
near Alexandria in May of the year following that of its
marking in east Prussia.

Three Storks marked in east Prussia in summer have
been respectively recorded during their first autumn
from —

Jawa, Lake Fittri, near Lake Chad (October) ;
Rosaires, Blue Nile (October 30th) ; and
Ukerewe Island, Lake Victoria Nyanza (November
30th).
The next locality in the southward line is Morogoro,
German East Africa, but the exact history of the bird
obtained there is not yet certain, the number on the ring
not having been reported. Fort Jameson, north-eastern
Rhodesia, is the next locality ; here a Stork was shot on
December 9th, 1907, which had been hatched and reared
in Pomerania a few months before ; there it had left the
nest on August 10th and the district on August 25th or
26th. Then we have a record of an east Prussian Stork
shot in the Kalahari Desert during its first winter.

(3) Winter-quarters. — Finally, there are seven records
of Storks marked in east Prussia and neighbouring
provinces, and obtained in the winter months in the
Transvaal, Natal, Basutoland, and northern Cape Colony

THE MIGRATION OF THE WHITE STORK. 359

About a dozen Hungarian Storks have been obtained in
the same region, one of them in July of the summer
following that of its marking. A Hungarian Stork has
^Iso been obtained as far west as German south-west
Africa.

(4) Return to Summer-quarters. — We may summarize
the records of Storks found in Europe in summers subse-
-quent to that of their marking, as follows, all the records
of which we have details being for German birds, but there
^re also some similar Hungarian cases :

Distance from Birthplace. Season.

3 English miles (approx.) . . Next Summer.

9

60

17

437

9

19

Second Summer after.

Third

A return to the summer-quarters is thus obviously the
rule, but we must note the existence of the exception :
the Stork bom and marked near Brunswick in 1906, and
reported on June 30th, 1908, from Sorquitten in east
Prussia. As already stated, the localities are about 437
miles apart ; being nearly in the same latitude they are
obviously on quite different lines of flight. This record,
and such other exceptions as the records from the Lake
€had region and German south-west Africa, mdicate the
necessity for further study of a case which might other-
wise be considered as nearly complete. Still more is this
the case with the record which forms our final section, and
which opens up an entirely fresh line of inquiry :

(5) Autumnal South-ivesterly Migration through Europe.
— In 1910 the Rossitten Stork-marking area was extended
into Holland and western Germany. No results have as
yet been published, but while at Rossitten last September
we heard of the first " return " from Dr. Thienemann,
as it came to hand : marked near Cassel in western
■Germany that summer, the bird in question had just been
recorded from the Barcelona district of Spain ! That a
Stork hatched in western Germany should take such a
totally different hne of flight from those hatched in Den-

360 BRITISH BIRDS.

mark and north-eastern Germany is truly remarkable^
and we await with interest the working out of this new
route. The position and nature of the boundary between
the south-westerly and south-easterly flighting Storks is
also a momentous question. But in the meantime we
must not build too much on a single record.

Dr. Thienemann certainly deserves to be congratulated
on the achievement of such a notable piece of work —
nor must the Danish and Hungarian contributors bfr
forgotten — and every encouragement should be giren
towards its completer consummation.

OTES

THE RECENT " REMARKABLE MIGRATION

PHENOMENA."

It is not often that the phenomena of migration are brought so
forcibly before the general pubhc as they have been within the
last few weeks, by the wholesale destruction that occurred on
the night of March 29-30th, 1911, in the south-east of Ireland.
The daily Press duly chronicled the event, and, as might be
expected, the story lost nothing by repetition : and all sorts of
theories, more or less fanciful, were suggested as the cause.
The most trustworthy account would seem to be that which
appeared in the Irish Times for March 31st, and, stripped of its
journalistic embellishments, is shortly as follows : From the
night of March 26-27th to that of the 29-30th, Curlews and
Starlings were heard passing over the town of Carlow ; on the
latter night Curlews in " immense flocks " were heard passing
.■[apparently] to the north-east from 10 p.m. till after mid-
night ; while during the same period some hundreds of other
birds were also passing over, and numbers of them were killed
•against telegraph wires, etc., being found dead in the morning
in the streets, Starlings, Redwings, and Thrushes being identi-
fied. Between the same hours on the same night, similar
■occurrences took place at New Ross (co. Wexford) and Kil-
kenny, Starhngs being specifically mentioned at the first
locality, and Curle\\s, Thrushes, Blackbirds, and " Sparrows "
at the second.

To those who are in any way familiar with the subject of
migration, and have taken the trouble to study the Reports
■of the Migration Committees of the British Association and the
British Ornithologists' Club, there is no need to conjure
up fanciful theories to account for this " remarkable phe-
nomenon," or, as even the Field heads it " Remarkable //iflux
of Birds in Ireland." The species concerned are all well-
known autumn-migrants to, and winter-residents in, Ireland ;
the localities concerned all lie within a circle w ith a radius of
sixteen miles in the south-east corner of Ireland, and, therefore,
well within the known migration-route of these birds. The
date is well within the normal period of the spring- migration
of these species, when they might be expected to leave Ireland
in a more or less easterly direction. Moreover, the moon was
in her dark phase, and the night was therefore dark, and in

362 BRITISH BIRDS.

addition, calm and foggy — conditions which are well known
as being unfavourable to the birds, in that they more or less-
lose their sense of direction and are attracted by strong lights,,
such as the towns mentioned would afford. The " pheno-
menon " is, therefore, exactly comparable to what happens,
at every season at the light-stations round our coasts on what
are sometimes termed " good migration nights," i.e., good
from the observer's standpoint, but bad from that of the birds'
Of course, it is but seldom that such a conjunction of circum-
stances happens in an inland locality, but it did so happen^
again a few nights later, as related by Mr. R. 0. Mathews in
the Field for April 15th. In the early morning of April 3rd..
Curlews were heard fl^'ing north continually for several hours
over Marlborough (Wilts.) ; some species of the larger Gulls-
were also heard flying in a more easterly direction, and many
other species were also heard passing over. Many also came
to grief as in Ireland, those found dead during the daj" being
Redwings, Thrushes, Starlings, Blackbirds, Snipe, a Woodcock
and a Common Scoter. The occurrence of the latter so far
inland is, of course, unusual, and may be only accidental, but
the others are all well-known migrants at this period, though
there is no reason, or even need, to suppose, as the writer
suggests, that the Marlborough and Irish birds were the same
individuals. AVithout going into details, it may be worth
while to add that the returns sent in by the keepers of the west
coast lights to the Migration Committee of the B.O.C. fully
corroborate what has been said above, that these " pheno
mena " are merely part of the normal spring-migration of the
species concerned, but brought forcibly before the notice of
even the most unobservant by a fortuitous combination of
circumstances. N. F. Ticehurst^

BLYTH'S REED-W'ARBLER AT FAIR ISLE.

A New British Bird.

Yet another bird is added to the British hst by the indcfatig"
able workers on Fair Isle. Mr. W. Eagle Clarke records (Ann
Scot. Nat. Hist., 1911, p. 70) that a bird somewhat like a
Garden- W^arbler was observed in some turnips on Fair Isle
by the Duchess of Bedford in September, 1910, but only a
momentary view of it could be obtained. On the day following
(no exact date is mentioned) the bird was found in the same
place, and obtained by Mr. Clarke's observer. Mr. Clarke and
Dr. C. B. Ticehurst identified it as Blyth's Reed-Warbler,
{Acrocepkalus dumetorum) and this has been confirmed by
Dr. E. Hartert.

NOTES. 363

The coloration of Blyth's Reed- Warbler is less red than that
of the Reed- Warbler, and even slightly more olivaceous and
rather darker than that of the Marsh-Warbler, but to dis-
tinguish any of these three species by the coloration without
very careful comparison is impossible.

Blyth's Reed-Warbler, however, differs in wing-formula
from both the other species, by having a considerably shorter
second primary. This in Blyth's Reed- War bier falls between
the fifth and seventh (and is sometimes shorter than the
seventh), whereas, in the other two species, the second is
generally equal to the fourth.

According to Dr. Hartert {Vog. pal. Fauna, I., p. 564)
Blyth's Reed-Warbler breeds in the Himalayas, Altai, Turke-
stan, Bokhara, Transcaspia, western Siberia, and in Russia
from Orenburg to Moscow and St. Petersburg, and northward
to Archangel. It winters in India, southward to Ceylon and
Lower Burma. It does not appear to have been noticed
previously westward of St. Petersburg.

GREAT GREY SHRIKE IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE.

On March 25th, 1911,1 received for identification an adult
specimen of the Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor) which
had been found at Penybontfawr, near Llangynog ; it had
apparently been dead several days. There are very few pre-
vious records in the county of Montgomery (c/. Vert. Fauna
N. Wales, -p. 12Q).

Since writing the above, I have seen at the shop of a local
taxidermist another example, obtained in the same county in
October, 1910 ; the owner does not wish the locality to be
pubhshed. H. E. Forrest.

CROSSBILLS BREEDING IN ENGLAND IN 1911.—

In Suffolk.

During the last twelve months I have been in regular com-
munication with friends in regard to the movements of Cross-
bills [Loxia curvirostra) in Suffolk, and on March 9th, 1911, I
received word that many birds were still about, and that they
were all in pairs. On the strength of this information, I
journeyed to the same locality where I found them breeding
last year. On March 12tli a systematic search resulted in the
finding of three nests — one with four slightly-incubated eggs,
another with three eggs also slightly incubated, and a third
without eggs. All the nests were in t^rpical situations in
Scotch pines.

364 BRITISH BIRDS.

I do not think attention has been called to the beautiful
manner in which the nests are concealed from above by
branchlets of the tree ; indeed, in some cases, it is almost
impossible to see the nest until these are drawn to one side.

Subsequently, seventeen more nests were found in the
locality, and some of these I have personally inspected. All
were in Scotch pine at a height of eight to fifty feet from
the ground, and all were in typical positions. The details
ace as follow : — March 26th, one with two eggs both sucked,
one witn four eggs, three broken, dead female on nest ;
March 29th, one with three fresh eggs; April 5th, one with
three young ; April 11th, one with four fresh eggs, one with
four eggs, incubation commenced ; April 12th, one with three
eggs, incubation advanced ; April 13th, one with four eggs,
incubation commenced ; April 15th, one with four eggs,
incubation commenced, one building ; April 16th, three
with four fresh eggs, two with three eggs, incubation com-
menced, one building, one ready for eggs but apparently
forsaken.

On this date a flock of seven birds was seen, and this was
the most considerable number of birds seen together during
the course of these observations.

So far as this locality is concerned, judging by the conversa-
tion I have had with a particularly intelhgent set of keepers,
I feel, in my own mind, confident that Crossbills breed here
every year. Many of these keepers are certain that they are
here all the year round, year after j^ear, and, to use the words
of one of the oldest keepers on the estate, " These 'ere early
Green Linnets nestes I have know'd the last forty year."
They have, no doubt, been overlooked owing to the very early
date at which they breed. P. F. Bunyard.

In Norfolk.

During February and March, Mr. A. H. Meiklejohn and I
paid several visits to a district about four miles from Thetford
in which Crossbills nested in 1910, in order to discover whether
they Avould do so again this year.

Our search was confined to quite a small tract of country —
about half a square mile in extent — and resulted in the finding
of eight nests. Of these, one (the first nest found, February
19th) contained two newly-hatched young and one egg, one
two eggs (March 8th, another egg having been blown out of the
nest on March 1st), one three eggs (March 25th), three, four
eggs (March 19th, 22nd and 31st), whilst two other nests were
being built (March 26th and 31st). The weather during the

NOTES. 365

last ten days of February was very wild, with almost con-
tinuous westerly gales, and on March 1st the nest containing
young ones was found to be deserted, whilst the second nest
had been blown to one side, and a fresh egg was lying broken
on the ground under the tree. The keeper considerately
climbed uj) and put the nest straight, and on March 3rd the
cock was re-lining it with feathers. On March 5th the hen
began to sit, and on March 8th the nest contained two eggs.
Another gale from the north on March 26th destroyed the nest
containing three eggs, blowing it completely upside down, and
turning the eggs out.

All the nests were in Scotch firs, either at the extreme top
or at the end of a lateral branch : three were in roadside trees,
and three in trees close to cottages.

From inquiries I have made, I camiot hear of any Crossbills
having been seen in this district between May 31st, 1910 — on
which day Mr. Meiklejohn and I saw one pair — and January,
1911. The keeper upon whose beat the nests recorded above
were found, who is a keen observer, tells me that he saw no
birds during the last six months of 1910. B. B. Riviere.

In Kent.

A nest of a Crossbill was found by the Rev. J. R. Hale
and myself near Maidstone, Kent, on March 31st, 1911.
The nest contained four eggs, and was built upon the identical
branch of the same tree on which a pair of Crossbills nested
in 1910. C. D. Borrer.

BEE-EATER IN SUSSEX.

On April 7th, 1911, Mr. L. Cooke, of White Gate Farm, Pett,
saw a specimen of the Bee-eater {Merops apiaster) in the orchard
on his farm. Mr. Cooke told me that he Avas quite certain
what it was, as it seemed very tame, and allowed him to get
within a few feet. The bird eventually flew off to a wood
some distance away. On April 13th a Bee-eater (no doubt
the same bird) was brought to me in the flesh for examination.
It had been shot the day previous (April 12th) at Winchelsea,
a few miles only from the farm at Pett Avhere it had been seen
by Mr. Cooke. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

HOOPOE IN WINTER IN YORKSHIRE.

