ROOSTING HABIT OF TREE-CREEPER.

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1 HOTES LAPLAND BUNTINGS AND RICHARD'S PIPIT IN NORFOLK. IT is several years since we have had a good " Lapland " year in north Norfolk, but considerable numbers of Lapland Buntings (Calcarius I. lapponicus) turned up in the autumn of 1922, and I have been waiting to see if they have been noticed in other localities. This is a bird very likely to escape observation unless the note is known, and during the past few years only one or two have been obtained even in their favourite haunts, which are arable fields close to the sea. In some years indeed, no birds are recorded, and it is always a very uncertain visitor. In the autumn of 1922 the prevailing wind was S.W. throughout nearly the whole of September and the first part of October. On the evening of October 14th I shot a Black Redstart on the coast, and the wind was east next morning, and continued so, increasing in strength for several days. On the morning of the 21st the wind blowing hard E. and N.E., I shot three Lapland Buntings on the beach, and others were seen either singly, or among the parties of Larks and Snow-Buntings. In the course of the next few days at least a score were identified at the same place, and it is evident that a considerable number arrived, as these notes only refer to a very limited area. A few Buntings were still about in the early part of January, 1923, as Edward Ramm, the well-known gunner, saw several as late as that date. He tells me that some years ago when there was a big rush of Lapland Buntings he saw and shot some in January, but they are not generally seen after November. It may be worth adding that, on the morning of October 21st. when the Lapland Buntings arrived, a Richard's Pipit (Anthtts r. richardi) was also shot. I saw it standing up on some short turf by the sea, and it was quite easy to identify by its great length of leg. This is the third specimen of Richard's Pipit which I have seen during the last twelve years within a couple of hundred yards of the same spot. CLIFFORD BORRER. AUTUMN SINGING OF WOOD-LARK AND STONECHAT. DURING a visit to North Devon, extending from October 16th to 28th, 1921, I heard the Wood-Lark (Lullula a, arborea) singing almost every day. The notes were somewhat

2 VOL. XVI.j NOTES. 307 imperfect, but the song was repeated frequently from shortly after sunrise until late in the afternoon. It was only during brief periods of cold windy weather that the birds were silent. On one occasion I heard a party of five Wood-Larks singing in chorus. Stone-Chats (Saxicola t. hibernans) were singing on October 16th and 26th, both days being exceptionally warm and sunny. HOWARD BENTHAM. ROOSTING HABIT OF TREE-CREEPER. WITH reference to Mr. Savage's note (antea, p. 284) on the Tree-Creeper (Certhia familiaris brittanica) roosting in selfmade holes in the trunks of wellingtonias, my young friend, Ernest Blezzard, a member of the Carlisle Natural History Society, tells me that near Burgh-by-Sands in Cumberland, there is an old alder stump about 10 ft. high in which are several circular holes about i inches diameter, at varying heights from the ground, made and used by these birds for roosting in, some of the holes containing droppings. Two years ago one of the holes, deeper than the others, was occupied as a nesting site and the young successfully reared. Close by the alder there stood at one time a dead and decaying willow from which the bark had fallen, and several similar holes cut into the exposed wood were to be seen. This habit of the Tree-Creeper's would appear, therefore, to be of older standing than its connection with such a recently introduced tree as the wellingtonia would seem to suggest. F. H. DAY. NUTHATCH CONCEALING ITS EGGS DURING INCUBATION. ON May 26th, 1919, at Rossett, Denbighshire, I examined a nest of the Nuthatch (Sitta eu. britannica), which was in a hole in an oak about four feet from the ground. The bird was off the nest at the time and the eight eggs much incubated were completely covered over with a layer of small pieces of dried oak leaves the size of a halfpenny, this being the only material made use of in this nest. Although much has been written on the nesting propensities of this bird, I have never seen this habit commented on in any publication, or met with a similar case myself before or since. It is probable that when the nesting hole is at a considerable height, as is so often the case, no concealment of the eggs is attempted, but if near the ground it is occasionally done as an extra precaution. S. G. CUMMINGS. [I do not think the habit is so unusual as might be inferred from the above note. Owing to the nature of the nest