A FEMALE Hoopoe {Upupa epops) was shot on the golf-links
at Ganton, Yorkshire, by a youth with a catapult, on

366 BRITISH BIRDS.

November 3rd, 1910. Tha specimen was much damaged, a
bullet or stone having passed right through its body ; but it
has been preserved, and is now in the possession of the Golf
Club at Ganton. The crop and gullet of the bird contained
a number of larvce of the crane-fly. Wm. J. Clarke.

ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD IN SUSSEX.

Two fine examples of the Rough-legged Buzzard {Buteo
lagopus) \A ere shot in Sussex last autumn. A male on October
31st, 1910, at Netherfield — which has been presented to the
Hastings Museum — and a female on November 1st, 1910,
between Netherfield and Battle.

I understand that both birds had been seen in the district
for two or three weeks before they were obtained.

H. W. Ford-Lindsay. .

WHITE-TAILED EAGLE IN SHROPSHIRE.
Mr. G. H. Paddock, informs me that on April 2nd,
1911, he and his son observed an Eagle near Welhngton,
Salop. Their attention was first attracted by the behaviour
of a lot of Peewits and Starlings, which were feeding in a field
and suddenly scattered in all directions. Looking up, they
saw a huge bird coming from the direction of the Wrekin.
At first they took it for a Buzzard, but as it approached and
flew right over them, they saw that it was far too large and
much darker in colour. Mr. Paddock, who is a good ornith-
ologist, identified it without a doubt as Halia'etus albicilla,
a species that has been recorded over a dozen times in
Shropshire. H. E. Forrest

PEREGRINE FALCON IN WILTSHIRE.

An adult female Peregrine Falcon {Falco. peregrinus) was
trapped by a keeper near Marlborough, on March 29th, 1911.
An immature Peregrine was shot at Marlborough in Sep-
tember, 1908. R. 0. Mathews.

BREEDING OF SHOVELER, TUFTED DUCK, AND

GARGANEY IN SOMERSET.

In British Birds, Vol. II., pp. 83 and 415, are short notes on
the breeding of the Tufted Duck {Fuligula cristata) and
Shoveler [Spatula dypeata) in Somerset, the former on Blagdon
Reservoir in 1906, the latter on the Somerset moors. I know
of no record of the breeding of the Tufted Duck in the county
jprior to that date. The Shoveler has been known to breed on

NOTES. 367

the peat moors of mid- Somerset more than twenty years ago.
The late Rev. Murray A. Mathew, writing on this district,
states : "The Shoveler, and perhaps the Garganey, would
nest regularly if the gunners would only let them alone. I
possess an egg of the Shoveler taken on the North Curry Moor
some years ago " (see Zoologist, 1891, p. 93). I have also
several notes on the appearance of the Shoveler near Glaston-
bury in spring and summer during the last decade of the
nineteenth century, under conditions which made it almost
certain the birds were breeding in the district. Since the
completion of the extensive reservoir at Blagdon, in a Valley
to the north of the Mendip Hills, about eleven years ago,
the Shov^eler seems to have increased as a breeding- species in
the county, or, at any rate, has come more under observation.
Donald Carr, the ranger and keeper, informs me that numbers
of these birds now breed, and have done so for several years,
in the meadows around Blagdon Reservoir. He reports also
that two pairs of Tufted Ducks and a pair of Garganey {Quer-
quedula circia) nested there in 1910. If there has been no
mistake in identification, this is the first record I know of the
breeding of the Garganey in Somerset, though it has often
been obtained in the county in spring ; and Colonel Montagu,
more than a hundred years ago, states that he often received
this species from the Somerset decoys in April.

I have seen literally hundreds of Tufted Duck and Pochard

on Blagdon Reservoir in winter, but apparently only a few

pairs of the former species, and none of the latter, remain to

breed there. F. L. Blathwayt.

GOOSANDER IN SUSSEX.

A FINE adult male of the Goosander {Mergus merganser) was
obtained at Bodiam, Sussex, on February 27th, 1911, and is
now in the Hastings Museum. H. W. Ford-Lindsay.

LATE STAY OF GOOSANDERS IN CHESHIRE.

The Goosander {Mergus merganser), a not infrequent winter
visitor to the Cheshire meres, has on one or two occasions
remained until the third week m March, but in the winter
of 1910-1911 a party of birds remained for an excep-
tionally long time. From December 3rd to the 17th a
brown-headed Goosander was constantly on Tatton Mere,
and on the 18 th five were observed by the gamekeeper
at Marbury, near Northwich ; by January 8th the number
had risen to eight. They were all brown-headed, but,
judging from variation in size, the party contained birds
of both sexes. They generally fed in the morning, and

368 BRITISH BIRDS.

during the afternoon rested on a grassy ledge below a
steep bank of the mere. I repeatedly watched them
during January, February, and March with Mr. T. Hadfield
and Mr. A, W. Boyd, and except during a short frost early in
the year, we almost invariably found them resting in the one
spot. On April 9th we saw the eight birds, but on the morning
of April 14th, the last date on which they were seen, the game-
keeper only counted five. T. A. Coward.

NESTING OF THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE IN

SOMERSET.

The Great Crested Grebe {Podicipes cristatus) has apparently
been extending its breeding-range in our islands during recent
years, but I fancy there are very few records yet of these birds
nesting in the south-west of England. I know of no records
of the nest having been found in Somerset until last year,
when I heard from quite reliable sources that two pairs nested
in 1910 on Blagdon Reservoir, and several ]3airs on Chard
Reservoir. The record is, I believe, the first for Blagdon,
though, possibly, not quite the first for Chard, from which
locality I hear that last June (1910) steps were taken to banish
the birds as being prejudicial to the fishing. Several pairs
were nesting, and eggs were found. It would be interesting
to hear whether there are other records from the south-western
counties. F. L. Blathwayt.

Lanceolated Warblers in Scotland. — Mr. W. Eagle
Clarke announces {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist , 1911, p. 71) that a
specimen (a bird of the year — sex not mentioned) of the Lanceo-
lated Grasshopper-Warbler {Locustella lanceolata) was captured
at the Pentland Skerries (Orkney) on October 26th, 1910, and
sent to him in the flesh. Mr. Clarke, who acknowledges the
assistance of Dr. C. B. Ticehurst, finds that a bird which he
shot at Fair Isle, on September 9th, 1908, also belongs to this
species. This is likewise a bird of the year.

It will be remembered that this Warbler was added to the
British List by Mr. Caton Haigh, who obtained an example in
Lincolnshire on November 18th, 1909 (c/., Vol. III., p. 353).

Mealy Redpoll in Mull. — Specimens of L. linaria from
Skye in November, 1910, have already been reported {supra,
p. 255), and we now have a record by Mr. D. Macdonald {Ann.
Scot. Nat. Hist., 1911. p. 114) of a specimen in Mull, on October
31st, 1910.

Holboll's Redpoll in Shetland. — Additional to the
records already given {supra, p, 291) Mr. J. S. Tulloch records

NOTES. 369

two specimens of L. I. holboelli from Shetland on October
28th, 1910 (Afm. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1911, p. 115). Mr. W. Evans
also records {t.c, p. 114), that besides the one already
mentioned in our pages {supra, p. 292), he examined] a
number of others from the Lotliians.

Northern Bullfinch in Scotland. — In connection
with the occurrence of Pyrrhula p. pyrrJmla already recorded
in our pages {supra, pp. 211, 250, 292), it is interesting to note
that Mr. W. Evans reports {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1911, p. 113)
one from Archerfield (East Lothian) on October 29th, 1910.
A Bullfinch seen by Mr. Budge on October 31st, at Barns-
ness Light, near Dunbar (Haddington), was also probably
of this race, as Avas another caught in the neighbourhood of
Berwick-on-Tweed (Northumberland) in the same autumn.
Mr. Evans mentions that a specimen was captured about
the end of October, 1884, on the coast near LOngniddry
(Haddington).

Northern Great Spotted Woodpecker in Scotland. —
In connection with the note on this subject {supra, p. 286),
and especially with regard to the bird obtained in Yorkshire
on September 14th, 1909, it is interesting to find that a Spotted
Woodpecker obtained by the Misses Rintoul and Baxter at
the Isle of May on September 16th, 1909, and already referred
to in these pages (Vol. III., p. 378), has been pronounced to be
a specimen of D. m. major by Dr. C. B. Ticehurst {Ann. Scot.
Nat. Hist., 1911, p. 116).

Spotted Sandpiper in Yorkshire. — In a recent issue
(p. 319) we expressed a doubt as to the authenticity of a
specimen of a Spotted Sandpiper shot at or near Hebden
Bridge about 1899, and recorded by Mr. Walter Greaves in
the Naturalist (1911, pp. 100-101). Mr. Greaves has very
kindly written to us on the subject, and supplemented the
information given in the article referred to. Although the
exact date and exact locality are uncertain, there can be,
we think, on Mr. Greaves' s new evidence, no reasonable doubt
that the bird was in fact shot at or near Hebden Bridge about
1899. Mr. Greaves tells us that the taxidermist from whom
his information is derived is in no sense a dealer, but is a
stuffer of locally-obtained specimens ; that he well remembers
skinning this bird himself, and immediately noticing that it
was a species new to him. There is little chance, therefore,
that any mistake could have been made, although, unfortu-
nately, the essential details of date and locality were not
attached to the skin.

LETTERS

THE MOVEMENTS OF YOUNG ROOKS.
To the Editors of British Bieds.

Sees, — Mr. Walter Stewart raises an interesting point regarding the
movements of immature Rooks. In the Windermere district these
birds migrate durmg October, and are absent until the end of March
or beginning of April. A few feather-faced individuals are then seen
about, but the proportion of these to white-faced birds is very small.

Another question which might be settled by ringing young Rooks
is, whether these birds breed in the first year or not. Howard Saunders
says that this species does not breed mitil nearly two years old, but in
the Field of October 24th, 1908, a correspondent states that when
watching Rooks building nests that week (autumn attempts at breeding
by this species are not uncommon), he found that all the bu'ds so
engaged were immature. I beheve another observer has seen feather-
faced Rooks carrying sticks. Personally, though I have frecjuently
watched these birds at Rookeries in the breeding-season, no sign of
them nesting has been detected, with the exception that I once saw
a bird that was undoubtedly breeding which had the face in an inter-
mediate condition — only partially bare of the feathers.

Eric B. Dunlop.

Sirs, — If your correspondent, Mr. Stewart, succeeds in marking a
large number of young Rooks, I think he will find that it is the bill-
feathers which go before winter, and not the young Rooks.

That a few young Rooks retain the feathers after the first autumn
moult is undoubtedly the case, but I believe the proportion to be very
small. I have kept young Rooks in partial confinement which lost
the bill-feathers before the first winter. M. Bedford.

A BAIKAL TEAL IN DEVONSHIRE.

To the Editors of British Birds.

Sirs, — It is more than likely that the Baikal Teal reported in the April
number of British Birds (p. 348) had escaped from Woburn. We
have a large number of full-winged birds, and I counted fifteen flying
together a short time ago. M. Bedford.

Sirs, — I expect we shall soon hear of numerous " British " killed
Baikal Teal from the fact that the price of live birds has recently
dropped from six or seven guineas per pan- to less than one-third of that
sum. I do not know where the dealers obtain their stock, but the
market is now full of them. Heatley Noble.

371

INDEX.

Abbott, Clinton G., Letter on
Unequal Wing-strokes in
Flight, 261.

Accentor, Hedge-, see Sparrow,
Hedge-.

accipitrinus, Asio, see Owl, Short-
eared.

acuta, Dafila, see Pintail.

alha, Ciconia, see Stork, White.

Motacilla, see Wagtail, White.

albellus, Mergus, see Smew.

albicilla, Haliaetus, see Eagle,
White-tailed.

albifrons, Anser, see Goose, White-
fronted.

Ald worth, T. p., see Hale,
Rev. J. R.

Alexander, Boyd, Memoir of, 34.

Alexander, C. J., The Notes of
the British WiUow-Tit, 146 ;
Note on Little Gull in Kent, 55.

— and H. G., Further Obser-
vations on the Song-Periods
of Birds, 274.

See Witherby, H. F.

H. G., Note on Chiff chaff in

Kent in Winter, 310.

alpestris, Otocorys, see Lark, Shore-.

aluco, Syrnium, see Owl, Tawny.

American Birds liberated on the
Scilly Islands, 28.

americana, Mareca, see Wigeon,
American.

americanus, Coccyzus, see Cuckoo,
American Yellow-billed.

anglicus, Dendrocopus major, see
Woodpecker, British Great
Spotted.

anglorum, Puffinus, see Shear-
water, Manx.

Regidus regulus, see Wren,

British Golden-crested.

aquaticus, Cinclus, see Dipper.

Rallus, see Rail, Water-.

arhorea, Alauda, see Lark, Wood-.

Archibald, Charles F., Note on
Birds Feeding on Fir-cones, 23.

arctica, Fratercula, see Puffin.

arcticus, Colymhus, see Diver, Black-
throated.

arenaria, Calidris, see Sanderling.
argentatus. Lams, see Gull, Herring-.
Arnold, E. C, Note on Bluethroats

in Norfolk, 182.
arquata, Numenius, see Curlew.
arvensis, Alauda, see Lark, Sky-.
Atkinson, Jasper, Note on

Abnormally-coloured Gannet,

152.
atricapilla, Miiscicapa, see Fly-
catcher, Pied.

Sylvia, see Blackcap.

Auk, Little, in England, 255.
aureus, Turdvs dauma, see Thrush,

White's.
auritus, Podicipes, see Grebe,

Slavonian.
Avocet in Norfolk, 28 ; in Sussex,

220.
avocetta, Recurvirostra, see Avocet.
Ayrshire, Birds of, 194.

Barrington, Richard M., Note
on Shore-Lark in Ireland, 215;
Letter on the Irish Jay, 296.

hassana, Sula, see Gannet.

Beaumont, W. I., Note on
Greenfinches Feeding on Coto-
neaster Berries, 18.

Bedford, The Duchess of. Note
on British Willow-Tit in Kirk-
cudbrightshire, 284 ; Letters
on Movements of Young Rooks
and Baikal Teal, 370.

Bee-eater, Supposed, in Norfolk,
126 ; in Sussex, 365.

Beetham, Bentley, On the Posi-
tions assumed by Birds in
Flight— 1, Starting, 162 ; 2,
Steering, Slowing-up, and Turn-
ing, 198 ; 3, Alighting, 350.

belgica, Limosa, see Godwit, Black-
tailed.

Bentham, Howard, Notes on
Dartford Warblers Nesting in
Heather, 17 ; Late Stay of
Brambling, 47 ; Black Tern in
Surrey, 158 ; Song-period of
Dartford Warbler, 309; Gadwall

372

BRITISH BIRDS.

in Surrey, 316 ; Zone-marked

Egg of Black-headed Gull, 317.
hewicki, Cygnus, see Swan, Bewick's.
hiarmicus, Panurus, see Titmouse,

Bearded.
Bird- Watcher's Guide, The, 8.
Bittern, American, Scottish Records

of, 31.

Common, Food of, 159.

Little, in Coi'nwall, 126.

Blackbird, Incubation and Fledging

Period of, 29 ; Breeding Habits
of, 44 ; Nesting on the Ground,
75, 116, 192; Recovery of
Marked, 113, 282, 335; and
Ring-Ouzel interbreeding, 116 ;
and Song-Thrush interbreeding,
159 ; Increase in Orkney, 220 ;
Song-period of, 278 ; Removal
of fceces by, 307 ; MJQ-ration
of, 361.

Blackcap (nestling), 70 ; Nesting
in Orkney, 220 ; Distribution
of in South-west Scotland,
226 , at Sea, 243 ; Probable
Wintering of, in England, 295.

Bladen, W. Wells, Note on
Pijitails in Staffordshire, 218.

Blathwayt, Rev. F. L., Notes
on Probable Nesting of Cross-
bill in Lincolnshire, 121 ; Great
Crested Grebes Nesting in
Somersetshire, 368 ; Shoveler,
Tufted Duck^ and Garganey
Nesting in Somerset, 366.

Bluethroat, Red-spotted, in "Clyde"
125 ; in Norfolk in Sirring, 148 ;
Influx in Norfolk in Autumn,
182 ; at Fair Isle, 289 ; off
Suffolk in Sprmg, 295.

BoNHOTE, J. Lewis, Note on Ring-
Ouzel and Blackbird inter-
breeding in Kent, 116 ; Letter
on The Generic Names of our
Swallows, 230.

borealis, MotaciUa fiava, see Wagtail,
Grey-headed.

BoERER, Clifford, Notes on Arctic
Bluethroat in Norfolk in Spring,
148 ; Barred Warbler in Nor-
folk, 209 ; Tawny Pipit in
Norfolk, 210 ; Crossbill Nesting
in Kent, 365.

hoscas. Anas, see Mallard.

brachyrhynchus, Anser, see Goose,
Pink-footed.

Brambling, Late Stay of, 20, 47,
81 ; Seen at Sea, 242.

hrenta, Bernicla, see Goose, Brent.

britannica, Certhia /., see Creeper,
British Tree-.

Sitta e., see Nuthatch, British.

britannicus, Cinclus c, see Dipper,
British.

Parws a., see Titmouse, British

Coal-.

British Bird Book, The, Reviewed,
95 ; Letter on, 127.

British Birds, New — American
Water Pipit, 285 ; B'vth's
Reed-Warbler, 302.

Races or Form's — Shet-
land Wren, 133 ; Wrens from
the Hebrides and Fair Isle,
134; St. Kilda Wren, 134; Irish
Dipper, 134; Irish Jay, 234;
Irish Coal-Tit, 283 ; Great-
Spotted Woodpecker, 337.

Bullfinch, British, Song-period of,
277.

Nonthern, in Shetland, 211 ;

in Yorkshire, 250 ; in Scotland,
292, 369.

Bunting, Cirl, in Cheshu-e, 62 ;
Late Nesting of, in Somerset,
188 ; Song-period of, 278.

Corn-, (nestling) 72 ; Song-
period of, 278.

Lapland, at Fair Isle, 290

at the Isle of May, 318.

Little, at Fair Isle, 290.

Ortolan, at Fair Isle, 290 ;

at the Isle of May, 318.

Rustic, at Fair Isle, 290.

Snow-, Attainment of Adult

Plumage, 221.

Yellow, (nestling) 23, 73 ; In-
cubation and Fledging-period
of, 29 ; Song-period of, 278.

BuNYARD, P. F., Note on Crossbills
Nesting in Suffolk, 363.

Bustard, Great, Moult of, 32, 190 ;
in Hampshire, 190.

Buzzard, Common, Aggressiveness
of, 152 ; Plumage and Age, 221.

Rough-legged, in Sussex and

Berkshire, 122 ; in Northum-
berland. 315 ; in Sussex, 366.

Cairnie, Charles, Note on Velvet

INDEX.

373

Scoters in Caithness in Summer,
154.

Capercaillie and Blackcock Hybrids,
60.

ccesia, Sitta, see Nuthatch.

campestris, Anthus, see Pipit, Tawny .

candicans, Falco, see Falcon, Green-
land.

candidus, Himantopus, see Stilt,
Black-winged.

canescens, Totanus, see Gi'eenshank.

cannabina, Linota, see Linnet.

canorus, Guculus, see Cuckoo.

cantiaca. Sterna, see Tern, Sandwich.

canus, Lams, see Gull, Commor.

caniitus, Tringa, see Knot.

carbo, Phalacrocorax, see Cor-
morant.

caryocatactes, Nucifraga c, see Nut-
cracker.

casarca, Tadorna, see Duck, Ruddy
Sheld-.

catarrhactes, Megalestris, see Skua.
Great.

caudata, Acredula, see Titinouse,
Long-tailed.

Chaffinch, at Sea, 242 ; Removal of
fceces by, 307 ; One Pair
Building many Nests, 307.

Chapman, Abel, Note on Moult of
the Great Bustard, 190.

Charlton, .J. M., Notes on Rough-
legged Buzzard in Northumber-
land, SI-"! ; Snipe pursvied by
Falcon, 340.

Chelidon, see Swallows.

Cheshire, The Vertebrate Fauna of.
Reviewed, 61.

Chiffchaff in Sussex in Winter, 30 ;
Distribution of in South-west
Scotland, 226 ; in Kent in
Wiater, 310 ; in Cornwall in
Winter, 295.

Siberian, at Fair Isle, 289 :

at the Isle of May, 318.

chloris, Ligurinus, see Greenfinch.

chlnropns, Galliniiln, see Moorhen.

Chough, A Peebleshire, 125.

chrysaetus,Aqnila,see Eagle, Golden.

cinclus, Cinclus, see Dipper, Black-
breasted.

cineraceus. Circus, see Harrier,
Montagu's.

cinerea, Ardea, see Heron, Common.

• Sylvia, see Whitethroat.

cinerens,Anser, see Goose, Grey Lag-.

circia, Querquedida, see Garganey.
cirlus, Emberiza, see Bunting, Cirl.
citrinella, Emberiza, see Bunting,

Yellow.
Clarke, E. T., Note on Crossbills

Nesting in Gloucestershire, 81.

W. J., Note on Hoopoe in

Yorkshire in Winter, 365.

Cliff-climber, Death of a Flam-
borough, 56.

clypeata, Spatula, see Shoveler.

ccelebs, Fringilla, see Chaffinch.

coelestis, Gallinago, see Snipe,
Common.

caeruleus, Parus, see Titmouse, Blue.

CoLLENETTE, C. L., Note on Lesser
Redpoll Nesting in Essex, 286.

Coles, R. E., Note on Crossbills
Nesting m Hampshire, 20.

collurio, Lanius, see Shrike, Red-
backed.

CoLTHRUP, C. W., Notes on Cross-
bills Nesting in Surrey, 187 ;
Great Tit Nesting in Hedges,
210 ; Ringed Plovers' unusual
Clutches, 219 ; Extraordinary
Nest-building, 307 ; Arrival
of the Redstart in 1909, 308 ;
Eggs of the Cuckoo, 313 ;
Three Eggs in a Wood-Pigeon's
Nest, 316.

comminutus, Dendrocopus minor,
see Woodpecker, British Lesser
Spotted.

com,munis, Goturnix, see Quail.

Grus, see Crane.

Turtur, see Dove, Turtle-.

CoMPTON, M. WiNZAR, Notes on

Four Eggs in a Wood-Pigeon's
Nest, 155 ; Albinistic Green-
finch, 249.

Confinement, Notes on British
Birds in, 221.

CoNGREVE, W. M., Note on Quails
in Lewis, Outer Hebrides, 189.

corax, Gorvus, see Raven.

Cormorant, White-breasted variety
of, 25 ; in Staffordshire and
Warwickshire, 106 ; Recovery
of a marked, 178.

comix, Gorvus, see Crow, Hooded.

cornuta, Tadorna, see Dvick, Sheld-.

corone, Gorvus, see Crow, Carrion-.

Coward, T. A., Notes on Inland
Nesting of the Sheld-Duck
in Cheshu-e, 86 ; Blue-headed

374

BRITISH BIRDS.

Wagtail in Carnarv-onshire, 183;
Long-tailed Duck in Cheshire,
219 ; Willow-Tit in Lancashire,
337 ; Late Stay of Goosanders
in Cheshire, 367.

Crake, Corn-, Song-period of, 276.

Spotted, in Staffordshire, 109.

Crane, Bones of, in Ireland, 30.

crecca, Nettion, see Teal.

Creeper, British Tree-, (nestling)
71 : Song-period of, 278.

crepidatus, Stercorarius, see Skua,
Richardson's.

cristata, Fuligula, see Duck, Tufted,

cristatus, Regulus, see Wren, Golden-
crested.

Crossbill Nesting in Berkshire, 20 ;
in Hampshii-e, 20 ; in Kent, 21,
51, 82, 212, 365: in Norfolk,
22, 82, 187, 364; in Sussex, 22,
47, 82 ; in Essex, 81 ; in Glou-
cestershire, 81 ; Probable in
Lincolnshire, 121 ; in Somer-
set, 121 , in Suffolk, 187, 363;
in Surrey, 187 ; 'in Bed-
fordshire, 250 ; Summary of
Nesting, 328.

A White, 30 ; (nestling), 71.

as a British Bird, 332.

Irruption of the, 22, 51,

83, 122, 185, 250 ; Summary
of the, 326.

Song-period of, 277.

Scottish, Distribution of, 334.

Crow, Carrion-, Incubation and

Fledging-period of, 29 ; Nest-
ing in same district as Hooded
Crow, 160 ; Mouth-coloration
of, 242.

Hooded, in Carnarvonshire,

313.

Cuckoo, Habits of, 28 ; Recovery
of Marked, 113; Down-
Plumage and Mouth-coloration
of nestling, 242 ; Song-period
of, 276 ; Eggs of, 313.

American Yellow-billed, in

Argyllshire, 126.

CuMMiNGS, S. G., Note on Red-
necked PhalarojDe in Norfolk,
253.

Curlew Nesting in Norfolk, 88 ;
in Staffordshire, Warwickshire,
and Worcestershire, 110; In-
cubating of, 144 ; Migration of,
361.

Curlew, Stone-, in Bedfordshire and

Cumberland, 94.
curvirostra, Loxia, see Crossbill.
cyaneus. Circus, see Harrier, Hen-.

Dewar, J. M., Note on the Mouth-
coloration of the Nestling
Yellow Bunting, 23.

Dipper, Black-breasted, in Norfolk,
27.

British, Incubation-period of,

29 ; (nestling), 71 ; Incubating
of, 138 ; Early Breeding of, in
Derbyshire, 318.

Irish, and other forms, 134.

discors, Querquedula, see Teal,
American Blue-winged.

Diver, Black-throated, in Carnar-
vonshire, 26 ; in Staffordshire
and W^orcestershire, 112 ; in
Westmorland, 220.

Great Northern, in Stafford-
shire, 111.

domesticus. Passer, see Sparrow,
House-.

Dove, Stock-, in Dee, 60
Laying three Eggs, 155
Increase in Clyde area, 159
Song-period of, 276 ; Chasing
a Jackdaw, 316.

■ Turtle-, in Ayrshire, 159 ;

Incubation-period of, 221 ;
Song-period of, 276 ; in Scot-
land, 290.

dresseri, Parus palustris, see Tit-
mouse, British Marsh-.

Duck, Long-tailed, in Staffordshire,
108 ; in Cheshire, 219 ; in
Kent, 339.

Ruddy Sheld-, in Caithness,

222.

Scaup-, in Staffordshire and

Warwickshire, 108.

Sheld-, Inland Nesting of, in

Cheshire, 86 ; in Staffordshire,
107 ; in the Isle of Wight, 182.

Tufted, Breeding in Stafford-
shire, 108 ; Increase of, in
Cheshire, 123 ; Breeding in
Orkney, 221 ; Breeding at
Dulwi"h, 257 ; Breeding in
Somerset, 366.

Ducks, Migration of, 26.

— —see Eider, Gadwall, Gar-
ganey, Golden-Eye, Mallard,
Merganser, Pintail, Pochard,

INDEX.

375

Scoter, Shoveler, Smew, Teal,
Wigeon.

dumftorum, Acrocephalus, see Wai'b-
ler, Blyth's Reed-.

Dumfriesshire^ The Birds of^
Reviewed, 224.

DxjNCAN, Stanley, Note on Little
Terns Nesting at Tees Mouth,
Yorkshire, 54.

Dunlin in Warwickshire and
Worcestershire, 109.

DxjNLOP, Eric B., On Incubation,
137 ; Notes on the Down-
Plumage and Mouth-coloration
of some Nestling Bii'ds, 241 ;
the Diurnal Flight of the
Barn-Owl, 314 ; Stock-Dove
Chasing a Jackdaw, 31 G :
Letter on INTovements of Yovmg
Rooks, 370.

D'Urban, W. S. M., Note on
Increase of Starlings in Corn-
wall and Devon, 213.

Eagle, Golden, Aggressiveness of,
152.

White-tailed, in Carnarvon-
shire, 288 ; in Shroj)shire, 366.

Earle, Edward, Notes on A Great
Spotted Woodpecker's Nesting-
hole, 84 ; Supposed Egg-
daubing by the Jackdaw, 214.

Egi'et, Little, Supposed to have
been common in England, 57.

Eider, Common, in " Clyde," 126 ;
Recoverv of a Marked, 178 ; in
Sussex, \339.

■ King-, at Fair Isle, 291.

elegans, Garduelis, see Goldfinch.

epops, Vpupa, see Hoopoe.

eryihrina, Pyrrhula, see Grosbeak,
Scarlet.

erythropus. Anser, see Goose, Lesser
White-fronted.

eiiropceus, Caprimidgiis, see Night-
jar.

excubitor Lanius, see Shrike, Great
Grey.

exilipes, Linota, see Redpoll, Coues's.

falcinellus, Plegadis, see Ibis, Glossy.
Falcon, Greenland, in Ireland and

Scotland, 31 ; in Scotland, 222,

290.

Falcon^ Iceland, supposed Early
Record of, in Shropshire, 251.

Peregrine,Nesting at Bempton ,

53 ; in the Isle of Wight, 182 ;
Capturing Migi'ants at Sea,
244 : Pursuing Snipe ua Hamp-
shire, 340 ; in Wiltshu-e, 366.

Farren, William, On the Nesting
of the Marsh-Warbler in Cam-
bridgeshu'e, 37.

Far WIG, H. H., Notes on Late Ring-
Ouzel in Kent, 77 ; Crossbills
Nesting in Sussex, 82.

" Feigning Injurv," Birds, 63, 118,
f57.

ferina, Fuligula, see Pochard.

Fieldfare, A late, in Kent, 92 : Late,
in Cumberland, Cheshire, and
Northampton, 295.

Fir-cones, Birds Feeding on, 22.

Flamingo in Norfolk, 28 ; in
Worcester shii"e, 106.

flammea, Strix, see Owl, Barn-.

flava, Motacilla /., see Wagtail,
Blue-headed.

fiavipes, Totaniis, see Yellowshank.

Flight, LTnequal Wing-strokes in,
115, 156, 192, 232, 259.

Positions Assumed by Bu'ds

in— 1, Starting, 162 ; 2, Steer-
ing, Slowing-up and Turning,
198 ; 3, Alighting, 350.

Letter on, 231.

fluviatilis, Podicipes, see Grebe,
Little.

Sterna, see Tern, Common.

Flycatcher, Pied, in Sussex, 151, 184

Spotted, Incubation and

Fledging-period of, 29 ; Build-
ing in old Nests, 120 ; Song-
period of, 277.

firces of Young, Removing and
Swallowing of, 44, 80, 184, 210,
245, 306.

Food, of Greenfinch, 18 ; Fii'-cones
and larch-cones, 22; of Common
Heron, 85, 153 ; of Lesser
Black-backed Gull, 88 ; of
Razorbill, 90: of Wood-
Pigeon, 94 ; of Herring-Gull,
124 ; of Bittern, 159.

FoRD-LiNDSAY, H. W., Notcs on
Greenfinch swallowing faces
of Young, 80, 210 ; Large
Clutch of Eggs of Wryneck, 83 ;
Golden Oriole in Sussex, 119 ;

376

BRITISH BIRDS.

Extraordinary Devotion of a
Pair of Lesser Whitethroats
to their Xest, 148 ; Avocets in
Sussex, 220 ; Great Skua in
Sussex, 254 ; Red-crested

Pochards in Sussex, 316; Great
Grey Shrike in Sussex, 337
Long-tailed Duck in Kent, 339
Bee-eater in Sussex, 305
Rough-legged Buzzard in
Sussex, 366 ; Goosander in
Sussex, 367.

Forrest, H. E., Notes on Nuthatch
in Anglesey, 17 ; Unusual
Nesting-site of Goldcrest, 45 ;
New Nesting-colony of Black-
headed Gulls in Montgomery-
shire, 124 ; Egg-daubing by
the Jackdaw, 250 ; Hoopoe
and Spoonbill in Montgomery-
shire, 251 ; Iceland Falcons
in Shropshire, 251 ; Manx
Shearwater in Shropshire, 254 ;
White-tailed Eagle in Carnar-
vonshire, 288 ; Fork-tailed
Petrel in Shropshire, 289 ;
Great Grey Shrike in Mont-
gomeryshire, 363 ; White-tailed
Eagle in Shropshire, 366.

Foster, Nevin H., Note on Oyster-
catchers following the Plough,
317.

Frohawk, F. W., Notes on Food
and Feeding-habits of the
Razorbill, 90"; Food of Com-
mon Heron, 153.

frugilegus, Corvus, see Rook.

fidicarius, Phalaropits, see Phala-
rope. Grey.

Fulmar, see Petrel.

furcatus, Elanoides, see Kite,
Swallow-tailed.

fusca, (Edemia, see Scoter, Velvet-.

fusctis. Lams, see Gull, Lesser
Black-backed.

Totanus, see Redshank,

Spotted.

Gadwall, The Com-tship of, 7 ; in
Staffordshire, 107 ; in Lanark,
159 ; Nesting in " Forth,"
256 ; in Surrey, 316.

galbula, Oriolus, see Oriole, Golden.

Gannet in Worcestershire, 106 ;
an Abnormally Coloured, 152.

Garganey, The Courtship of, 7 ;
on the Solway, 93 ; in Corn-
wall, 295 ; Breeding in Somer-
set, 366.

Garnett, D. G., Note on Black-
throated Diver in Westmor-
land, 220.

garrulus, Coracias, see Roller.

garzetta, Ardea, see Egret, Little.

gihraltariensis , Phoenicurus ochruros,
see Redstart, Black.

GiLROY, NoRMAX, Letter on
Warbler with Dovible-barred
wing in Sussex, 296.

glacialis, Colymbiis, see Diver, Great
Northern.

Fidmarus, see Petrel, Fulmar.

— — Harelda, see Duck, Long-
tailed.

Gladstone, H. S., Note on Early
" Drumming " of Snipe, 341 ;
Letter on Willow-Tit or Marsh-
Tit in Dumfriesshire, 347.

glandarius, Garrulus g., see Jay,
Continental.

glareola, Totanus, see Sandjiiper,
Wood-.

Glasgow Naturalist, The, Reviewed,
159.

glaucion, Clangida, see Golden-Ej^e.

glauciis, Larus, see Gull, Glaucous.

Godwit, Bar-tailed, in Renfrew, 160.

Black-tailed, in Renfrew, 160;

in Orknev, 221 ; in Ross-shire,
223 ; in Hampshire, 245.

Goldcrest, see Wren, Golden-
crested.

Golden-Eye in Staffordshire, 108.

Goldfinch, Recovery of INlarked,
208 ; Song-period of, 278.

Goosander in Bedfordshire, 288 ;
in Sussex, 367 : Late Stay of,
in Cheshhe, 367.

Goose, American Black Brent, in
Norfolk, 27 ; in Warwickshire,
107.

Brent, in Fair Isle, 32 ; in

Staffordshire, 107.

Barnacle-, in Fair Isle, 32 ;

Breeding-habits of, 344.

Grey Lag-, in Staffordshire,

106.

Lesser White-fronted, sup-
posed, in Staffordshire, 107.

Pink-footed, m Fair Isle, 32 ;

in Staffordshire, 107.

INDEX.

377

Goose, Snow-, in Norfolk, 28.

White-fronted, in Warwick-
shire, 106.

Goshawk, supposed wild, in the
Isle of Wight, 181.

graculus, Phalacrocorax, see Shag.

Pyrrhocorax, see Chough.

gravis, Puffinus, see Shearwater,

Great.

Grebe, Black-necked, in Stafford-
shire and Warwickshire, 112.

■ — — Great Crested, Nesting in
Somersetshii-e, 368.

■ Little, Unusual Nesting-site

for, 124 ; Song-period of, 277.

Slavonian, in Staffordshire,

Warwickshire, and Worcester-
shire, 112.

Green, Jos. F., Note on Kestrel
Nesting near London, 123.

Greenfinch, Early Breeding of, 18 ;
Feeding on Cotoneaster berries,
18 ; Incubation and Fledging-
period of, 29 ; Swallowing
fceces of YoLing, 80, 184, 210 ;
albinistic variety of, 249 ; Song-
period of, 278.

Greenland, The Terrestrial Mam-
mals and Birds of North-east,
Reviewed, 344.

Greenshank in Staffordshii'e and
Warwickshire, 110.

gregaria, Chettusia, see Plover,
Sociable.

griseus, Puffinus, see Shearwater,
Sooty.

grisola, Miiscicapa, see Flycatcher,
Spotted.

Grosbeak, Scarlet, at the Isle of
May, 318.

Grouse, Black, and Capercaillie
Hvbrids, 60.

Red, Pkimages of the, 343.

see Sand-Grouse.

Growth, Horn-like, on a Lapwing,
14.

Guide, Tlie Bu-d- Watcher's, 8.

Guillemot, Measiu-ements and
W^eight of, 91.

Gull, Black-headed, Breeding Habits
of, 32 ; Recovery of Marked,
113, 179, 208, 240, 241, 279,
336 ; New Nesting-colony of,
in Montgomeryshire, 124 ; in
the Isle of Wight and Hamp-
shire, 182, 223 ; in Renfrew,

223 ; Incubating of, 141 ;
Cajjturing Young Wheatear
on the Wing, 191 ; Zone-
marked Egg of, 317.

- Common, in Staffordshire,
IIT; Recovery of Marked, 181,
209.

-Glaucous, in Carnarvonshire,
343.

- Great Black-backed, in
Staffordshire, 111 ; Recovery
of Marked, 113.

- Herring-, in Staffordshire, 111;
the Food of, 124 ; Recovery of
Marked, 181.

- Iceland, in Norfolk, 27 ; in
Ayrshire, 159.

- Lesser Black-backed, Food
of, 88 ; in Staffordshire, 111 ;
Recovery of Marked, 181, 280 ;
Nesting in the Isle of Wight,
182.

- Little, in Kent, 55 ; in Ajt-
shire, 159.

Haigh, G. H. Caton, Notes on
Yellow-browed Warbler in
Lincolnshire, 209 ; Squacco
Heron in Lincolnshire, 252.

Hale, Rev. James R., and T. P.
Aldworth, Notes on Crossbills
Nesting in Kent, 212 ; Birds
in Orkney in 1910, 220.

Harrier, Hen-, in Cheshii'e, 343.

• Marsh-, in Norfolk, 28.

Montagu's, in Norfolk, 315.

Hartert, Dr. Ernst, Notes on.

Various Speciesof British Birds,
129 ; Letter on Generic Names
of our Swallows, 261.

See Witherby, H. F.

Harvey, A. W. H., Notes on

Unusual Nesting-sites for the
Goldcrest, 117 ; Grasshopper-
Warbler in Cornwall, 119 ; In-
crease of Starling in Cornwall
122.

Harvie-Brown, J. A., Letter on
British Song-Thrushes, 195.

Hawfinch, Bones of, in Ireland,
30 ; Abundance of, near
London, 257 : Song-period of,
277; at Fair Isle, 290; Nesting
in Scotland, 291.

378

BRITISH BIRDS.

Hawk, Sparrow-, Incubation and
Fledging-period of, 29 ; Per-
sistence of the Right Ovary
and its Duct in, 188, 21G ;
Capturing Migrants at Sea,
24-1.

Headley, F. W., Notes on Unequal
Wing-strokes in FHght, 115,
192, 261 ; Red-backed Shrike's
" Larder," 184 ; Letter on
Positions Assumed by Birds
in Fhght, 231.

helvetica, Squatarola, see Plover,
Grey.

Heronries, Scottish, 31.

Heron, Common, Food of, 85, 153 ;
Incubating of, 140.

— - — - Squacco, in Lincolnshire, 252.

Maticola, ^Egialitis, see Plover,
Ringed.

hibernicus. Cine! us c., see Dipper,
Irish.

Garndus g., see Jay, Irish.

Parus a., see Titmouse, Irish

Coal-;

Hill, F. C, Note on Song-Thrush
Building in a Heap of Bricks,
74.

Hirundo, see Swallows.

hispanica, Saxicola h., see Wheatear,
Black-throated.

holboelli, Linota I., see Redpoll,
Holboll's.

Hoopoe in Nottmgliamshire, 24 ;
in Lanarkshire, 159 ; in Mont-
gomeryshire, 251 ; at the Isle
of May, 318 ; in Cheshire in
Winter, 338 ; in Yorkshire m
Winter, 365.
-horterisis, Sylvia, see Warbler,
Garden-.

hortulana, Emheriza, see Bunting,
Ortolan.

hyperboreus, Chen, see Goose, Snow-.

Phalaropus, see Phala^ope,

Red-necked.

Ibis, Glossy, in Ayrshire, 159 ; in
the Outer Hebrides, 293 ; in
Yorkshire, 343.

ictinus, Milvus, see Kite.

ignicapillus, Regulus, see Wren,
Fire-crested.

iliacus, T Urdus, see Redwing.

Incubation- and Fledging-Periods,

29.
Incubation, On, 137.
Ingram, Collingwood, Note on

Early " Drumming " of Snipe,

341.
interpres, Strepsilas, see Turnstone.
ispida, Alcedo, see Kingfisher.

Jackdaw, Incubating of, 138 ; Sup-
jjosed Egg-daubing Habit of,
176, 214, 250 ; Down-Plumage
and Mouth-coloration of Nest-
hng, 241.

Jay, at Sea, 243.

British, (nestling) 72 ; Song-
period of, 275 ; Recovery of
Marked, 335.

Continental, in Kent and

Sussex, 213.

Irish, a New Sub-species, 234;

Letter on, 296.

Jones, Staff-Surgeon Kenneth
H., R.N., Note on Kittiwakes
Swimming in very Heavy Seas,
191.

Jones, R. W., Notes on Black-
throated Diver in Carnarvon-
shire, 26 ; Increase of Lesser
Whitethroats in North Wales,
45 ; Little Stints in Anglesey,
288 ; Black Redstart in Car-
narvonshire, 308 ; Hooded
Crows in Carnarvonshire, 313.

JouRDAiN, Rev. F. C. R., Notes
on White-breasted Variety of
the Common Cormorant, 25 ;
Golden Oriole in Derbyshire,
79 ; Green Sandpiper in Derby-
shire, 124 ; Aggressiveness of
a Buzzard and a Golden Eagle,
152 ; Persistence of the Right
Ovary in the Sparrow-Hawk,
218.

and H. F. Witherby, Recent

Records from Staffordshire,
Warwickshire, and Worcester,
104, 193.

Joy, Norman H., Notes onRough-
legged Buzzard in Berkshire,
123 ; Green Sandpiper in Berk-
shire, 123 ; Pied Flycatchers
in Sussex, 184 ; On Ringing
Small Birds, 281.

INDEX.

379

Kelsall, J. E., Note on some Isle
of Wight Birds, 181.

Kennedy, John N., Note on Black
Redstart in Wigtownshire, 309.

Kestrel Nesting near London, 123 ;
Catching a Bat, 222 ; On the
Develojoment of a Young, 298.

Supposed Lesser, in Lincoln-
shire, 293.

Kingfisher, (nestling) 72 ; Early
Breeding of, in Derbyshire, 318.

KiRK^r.AN, F. B., The Bird-watcher's
Guide, 8 ; Letter on The British
Bird Book, 127.

Kite, The Present status of the
British, 84.

Swallow-tailed, Supposed Oc-
currence in Surrey, 93.

Kittiwake in Staffordshire, 111 ;
Swimming in very heavy Seas,
191.

Meinschmidti, Parus atricapillus,
see Titmouse, British Willow-.

Knot, Breeding-habits of, 345.

Knowles, Richard E., Note on
Hoopoe in Cheshire in Winter,
338.

lagopus, Biiteo, see Buzzard, Rough-
legged.

Innceolata, LocusteUa, see Warbler,
Lanceolated.

Langton, HERBERT,Note on Rsi,ugh-
legged Buzzards in Sussex, 122.

lapponica, Limosa, see Godwit, Bar-
tailed.

lapponicus, Calcarius, see Bunting,
Lapland.

Curious Horn-like
)n a, 14 ; Man-
ji Defence of
Song-ijeriod of,
276 ; Recovery of Marked, 336.

Lark, Shore-, in Ireland, 215.

Skv-, at Sea, 242 ; Song-period

of, 278.

Wood-, at Fair Isle, 290 ; at

the Isle of May, 318.

Leigh, A. G.,On the Down-Plumage
and Mouth-coloration of
Nestling Birds, 73 ; On the
Development of a Young
Kestrel, 298 ; Notes on Spotted
Flycatcher Building in Old

Lapwing, On
Excrescence
oeuvres of,
Young, 157

Nests, 120 : Little Owl hi
Warwickshire, 287.

lentiginosus, Botaurus, see Bittern,
American.

leucopsis, Bernicla, see Goose,
Barnacle-.

Jeucopterus, Larus, see Gull,
Iceland.

leucorodia, Platalea, see Spoonbill.

leucorrhoa, Oceanodroma, see Petrel,
Fork-tailed.

Saxicola ce., see Wheatear,

Greenland.

Lewis, Harry, Notes on Goosander
and Shag (not Cormorant) in
Bedfordshire, 288, 339.

linaria, Linota, see Redpoll, Meaiy.

Linnet (nestling), 71 ; Removal
of faeces by, 307.

" Lost British Bird, A," 57.

luscinia, Daulias, see Nightingale.

Lynes, Commander Hubert, ;^.n..
Note on Manoeuvres of Lap-
wing in Defence of Young, 157.

Macdonald, D., Note on White-
breasted Variety o:^ the Com-
mon Cormorant, 25.

MacGUlivray, Life of William,
Reviewed, 169.

macrura. Sterna, see Tern, Arctic.

macularius, Totanus, see Sandpiper,
Spotted.

Magpie, Incubation- and Fledging-
Periods of, 29 ; CeremoniaJl
Gatherings of, 31,' 188 ; (nest-
ling), 72 ; Incubating of, 138 ;
Song-period of, 275.

Magrath, Major, H. A. F., Note
on Land-Birds seen on board
ship between London and Port
Said, 242.

major, Dendrocopus, see Wood-
23ecker, Great Spotted.

— Gallinago, see Snipe, Great.

Mallard, The Courtship of, 2
Removing its Eggs, 66 ; Breed-
ing Habits and Moult of, 221.

Mapleton, H. W., Note on Late
Nesting of the Cirl Bunting
in Somerset, 188.

marila, Fuligula, see Duck, Scaup-,

ma?-inus, Larus, see Gull, Great
Black-backed.

380

BRITISH BIRDS.

Marked Birds, Recovery of, 88,
113, 178, 208, 238, 240, 279,
335.

Recapturing, 236, 282.

Marking Birds — The British Birds
Scheme, 74, 300 : Progress
for 1910 and Plans for the
Future, 204 ; Notes on Ringing
Smaller Birds, 281.

Martin, House-, (nestling) 71 ;
Numbers of Young in Broods
in 1910, 249 ; Song-period of,
278.

maruetta, Porzana, see Crake,
Spotted.

Masefield, John R. B., Notes
on Removal of fceces by Birds,
245 ; Pintails in Staffordshire,
288 ; Extraordinary Nest-
building, 341.

Mathews, R. O., Note on Peregrine
Falcon in Wiltshire, 366.

Meade-Waldo, E. G. B., Note
on Crossbills Nesting in Kent,
21.

Medlicott, W. S., Notes on Rapid
Nest-building by a Robin, 17 ;
Late Stay of the Brambling,
20.

melanocephala, Motacilla /., see
Wagtail, Black-headed.

melanope, Motacilla, see Wagtail,
Grey.

merganser, Mergiis, see Goosander.

Merganser, Red-broasted, in

Staffordshire and Warwick-
shire, 108 ; Flocking of, in
Autumn, 193.

merula, Turdus, see Blackbird.

Migration of Common Scoters and
other Ducks, 20 ; Report on
the Immigrations of Summer
Residents in the Spring of 1909,
Reviewed, 294 ; Migration of
the White Stork, 357 ; " Re-
markable Migration Pheno-
mena," 361.
m,iliaria, Emheriza, see Bunting,

Corn-.
MiLLAis, J. G., Note on Crossbills
Nesting in Sussex, 47 ; Letter
on a Baikal Teal in Devon-
shire, 348.
minuta, Ardetta, see Bittern, Little.

Sterna, see Tern, Little.

Tringa, see Stint, Little.

minutus, Larus, see Gull, Little.

modularis. Accentor, see Sparrow,
Hedge-.

mollissima, Somateria, see Eider,
Common

MoNCKTON, F. A., Note on Unusual
Nesting-sites for the Goldcrest,
118 ; Wigeon in Summer in
Staffordshire, 218.

m,onedula, Corvus, see Jackdaw.

montifringilla, Fringilla, see
Brambling.

Moorhen, Incubation-period of, 29 ;
Colour of Bill, 222.

Morris, Robert, Note on Cross-
bills Nesting in Sussex, 22.

Mullens, W. H., Review of the
Life of William MacGillivray,
169 ; The Tradescant Museum,
266.

MuNN, P. W., Note on Great
Bustard in Hampshu-e, 190.

musicus, Turdus, see Thrush, Song-.

ncevia, Locustella, see Warbler,

Grasshojjper-.
Nelson, T. H., Notes on Peregrine

Falcons at Bempton, 53 ; Death

of a Flamborough Cliff-Climber,

56.
Nest-building, Rapid, by a Robin,

17.

Extraordinary, 307, 341.

Nesting-sites, Unusual, 24, 45, 53,

74, 75, 116, 117, 119, 120, 124.
Nestlings, The Down-Plumage and

Mouth-coloration of, 23, 70,

241, 322.
newtoni, Parus m., see Titmouse,

British Great.
Nichols, J. B., Note on Nutcracker

in Sussex, 23.
Walter B., Note on Black

Redstart in Essex, 336.
Nightingale, (nestling) 70.
Nightjar at Sea, 244.
nigra, (Edemia, see Scoter, Common.
Hydrochelidon, see Tern,

Black.
nigricans, Bernicla b., see Goose,

American Black Brent.
nigricollis, Podicipes, see Grebe,

Black-necked.
nisoria, Sylvia, see Warbler, Barred.
nisus, Accipiter, see Hawk, Sparrow-.

INDEX.

381

Noble, Heatlky, Letter on Baikal
Teal, 370.

noctua, Athene, see Owl, Little.

Norfolk, Birds in, in 1909, 27.

Nutcracker in Sussex, 23.

Nuthatch in Anglesey, 17 ; Song-
period of, 275.

obscurus. Pants c, see Titniovise,
British Blue.

ochropus, Totanus, see Sandpiper,
Green.

cenanthe, Saxicola, see Wheatear.

cenas, Columba, see Dove, 'Stock-.

ceruginosus. Circus, see Harrier,
Marsh..

Ogilvie, F. Menteith, Note on
Persistence of the Right Ovary
and its Duct in the Sparrow-
Hawk, 216.

Oldham, Charles, Note on
American Wigeon in Anglesey,
87.

Oriole, Golden, in Norfolk, 28 ;
in Derbyshire, Westmorland,
and Fifeshire, 79 ; in Stafford-
shire, 106 ; in Sussex, 119 ;
at Fair Isle, 290 ; in Merioneth,
295.

Ornithological Notes jroni a South-
London Subtirb, Reviewed, 257.

ostrahgus, Hoematopus, see Oyster-
catcher.

otus, Asio, see Owl, Long-eared.

Ouzel, Ring-, in Kent in Summer,
77 ; and Blackbird interbreed-
ing in Kent, 116 ; Down-
Plumage and Mouth-coloration
of Nestling, 241.

Ovary, Persistence of the Right,
in some Raptores, 188, 216.

Owl, Barn-, Diurnal Flight of the,
314, 339 ; Plumage of the
Nestling, 322.

Little, in Warwickshire, 287.

Long-eared, Incubation-period

of, 29.

Scops, Incubation-period of,

221,

Short-eared, Nesting in Essex,

93.

Snowy, Pluniage of, in

Relation to Age, 32.
Tawny, L^nusual Nesting-site

of, 24, 84.

Oyster-catcher in Staffordshire, 109 ;
following the Plough, 317.

palumbarius, Astur, see Goshawk.

palumbus, Columba, see Pigeon,
Wood-.

palustris, Acrocephalus, see Warbler,
Marsh-.

paradoxus, Syrrhaptes, see Sand-
Grouse, Pallas's.

parasiticus, Stercorarius, see Skua,
Buffon's.

parviilus. Troglodytes, see Wren.

Paterson, 'John, Note on Black
Tern in Bedfordshire, 88.

Pearson, Henry J., Note on
Hoopoe in Nottinghamshire,
24.

pelagica, Procellaria, see Petrel,
Storm-.

penelope, Mareca, see Wigeon,
Common.

peregrinus, Falco, see Falcon, Pere-
grine.

Petrel, Fork-tailed, in Stafford-
shire and Warwickshire, 112 ;
in Shropshire, 289.

— — Fulmar, in Fife, 159.

Storm-, in Warwickshire, 112.

Phalarope, Grey, in Fair Isle in
Winter, 32, 290 ; in Scotland,
290 ; in Pembroke, 295 ;
Breeding-habits of, 346.

Red-necked, in Norfolk, 253 ;

at Fair Isle, 291.

philomelos, Turdus, see Thrush,
Song-.

phcenicurus, RuticiUa, see Redstart.

phragmitis^ Acrocephalus, see Warb-
ler, Sedge-.

Pigeon, Wood-, Food of, 94 ; Four
Eggs in a Nest of, 155 ; Song-
period of, 276 ; The, Diphtheria,
1909-10, 304 ; Three Eggs in
a Nest, 316.

Pike, Oliver G., Note on Removal
of faces by Birds, 306.

pilaris, Turdus, see Fieldfare.

pileata, Pyrrhula e., see Bullfinch,
British.

Pintail, the Courtship of, 7 ; in
Staffordshire, 108, 218, 288;
Nesting in Orkney, 221.

Pipit, American Water-, at St. Kilda
285.

cc

382

BRITISH BIRDS.

Pipit, Meadow-, Song-period of, 278.

Richard's, at Fail- Isle, 290.

Tawn^^ in Xorfo'.k, 210.

Tree-,' (nestling) 73.

pleschanka, Saxicola, see Wheatear,
Pied.

Plover, Grey, in Staffordshire, 109.

Ringed, in Staffordshii'e, War-
wickshire, and Worcestershire,
109 ; Unusual Clutches of
Eggs of, 219 ; Recovery of
Marked, 279.

Sociable, in Sussex, 256.

Plumages, Sequence of, in British
Birds— VI., The British Long-
tailed, Great, Coal-, Marsh- and
Blue Titmice, 98 : of the Nest-
ling Barn-Owl, 322.

Pochard in Staffordshire and War-
wickshire, 108.

Red-crested, in Sussex, 316.

Portal, W., Note on Montagu's
Harrier in Norfolk, 315.

PoRTJiAN, M. W., Note on Early
" Drumming " of Snipe, 341.

pratensis,Anthus, see Pipit, Meadow-.

Crex, see Crake, Corn-.

Proctor, Major F. W., Note on
Great Tit Laying in a Haw-
finch's deserted Nest, 119.

Puffin, Measurements and Weight
of, 92.

pugnax. Machetes, see Ruff.

pusilla, Emberiza, see Bunting,
Little.

Pycraft, W. p., on the Plumage
of the Nestling Barn-Owl, 322.

Quail in Outer Hebrides, 156, 189 ;
in Fife, 160 ; at Sea, 244.

rail, Motacilla, see Wagtail, Yellow.

Rail, Land-, Scarcity of, in south-
eastern counties in 1909, 295.

Water-, Albinistic Variety of,

30; Moult of, 221; Song-period
of, 276.

raUoides, Ardea, see Heron, Squacco.

Raven, Incubating of, 141 ; Nesting
in the Isle of Wight, 181.

Razorbill, Food and Feeding Habits
of, 90 ; Measurements and
Weight of, 91 ; in Warwick-
shire, 111, 193.

Redbreast, Rapid Nest-building by
a, 17 ; (nesthns), 70 ; at Sea,
243 ; Recovery "of Marked, 335.

Continental, in Suffolk, Nor-
folk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire,
and the Isle of Wight, 245.

Redpoll, Coues's, at Fair Isle, 292.

Holboll's, in Scotland and

England, 291, 368.

Lesser, Song-period of, 277 ;

N^esting in Essex, 286.

Mealv, in England and Scot-
land, 254, 368.

Redshank, Spotted, Sup])osed, in
\^'arwickshire and Worcester-
shire, 110; in Renfrew, 160,
223 ; near Aberdeen, 223 ;
Probable status of, in south-
west Scotland, 228.

Redstart, Black, Correct Name of,
132; atFairIsle,289; in Carnar-
vonshire, 308 ; in 'VMgtown-
shire, 309 ; in Essex, 336 ; in
Kent and Yorks., 295 ; abun-
dant in Sussex, 296.

Common, Laying in same

Nest as Blue Tit, 77 ; at Sea,
243 ; Arrival of, in 1909, 294,
308.

Redwing, Albinistic Variety of, 30 ;
correct Name of, 130 ; Migra-
tion of, 361.

ridibundus. Lams, see Gull, Black-
headed.

Riparia, see Swallows.

Ritchie, A., Note on Black Terns
in Oxfordshire, 26.

Riviere, f3. B., Notes on the Nest-
ing of the Tree-Sparrow, 311 ;
Crossbills Nesting in Norfolk,
364.

Robin, see Redbreast.

Robinson, H. W., Notes on Marked
Sandwich Tern apparently
nesting in its first Year, 88 ;
Food of the Lesser Black-
backed Gull, 88 ; Food of the
Herring-Gull, 124 ; Black-
headed Gull capturing young
Wheatear on the Wing, 191 ;
Numbers of Young in the
Broods of Swallows and Martins
in 1910, 249.

Roller in Staffordshire, 106.

Rook, Incubation and Fledging
Period of, 29 ; (nestling), ^73 ;

INDEX.

383

Incubating of, 138 ; Feeding-
habits of, 255 ; Movements of
Young, 347, 370.

rosea, Acredula c, see Titmouse,
British Long-tailed.

roseus. Pastor, see Starling, Rose-
coloured.

Phoenicopterus, see Flamingo.

EossiUen, Jahresbericht (1909)
der Vogelwarte, Reviewed, 259.

rubecula, Erithacus, see Redbreast.

rubescens, Anthus spinoletta, see
Pipit, Ainerican Water-.

rubetra, Pratincola, see Whinchat.

rubicola, Pratincola, see Stonechat.

riifescens, Linota, see Redpoll, Lesser.

Ruff in Kent in June, 87 ; in Staf-
fordshire, 109 ; in Renfrew,
160, 223 ; Eggs of, from
Lancashire, 222 ; Probable
status of, in south-west Scot-
land, 228.

rufina, Netta, see Pochard, Red-
crested.

rufiterguni, Garridus g., see Jay,
British.

rujits, PhyUoscopus, see ChiffchafT.

riistica, Emberiza, see Bunting,
Rustic.

Hirundo, see Swallow.

Pica, see Magpie.

Sanderling in Staffordshire, 109 ;
Breeding-habits of, 340.

Sand-Grouse, Pallas's, Supposed, in
Staffordshire, 108.

Sandj)iper, Common, Probable
Wintering of, in England, 295.

Creen, in Staffordshire,

110; in Berkshire and Derby-
shire, 123.

Spotted, in Yorkshire, 319,

369.

Wood-, Tlie Supposed Eggs of,

taken in Elgin, 54 ; in Kent
in June, 87 ; in Donegal, 319.

saxatilis, Monticnln, see Thrush,
Rock-.

scandiaca, Nyctea, see Owl, Snowy.

scolopax, (Edicnemus, see Curlew,
Stone-.

Scoter, Common, Migration of, 26 ;
in Staffordshire, 108 ; Breeding
in Ireland, 154 : in Middlesex,
295 ; in Wiltshire. 362.

Scoter,Velvet-,in Staffordshire,War-
wickshire, and Shropshii-e, 108 ;
in Caithness in Summer, 154.

scotica, Loxia c, see Crossbill,
Scottish.

scoticus, Lagopus, see Grouse, Red.

Sea, Land-Birds seen at, 242.

Seaby, Allen W., Notes on Un-
equal Wing-strokes in Flight,
156, 232.

serrator, Mergus,see Merganser, Red-
breasted.

Seth-Smith, D., Note on American
Birds Liberated on the Scilly
Islands, 28.

Shag in Warwickshire, 106 ; (not
Cormorant) in Bedfordshire,
288, 339 : in Suffolk, 315.

Shearwater, Great, in Ayrshire, 159.

Manx, in Staffordshire and

Warwickshii'e, 112; in Wilt-
shire, 223 ; in Shropshire, 254.

Sooty, at the Isle of May, 318.

Shoveler Breeding in Staffordshire,
108: in Orkney, 221 ; Breed-
ing in Hampshire, 245 ; Breed-
ing in Somerset, 366.

Shrike, Great Grey, at Fair Isle,
290 ; in Cardigan, 295 ; in
Sussex, 337 ; in Montgomery-
shire, 363.

Red-backed, " Larder " of, 79,

184 ; in North Staffordshire,
80 ; in Ireland. 222 : Doubtful
Occurrence in Dumfriesshii'e,
227 ; in the Outer Hebrides,
290.

sibilatrix, PhyUoscopus, see Wren,
Wood-.

SlDDALL, C. KiNGSLEY, NoteS On

Early Breeding of Greenfinch,
18 ; Breeding of Blackbird, 44 ;
Willow-Wren Feigning Injury,
118 ; Behaviour of the Green-
finch at the Nest, 184.

SiDDALL, The Late C. K., 293.

Siskin in Argyllshire and at Fair
Isle, 290.

Skua, Buffon's, in Worcestershire,
HI.

Great, in Staffordshire and

Warwickshire, 111 ; in Ayr-
shire, 194 ; in Sussex, 254.

Richardson's, in Staffordshire,

and Warwickshire, 111.

Smalley, F. W., Notes on Diurnal

384

BRITISH BIRDS.

Flight of the Barn-Owl, 339 ;
Early " Drumming " of Snii^e,
340.

Smew in Staffordshire, 108.

Smith, J. Beddall, Notes on
Crossbills Nesting in Essex, 81 ;
in Suffolk and Norfolk, 187.

Smith, T., Notes on Red-backed
Shrike in North Staffordshire,
80 ; Blackbird and Song-
Thrushes Nesting on the
Ground, 116 ; Early " Drum-
ming " of Snipe, 318.

Snipe, Common, Unusual Nesting-
site for, 53 ; A Tame, 157 ;
Recovery of Marked, 178, 208 ;
Song-period of, 276 ; Early
" Drumming " of, 318, 340 ;
Pursued by Falcons, 340.

Great, at Fair Isle, 290.

Song-periods of Birds, Further
Observations on the, 274.

Sparrow, Hedge-, Incubation and
Fledging-period of, 29 ; Two
Broods Reared in the same
Nest, 77 ; Recovery of Marked,
240 ; One Pair building two
Nests side by side, 307 ; A
Nest side by side with a Song-
Thrush's, 341.

House-, Song-period of, 277.

Tree-, in Confinement, 221 ;

Song-period of, 277 ; on the
Nesting of the, 311.

spectabilis, Somateria, see Eider,
King-.

sjtinus, Chrysomitris, see Siskin.

Spoonbill in Norfolk, 28 ; in Hamp-
shire, 245 ; in Montgomery-
shire, 251 ; Supposed in
Donegal, 319.

Spoonbill^ the Stork and some
Herons^ The Home-Life of thc^
Reviewed, 228.

Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and
Worcestershire, Recent Records
from, 104, 193.

Stanford, C. E. Cortis, Note on
Two Lesser Whitethroats Lay-
ing in the same Nest, 45.

Stanford, J. K., Note on the Late
Stay of Brambling, 47.

Starling, Incubation and Fledging-
period of, 29 ; Eating Wheat,
30 ; Increase of, in Cornwall
and Devon, 122, 213 ; Differ-

ence in Iris of Sexes, 221 ; Re-
covery of Marked, 238, 240, 279,
282, 335 ; at Sea, 243 ; Song-
period of, 275; Migration of, 361.

Rose-coloured, on the borders

of Stafford and Warwick, 106.

Stedman, Charles F., Note on
Crossbills Nesting in Kent, 21.

stellaris, Botaurus, see Bittern,
Common.

Stewart, Walter, Note on Cere-
monial Gatherings of the Mag-
pie, 188. Letter on Move-
ments of Young Rooks, 347.

Stilt, Black-winged, in Sussex, 252.

Stint, Little, in Staffordshire and
Warwickshire, 109; in Anglesey,
288.

Temminck's, in Staffordshire,

109.

Stonechat, Song-period of, 278.

Stork, White, Migration of, 357.

strepera. Anas, see Gadwall.

streperus, Acrocephalus , see Warbler,
Reed-.

suecica, CyanecuJa, see Bluethroat ,
Red-spotted.

superciliosus, Phylloscopus, see
Warbler, Yellow-browed.

Swallow, Incubation and Fledging-
period of, 29 ; Recovery of a
Marked, 178 ; Nesting in
Orkney, 221 ; Numbers of
Young in Broods in 1910, 249.

The Generic Names of our,

136, 230, 259.

Swan, Bewick's, at Fair Isle, 291.

Whooper, Pinioned, Nesting

in Shetland, 222 ; Arrival in
Yorkshire and Norfolk, 255.

syriacus, Aedon g., see Warbler,
Brown-backed.

tarda, Otis, see Bustard, Great.

Teal, The Courtship of, 7 ; Recovery
of Marked, 178, 240, 280.

American Blue-winged, in

Cheshire, 62 ; in Ireland, 252.

Baikal, in Devonshire, and

in Captivity, 348, 370.

temmincki, Tringa, see Stint,
Temminck's.

Tern, Arctic, in Staffordshire, War-
wickshire, and Worcestershire.
Ill; Incubating of, 144.

INDEX.

385

Tern, Black, in Oxfordshire, 26 ; in
Bedfordshire, 88 ; in York-
shire, 94 ; in Staffordshire,
Warwickshire, and Worcester-
shire, 110 ; in Surrey, 158, 223.

Common, Breeding Habits of,

32 ; Measurements and Weight
of, 92 ; in Staffordshii'e,
Warwickshire, and Worcester-
shire, 111 ; Incubating of , 142 ;
Recovery of Marked, 178, 279,
336.

Little, Nesting at Tees Mouth,

Yorkshire, 54 ; in Staffordshire,
111 ; Incubating of, 144.

Sandwich, apparently Nest-
ing in its first year, 88 ; in
Warwickshire, HI ; Incu-
bating of, 142.

tetrix, TeJrao, see Grouse, Black.

Thomson, A. L., The Migration of
the White Stork, 357.

Thrush, Mistle-, Incubation and
Fledging-periods of, 29 ; Nest-
ing in Orkney, 220 ; in Fair
Isle, 289.

Rock-, in Orkney, 117.

— ■ — Song-, British, Incubation and
Fledging-period of, 29 ; Build-
ing in a Heap of Bricks, 74 ;
Nesting on the Ground, 75,
116,192; Recovery of Marked,
113, 208; Correct Name of,
130 ; Incubating of, 138 : and
Blackbird interbreeding, 159 ;
Supposed Forms of, 195 ; Dis-
tinguishing Characters of, re-
tained in Confinement, 221 ;
Song-jaeriod of, 278 ; Removal
of icEces by, 306 ; Migration of
361.

Song-, Continental, at Sea, 243;

in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincoln-
shire, Yorkshire, and the Isle
of Wight, 246 ; at the Isle of
May, 291.

White's, Correct Name of,

129.

TiCEHUKST, C. B., On a Curiovxs
Horn-like Excrescence on a
Lapwing, 14; On the Down-
Plumage and Mouth-coloration
of Nestling birds, 70 ; Recap-
turing Marked Birds, 236 ;
The Wood-Pigeon Diphtheria :
1909-10.— IIL, 304.. Notes

on Migration of Common
Scoters and other Ducks, 26 ;
The Food of the Common
Heron, 85 ; Persistence of the
Right Ovary and its Duct in
the Sparrow-Hawk, 188 ;
Marked Black-headed Gull, 241 ;
Continental Robins and Song-
Thrushes in Suffolk, 245 ;
Immigration of Continental
Great Tits in Suffolk and Nor-
folk, 247; British Willow-Tit
in Suffolk, 248; The British
Great Spotted Woodpecker,
337.

TiCEHURST, N. F., Memoir of Boyd
Alexander, 34. Notes on Un-
usual Nesting-site for Gold-
crest, 47 ; Blackbird and Song-
Thrushes Nesting on the
Ground, 75 ; Pied Flycatchers
in Sussex, 151 ; Continental
•lay in Kent and Sussex, 213 ;
Continental Great Tits in
England, 248 ; Black-winged
Stilt in Sussex, 252 ; Con-
tinental Goldcrests in Kent,
Svissex, and Hampshire, 336 ;
Common Eider in Sussex, 339 ;
Recent " Remarkable Migra-
tion Phenomena," 361.

tinniinculns, Falco, see Kestrel.

Titmouse, Bearded, Supposed Occur-
rence of, in Staffordshire, 105.

Blue, Laying in same Nest

as Redstart, 77 ; Sequence
of Plumages of, 102 ; Recovery
of Marked, 238 ; Song-period
of, 275.

Coal-, Sequence of Plumages

of, 100 ; Song-period of, 274.

Irish, 283.

Great, British, Sequence of

Plumages of, 99 ; Laying in
a Hawfinch's deserted Nest,
119; Incubating of, 138;
Recovery of Marked, 208, 239.
282 ; Song-period of, 274 ;
Nesting in Hedges, 210.

— Continental, in Norfolk,

Suffolk, Kent, and Scilly, 247 ;
at the Isle of May, 291.

Long-tailed, Three, Feeding

Young in one Nest, 78, 209 ;
Sequence of Plumages of, 98.

Marsh-, Sequence of Plumages

386

BRITISH BIRDS.

of, 101 ; Notes of, 146 ; in
Scotland, 159, Song-period
of, 274 ; or Willow-Tit in
Dumfriesshire, 347.

Titmouse, Willow-, Notes of, 14fi; in
Scotland, 159, 284; in Suffolk,
248 ; in Lincolnshire, 284 ; in
Lancashire, .337 ; or Marsh-
Tit in Dumfriesshire, 347.

torda. Aha, see Razorbill.

torquatits, Tiirdus, see Ouzel, Ring-.

torquilla, lynx, see Wryneck.

Tbacy, N., Notes on Crossbills
Nesting in Norfolk, 22, 82 ;
Red-backed Shrike's " larder,"
79 : Curlew Nesting in Nor-
folk, 88.

Tradescant, Museum, The, 266.

Trevelyan, Major Herbert,
Note on Common Scoter
Breeding in Ireland, 154.

tridactyla, Rissa, see Kittiwake.

tristis, Phylloscojnts, see Chiffchaff,
Siberian.

trivialis, Anthus, see Pipit, Tree-.

trochilns, Phylloscopus , see Wren,
Willow-.

troile, Uria, see Guillemot.

Tboubridge, Sir Thomas H. C,
Bart., Notes on Crossbills
Nesting in Hampshire, 21 ;
Hampshire Birds, 245.

Tuck, Rev. Julian G., Notes on
Unusual Nesting-site for the
Common Snipe, 53 ; Yellow-
browed Warbler in Suffolk,
151 ; Shag in Suffolk, 315.

TuLi.ocH, John S., Note on
Northern Bullfinch in Shet-
land, 211.

Turner, Miss E. L., On a Mallard
Duck Removing her Eggs, 66.
Notes on Grey Wagtail Nesting
in Kent, 18 ; Birds Feeding on
Fir-cones, 22.

Turnstone in Staffordshire, 109.

TuTT, H. R., Notes on Redstart
and Blue Tit Laying in the
same Nest, 77 ;' Crossbills
Nesting in Kent, 82.

tindata, Sylvia, see Warbler, Dart-
ford.

Upcher, H. M., Note on Tawny
Owl Nesting in a Rabbit-
burrow, 84.

urbica, Chelidon, see Martin, House-.

urogallus, Tetrao, see Capercaillie.

viridis, Gecinus, see Woodpecker,

Green.
viscivorus^ Turdiis, see Thrush,

Mistle-.
vulgaris, Biiteo, see Buzzard,

Common.

Coccothraustes, see Hawfinch.

Sturnus, see Starling.

Vanellus, see Lapwing.

Wagtail, Black-headed, Probable,
in Norfolk, 92.

Blue-headed, Breeding in Wilt-
shire, 92 ; in Carnarvonshire,
183.

Grey, Nesting in Kent, 18 ;

Down-plumage and mouth-
coloration of Nestling, 241 ;
Song-period of, 277.

Grev-headed, at Fair Isle,

290. "

Pied, Incubation and Fledg-

ing-period of, 29 ; Recovery
of Marked, 279.

White, in co. Wexford, 18 ;

Nesting on Fair Isle, 30, 318 ;
at Sea, 244.

Yellow, at Fair Isle, 290.

Wallis, E. Arnold, Note on
LTnusual Nesting-site of the
Tawny Owl, 24.

Wallis. H- M., Note on Supposed
Egg-daubing by the Jackdaw,
214.

Walpole-Bond, J., Note on Cross-
bills Nesting in Sussex, 48.

Warbler, Barred, in Norfolk, 209 ;
At Fair Isle, 289.

Blvth's Reed-, at Fair Isle,

362'.

Brown-backed, not Grey-
backed, in Sussex and Kent,
310.

Dartford, Nesting in Heather,

17; Song-period of , 277, 309.

Garden-, Distribution of, in

south-west Scotland, 226 ;
Song-jaeriod of, 278.

INDEX.

387

Warbler, Grasshopper-^in Cornwall,
119 ; Song-period of, 277.

Grey-backed, see Warbler,

BrowTi-backed.

Lanceolated, in Scotland, 368.

Marsh-, Nesting of, in Cam-
bridgeshire, 37 ; at St. Kilda,
291.

■ Reed-, at Sea, 243 ; Breeding

in Battersea Park, 258 ; Song-
Period of, 278 ; at Fair Isle,
290 ; Habits of, 320.

Sedge-, Incubation and Fledg-

ing-period of, 29 ; Suspended
Nest of, 42 ; (nestling), 73 :
Breeding at Dulwich, 258.

Willow-, see Wren, \A'illow-.

with Double-barred Wing in

Sussex, 296.

Yellow-browed, seen in

Suffolk, 151 ; in Lincolnshire,
209 ; at Fair Isle, 289.

Warblers, The British, A History
with Problems of their Lives,
PartlV., Reviewed, 62 ; PartV.,
Reviewed, 320.

Ward, T. R., Note on Two Broods
Reared in the same Hedge-
Sparrow's Nest, 77.

Wenner, M. v.. Notes on Increase
of Tufted Duck in Cheshire,
123 ; Unusual Situation for
Little Grebe's Nest, 124.

Wheatear in Norfolk in Winter, 28.

Black-throated and Black-
eared, the same SjJecies, 131.

Greenland, at the Isle of May,

318.

Pied, Dimorphism in, 132.

Whimbrel in Staffordshire, War-
wickshire and Worcestershii'e,
110.

Whinchat, Song-period of, 277.

White, Gilbert, Sale of MSS., 342.

^^'hitethroat, Incubation and Fledg-
ing-period of, 29 ; Possible
Nesting in Orkney, 220.

■ Lesser, Increase of, in North

Wales, 45 ; Two Laying in
same Nest, 45 ; in " Clyde,"
125, 160 ; Extraordinary-
Devotion of, to Nest, 148';
Doubtful as a Nesting-species
in Scotland, 226 ; at Fair Isle,
289 : at the Isle of May, 318.

Whiting, Smith, Note on Three
Lonar-tailed Tits Feeding
Young in one Nest, 78.
Wigeon, American, in Anglesey,
87, 256.

Common, in Summer in

Staffordshire, 218 ; Nesting
in " Forth," 256.
WiGLESwoRTii, Dr. J., On a Sup-
posed Egg-daubing Habit occa-
sionally^ exhibited by the Jack-
daw, 176 ; Note on Three or
Four Long-tailed Tits to one
Nest, 209.
Wilson, R. W. S., Note on British
Willow-Tit in Renfrewshire,284
Withers Y, H. F., Sequence of
Plumages of British Birds —
VI., The British Long-tailed,
Great, Coal-, Marsh-, and Blue
Titmice, 98 ; The British
Birds Marking Scheme —
Progress for 1910 and Plans for
the Future, 204 ; The Crossbill
as a British Bird, 332.

Notes on White Wagtail in

CO. Wexford, 18 ; Marking
Birds, 74, 204 ; tlie Present
status of the British Kite, 84 ;
Wood-Sandpiper and RuiTs
in Kent in June, 87 ; Crossbill
Irruption, 185 ; Continental
Robins, Song-Thrushes, and
Goldcrests in England, 246 ;
Continental Great Tits in
England, 247 ; Northern Bull-
finch in Yorkshire, 250 ;
American Blue-winged Teal
in Ireland, 252 ; The Irish
Coal-Tit, 283 ; British Willow-
Tit in Lincolnshire, 284 ;
American Water-Pipit at St.
Kilda, 285 ; Northern Great
Spotted Woodpecker as a
British Bird, 286 ; Holboll's
Redpoll in Scotland and
England, 291 ; Brown-backed
Warblers, not Grey-backed,
in Sussex and Kent, 310.

and C. J. Alexander, The

1909 Irruption of the Crossbill
as Observed in the British
Isles, 326.

and E. Har

Jay, 234.
see Jourdain,

388

BRITISH BIRDS.

Woodcock, recovery of Marked,
113, 280.

Woodpecker, Great Spotted, British,
Bones of in Ireland, 30 ; in
Scotland, 60, 125, 159, 256,
292 ; Nesting-hole of, 84 ;
Song-period of, 276 ; Char-
acters of, 337.

Northern, Migration of,

at Rossitten, 259 ; as a British
Bird, 286 ; in Scotland, 369.

Lesser Spotted, British, Song-
period of, 275.

Green, Song-period of, 276.

WoRKMAJsr, W. H., Note on Quail
at Stornoway, Outer Hebrides,
156.

WoRMALD, H., The Courtship of
the Mallard and other Ducks,
2 ; Notes on a Tame Snipe,
157.

Wren, Nesting Habits of, 92.

St. Kilda, Shetland, and other

forms, 133.

Golden-crested, Unusual Nest-
ing-site for, 45, 117; at Sea, 242.

Wren, British Golden-crested, (nest-
ling) 70.

Continental Golden-crested, in

Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Lin-
colnshire, 247 ; at Isle of May,
291 ; in Kent, Sussex, and
Hampshire, 336.

Fire-crested, in Sussex, 222.

Willow-, Incubation and Fledg-

ing-period of, 29 ; Feigning
Injury, 118; at Sea, 243;
Breeding Habits of, 342.

Wood-,at Sea., 243 ; Breeding

near London, 257 ; at Fair Isle,
290.

Wryneck, (nestling) 72 ; Large
Clutch of Eggs of, 83 ; in
Cumberland, 93 ; in Roxburgh,
222 ; Song-period of, 275 ; at
Fair Isle, 290 ; in Durham and
Cornwall, 295.

"Yellowshank at Fair Isle, 291.

Greater, Supposed , in Warwick-
shire, 109

zetlandicus. Troglodytes troglodytes,
see Wren, Shetland.

DRITI51-I
5IRD5

ArimUSIMrCDMAGAZTf:
DEVOTEDTOTOEBIRDSON

JUNE I,

IQIO.

Vol. IV.
No. I.

MONmCiroriESHILLinGmET
526niGmiOLBOPN12P!DON •

WlTHERBrerC?

STEVENS' AUCTION ROOMS

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Mr. J. C. Stevens will include in his Sale of Natural History Specimens

On TUESDAY. JUNE 7th

A VERY FINE EGG OF THE GREAT AUK

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Editor F. B. KIRK.MAN, B.A. Oxon.

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Oxon, W. P. Pycraft, Edmund Sclous, Miss E. L. Turner.

Artists ... Miss W. Austen, G. E, Collins, H. Gronvold, G. E. Lodge,

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The text is printed on a

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DRmsn

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ATinLUSIMTEDMACiAZirf:
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AUGUST 1, Jm Vol. IV.

'9'*- v^^S No. 3.

nOMTHOr OriE SHlLUnGMET
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COMPLETION OF A NOTABLE WORK

A MONOGRAPH

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AMEUSTIWEDnAGAZirf:
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SEPTEMBER i, ^B Vol. IV.

•9I0- ..<4^M No. 4-

MOPmilYOriESHiLUnGWET
526niQH110LD0mEriD0M

WITHERBre-C?

LIFE OF

William MacGillivray,

MA., LL.D., F.R.S.E.,
Ornithologist ; Professor of Natural History,
Marischal College and University, Aberdeen.

By WILLIAM MacGI LLI VR AY,

Writer to the Signet ; Jluthor of ' Rob Lindsay and his School,' &c.

With a Scientific Appreciation by Professor J. ARTHUR THOMSON.

With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.

PROFESSOR MacGillivray was the most accomplished Ornithologist
of his time in Britain, and one of the last of the all-round naturalists.
The numerous extracts from what remains of his manuscript journals

the story, for instance, of his walk from Aberdeen to London — are full

of human interest, and the representative selections from his natural history
sketches will enable the reader to appreciate the accomplished naturalist's
outlook and style. Some of the illustrations show MacGillivray's skill in
drawing birds, and others depict the colleges where he learned and taught.

JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street, W.

^be Natural Ibistorg aBookeellcrs ::

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Die Vogel der : : :
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DRITlSn
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ATimUSTMrCDIIAGAZirf:
DEVOTEDTOTHEBIRDSON

NOVEMBER i, Im Vol. IV.

1910. ^W» No. 6,

normicr or^ sHimnG-wET

526niGmiOLBOmKnDON

WITnERBr6)-C«

BIRDS EGGS

Mr. J. G. Stevens begs to announce that his next Sale of

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BRITISn
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AMUtusnwEDriAGAzrf:

DEVOTEDTOTHEBIRDSON

OCTOBER I,
1910.

.^^

normtcr or« sHimnGWET

D26niGmiOLBOPNEMD0N

WITHERBTfe-C^

LIFE OF

William MacGillivray,

M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E.,

Ornithologist ; Professor of Natural History,
Maurischal College and University, Aberdeen.

By WILLIAM MacGI LLI VR AY,

Writer to the Signet ; Jlulhor of ' Rob Lindia^ and his School,' &c.

With a Scientific Appreciation by Professor J. ARTHUR THOMSON.

With Illustrations. 'Demy 800. 10s. 6d. net.

PROFESSOR MacGILLIVRAY was the most accomplished Ornithologist
of his time in Britain, and one of the last of the all-round naturalists.
The numerous extracts from what remains of his manuscript journals
— the story, for instance, of his walk from Aberdeen to London — are full
of human interest, and the representative selections from his natural history
sketches will enable the reader to appreciate the accomplished naturalist's
outlook and style. Some of the illustrations show MacGillivray's skill in
drawing birds, and others depict the colleges where he learned and taught.

JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street, W,

Ready in October.

THE HOME-LIFE OF

THE SPOONBILL,

'Photographed and ^Described by

BENTLEY BEETHAM

A BOOK OF WONDERFUL BIRD PHOTOGRAPHS

UNIFORM WITH

"The Home-Life of a Golden Eagle."

Second Volume of the Series, Crown Quarto, Thirty-two Artistically
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CLOTH BOUND 5s. NET

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mrrisn

DIRD5

ATiEUSTPeaiDIIAGAZirf:
DEVOTEDTOTHEBIRnSON

DECEMBER i, ^m Vol. IV.

1910. ^^^(Mm No. 7*

nONTHCr ^SE SHILUnGWET
526niGTinOLBOPNi2MDOM

WITHERBrerC^

Section II. Now Ready.

THE

British Bird Book

Illustrated by Two Hundred Coloured Drawings of British
Birds and their Eggs, and numerous Photographs of their Nests.
It will give careful descriptions of the Birds and a more complete
account of their Habits than has ever yet been attempted.

Editor F. B. KIRKMAN. B.A. Oxon.

Contributors... J. L. Bonhole, M.A., William Farren, Rev. F. C. R.
Jourdain, M.A. Oxon. W. P. Pycraft, F.Z.S.,
Edmund Selous, A. L. Thomson, Miss E. L. Turner.

Artists .. G. E. Collins, H. Gronvold. G. E. Lodge, A. W.

Seaby, Miss W. Austen, and others.

Photographers Dr. F. E. Daniel, Wm. Farren, Riley Fortune,
C. J. King, E. L. Turner, the Editor, and others.

In 12 Sections at los. 6d. net per Section, and
4 Volumes, buckram, gilt tops, 36s. per volume

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per Section net, and in 4 Volumes, half-morocco, gilt edges, at £4 4s. net per volume.

" It may be asked, Why another book on British Birds? In the present case
the answer is a very satisfactory one, for this publication is designed and
promoted on advanced principles — in fact, although descriptions and figures
leave little to be desired as means of identification, the main object is to study
the birds themselves as sentient creatures."— Zoo/ogi'i/.

" Everyone will acknowledge the beauty of these drawings of bird life . . .
The bird-lover will find information here for which he might otherwise have
to search through the whole literature of the subject." — Pall Mall Gazette.

" The most sumptuous book of British Birds that has appeared for many
years." — 'Daily ^ews.

London : T. C & E. C. JACK, i6 Henrietta Street, W.C.

BRITISli

ATiHtUSTP^OTDTlAGAZirf:
DEVOTEDTOTHEBIRDSON

JANUARY 2, JgF Vol. IV.

ipii- >^!S» No. 8.

.^SL

nOPmiCir OnESHlLLTlG-WET
D26HKjnilOLBOPNErfl)OM

WITHERBre-C?

STEVENS' AUCTION ROOMS JEBH^

Mr. J. C. Stevens will offer for
Sale by Auction during January

The valuable Natural History Library ; The large
Collection of Birds* Eggs and the Stuffed Birds,
formed by the late Colonel H anbury Barclay

Catalogrues are in course of preparation
and wUl be forwarded on application to —

Stevens' Auction Rooms, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.

BIRDS' EGGS FOR SALE

Offer of a very important stock of Palaearctic
Birds' Eggs from reliable sources, each clutch
with exact date and locality

PRICE LISTS WITH ENGLISH NAMES SENT GRATIS

A. KRICHELDORFF ^aturljiatDrisclrea Institut,
Oranien-Strasse ii6, Berlin, S.W. 68

FOR ARCTIC, ICELAND and
^ V| V, GREENLAND BIRDS* SKINS,
OA-Ltj Well Prepared Low Prices

PARTICULARS QF

G. DINESEN, Bir&^C0lleCt0r : Husavik, North Iceland
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Die Vogel der : : :
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ATimUSTMIIDMAGAZirf:
aCV0ra>T0TnEBIRD50N

FEBRUARY i, JK? Vol. IV.

'9"- .<«^S No. 9-

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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DIE VOGEL DER

PALAARKTISCHEN FAUNA

By Dr. ERNST HARTERT.

This important German book, to be completed in twelve Parts, is the only work
which treats of the local races of Psdaearctic Birds in a concise form.

Now Read}), Parts I. -VI. with Index forming Vol. I. Large 8oo„
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BIRDS, UAMMALS, &c., PRESERVED and MOUNTED by FIRST-CLASS WORKMEN
TRUE TO NATURE.

All Books and Publications on Natural History supplied.

36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (Five Doors from Charing Cross.)

Catalogfue (103 pp.) post free.

FOR ARCTIC, ICELAND and
CAI 17 GREENLAND BIRDS' SKINS,
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BERNARD QUARITCH, bookseller,

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HIS ENTIRE STOCK OF

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is available for inspeclion at any time.
Special Offer : Catalogue gratis

THE BIRDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO

Ey Captain R. CRAWSHAY.
I vol., royal 8vo, pp. xi., 158, with xz coloured plates by Keulemans, 23 landscapes and
a map; Roxburghe. 300 Copies printed. £3 13». 6d. net.

JUST READY

A LIST OF BRITISH BIRDS

SHOWING AT A GLANCE THE EXACT
STATUS OF EACH SPECIES—

TleviseJ to Jlugusl, 1910.

By W. R. OGILVIE-GRANT.

For Labelling Specimens or for Reference. Thrice Is. 6d.

'Printed on one side of the paper only. (Postage 2d. extra)

WITHERBY & CO., 326, High Holborn, London, W.C.

SOME IMPORTANT BOOKS

OFFERED FOR SALE BY

Henry Young & Sons,

12 South Castle Street, LIVERPOOL.

ESTABLISHED 1849.
Telegrams : " Catalogue, Liverpool." Telephone : Bank 4434.

GOULD'S BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN, 5 vols., iUustrated
with 367 Large Plates, all of which are Beautifully
Painted by Hand, full bound in green Morocco, gold edges.
Fine State, £60 (original cost £103 158.) 1873. Folio.

GOULD'S TRpCHILIDiE, op Family of Humming Birds,

5 vols., illustrated with about 1000 examples of birds, among
rich tropical flowers and plants, all carefully drawn and
Accurately Coloured by Hand, full bound in green
Morocco, gold edges. Fine State, £60 (original cost
£108 15s.) 1861. Folio.

MORRIS (F. O.) BRITISH BIRDS, 6 vols., also The Nests
and Eggs of British Birds, 3 vols., total 9 vols.,
illustrated with 223 Hand Coloured Plates. First

Edition, half bound in green calf, £8 8s. 1851-57.
Royal 8vo.

DONOVAN'S BRITISH INSECTS, illustrated with about 1,200
specimens. Accurately Painted by Hand; 10 vols,
bound in five, coeval Russia, Fine State, £3 3s. (published
£15). 1802. Royal 8vo.

CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE, a complete set from the
commencement in 1787 to 1885, with Index to vols. 1 to 63,
total 112 vols, bound in 95 vols., containing 6852 large plates of
flowers, all Beautifully Painted by Hand, full dark blue
Morocco, extra gold edges. Very Fine State, £105 (cost
£270). 1787-1885. Large 8vo.

FUCHSIUS DE HiSTORIA STIRPIUM. The Rare Editio
Princeps, in Fine Perfect State, illustrated with
hundreds of well-drawn and beautifully engraved woodcuts, full
bound in coeval calf. Very Tall and Clean, £32 Basle 1542.
Small foKo.

GERARDE (John), The Herball, or Generall Historic of
Plants, illustrated with a very fine Ornamental Title-

Page, engraved on copper by John Payne, and hundreds of
fine wood engravings of plants, full boimd in red Morocco,
crushed and polished, gold edges. Very Fine State,
£18 18s. 1633. Thick folio.

lllustrateii Catalogue of Rare and Interesting Books in all
Departments of Literature forwarded Post Free on application.

BOOKS ON BIRDS

— BY —

GOULD, LILFORD, YARRELL,
BULLER, FROHAWK and others.

Write for :: :: BOTANICAL AND ::

CATALOGUE. ZOOLOGICAL BOOKS.

FRANCIS EDWARDS, ^Bookseller,

75, HIGH STREET. MARYLEBONE, LONDON, W.

BERNARD QUARITCH, bookseller,

1 1 , Grafton Street, New Bond Street, London
HIS ENTIRE STOCK OF

ORNITHOLOGICAL BOOKS

is available for inspection at any time.
Special Offer : Catalogue gratis

THE BIRDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO

By Captain R. CRAWSHAY.
I vol., royal 8vo, pp. xi., 158, with ai coloured plates by Keulemans, 13 landscapes and
a map ; Roxburghe. 300 Copies printed. £3 13«. 6d. net.

1Raturalist5,

And Manufacturers of CABINETS and APPARATUS for Entomology, Birds' Eggs
and Skins, and all Branches of Natural History.

A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS, and BIRDS' EGGS and SKINS.

Speciality ;— Objects for Nature Study, Drawing Classes, &c.

BIRDS. MAMMALS, ftc, PRESERVED and MOUNTED by FIRST-CLASS WORKMEN
TRUE TO NATURE.

At/ Books and Publications on Natural History supplied.

36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. (Five Doors from Chariug Cross.)

Catalogue (103 pp.) post free.

""■" BRITISH BIRDS.

Subscribers' copies can be bound foi* 2s. (including
case), and with gilt top for 28. 3d. Postage 5d. extra.

A serviceable and attractive Cloth Case (lettered on
the back) for binding the Twelve Numbers of the
Magazine can be had at the price of Is. net.
Postage, 2d. extra.

EDITORIAL COMMUNICATIONS should be addressed
to the Editor of British Birds at 326, High Holborn.

The Editor will endeavour to return all unused
manuscripts and photographs, but he takes no
responsibility for their safety.

TO BE PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION.

PART 2 OF VOL. I., READY FEBRUARY, 1911.

The Edition of the Complete Work is strictly limited to 300 Numbered Sets,

THE

BIRDS

OF

AUSTRALIA

BY

GREGORY M. MATHEWS

MEMBER OF THE AUSTRALIAN ORNITHOLOGISTS'
UNION AND THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION.

A complete work, compiled from all published sources aud from the author's own
observations, together with those of a large number of field-naturaiists in all parts

of Australia.

WITH

HAND-COLOURED PLATES

DRAWN BY H. Gr5nY0LD, J. G. KEULEMANS, G. E. LODGE,
AND OTHER WELL-KNOWN ARTISTS.

DEPICTINO

ALL THE KNOWN SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS

ROYAL QUARTO (13i x 9^) PRINTED ON RAG PAPER.

TO BE ISSUED IN

TWO-GUINEA PARTS

AT LEAST FOUR OF WHICH WILL APPEAR EACH YEAR.
Prospectus and Specimen Plate on application.

London : WITHERBY & CO., 326, HIGH HOLBORN, W.C.

i!,.