3 308 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XVI. material the eggs readily slip down out of sight among the fragments of dead leaves or scales of bark. Thus F. Norgate (Zool., 1880, p. 42) speaks of eggs "buried in a bed of bark of Pinus sylvestris," "the birds buried the eggs in scales of pine bark " and on p. 43, "The eggs were covered with thin scales of pine bark." On p. 44 he states that "the eggs were covered with pine bark" in two cases, though the birds were sitting hard. Similar cases have also come under my own notice. F. C. R. JOURDAIN.] LONG-TAILED TITS FEEDING ON THE GROUND. ON January 21st, 1923, while in Epping Forest with Mr. S. Austin, I flushed a party of Long-tailed Tits (Mgithalos caudatus roseus) from a clump of low rushes, and an examination of the ground showed that it was plentifully strewn with the seed of the birch. The Tits flew a few yards away and settled on the open ground where we were able to approach them very closely, at one time my companion was not more than two yards from them. We could see clearly that they were feeding on the seeds. We followed the party after its next flight and again found them feeding on the ground. It was of interest to note how the tail was jerked as the birds progressed. It is not improbable that the sharp drop in temperature at this date may have reduced the usual supply of insect food in the trees and driven the birds to the ground. This is the only occasion on which I have seen Long-tailed Tits feeding on the ground and other observers, including Mr. C. Oldham, consider this experience as unusual. No reference is made to such a habit by Yarrell, Hudson, Coward and the Practical Handbook. Macgillivray apparently considered it of sufficient interest to quote an instance of these Tits settling on stems of hemlock, which had been cut to within three inches of the ground, and then settling on barley stubble. WILLIAM E. GLEGG. BLACKBIRD LAYING IN OLD NEST OF SONG-THRUSH. WITH reference to Mr. Guthrie Hall's note (antea, p. 253), I found on May 14th, 1922, the old nest of a Song-Thrush (T. ph. clarkei) with four newly laid eggs of a Blackbird (T. merula) on a circular pad of roots at the bottom. When I visited the young birds to ring them one was lying under the others and looking hardly likely to live. On lifting it out it disgorged a whole Cockchafer (M. vulgaris) of about I inch in length and obviously felt much better. L. E. TAYLOR.

4 VOL. XVI.] NOTES. 309 LITTLE OWLS IN NORTH DEVON. ON October 18th and 25th, 1921, I heard a Little Owl (Athene noctua mira) in the village of Mortehoe, and on October 27th one was calling near Braunton Burrows. The bird does not appear to have been previously recorded from North Devon. HOWARD BENTHAM. FERRET SEIZING A LITTLE OWL. I WAS a witness of the following incident which occurred on January 27th, 1923, in a large cut over wood in Gloucestershire, where I was ferreting. Two rabbits had bolted and nothing further happening, I approached the burrow and was surprised to hear a curious prolonged screeching, unlike anything I had heard before. With the aid of a line ferret and a spade the source of the noise was discovered a Little Owl (Athene n. mira) firmly held below the left eye by the muzzled ferret. GUY CHARTERIS. [On page 274, Vol. XIII., a Little Owl was described as chasing a ferret out of a rabbit-hole. EDS.] KESTRELS CHASING A LINNET. ON October 8th, 1922, on the downs near Salisbury, while watching a couple of Kestrels (Falco tinmmcums) near their regular haunt and nesting-place, I saw one of them at a considerable distance chasing a small bird which I afterwards recognized as a Linnet (Carduelis cannabina). The Linnet, very closely pursued by the Kestrel, came up on the wind towards a young fir plantation where I was standing, and I watched it foil the latter twice by jerking sharply upward in its flight. It shot into the shelter of the low firs, uttering the squealing terror-cry usual when a Sparrow-hawk is hunting. Just as it reached the trees the second Kestrel, which had been hovering low down close to the copse, stooped at it, and darting into the firs, drove it out again though only for a moment, for seeing the first Kestrel hovering above it, it instantly turned and shot back into thicker cover. Kestrels of course take a good many small birds mostly from the ground ; but a definite chase of the kind here recorded must, I imagine, be rare. BERTRAM LLOYD. HEN-HARRIERS IN SUFFOLK. THERE were said to have been eight Hen-Harriers (Circus cyaneus) on the heath-land between Woodbridge and the sea Y

5 310 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. xvi. during the winter of I saw several alive and two which had been shot. This winter there have been three, I saw them all together. I am afraid they kill a large number of Partridges; the keepers say they drive them into the wire netting which surrounds most cultivated land in the heath country and I can to some extent confirm this. BERNARD J. RINGROSE. THE BRENT-GOOSE IN IRELAND IN THE following observations on the Brent-Goose {Branta bernicla) in Ireland seem to be worth including amongst the annals of British ornithology, for it is unusual at the beginning of the eighteenth century to find anything relating to the habits of birds of any permanent value. Curiously enough they are almost identical with Pennant's remarks on the same subject (ed. 1776), though written eighteen years before he was born, yet it hardly seems probable that they can be the source whence he derived his information. They are taken from the Letter Book of Samuel Molyneux of Trinity College, Dublin, now preserved amongst the muniments of the Corporation of Southampton, and occur in a letter from Charles Norman of Londonderry, dated February 13th, 1708, in reply to a request from Molyneux for " an account of your Barnacles in the Lough of Deny." Norman writes : " As to the account which you desire of our barnacles, all that I can be informed of them is, that they come in here in vast flocks about the beginning of September and goe away I suppose to a colder climate about the middle of March. They are the shyest birds that can be when they are abroad, but no sooner are they taken, but they become as familiar as any Tame fowl whatsoever, and will feed and grow fat upon oats or any other food that is thrown to common Poultry. They are usually taken here by Netts in dark nights, sett in the places which they frequent. You are rightly informed that the reason why they are good meat here and not fit to be eaten in other places is from their feeding upon a certain kind of sweet grass ; but it is the roots and not the stalks which they eat, of which according to your desire I send you some inclos'd. The same kind of grass is also in Lough Swilly in the county of Donegall where the barnacles also are very good." There is no doubt that the greater part of this account applies to the Brent, though the sentence describing the ease with which the birds are domesticated presumably refers to the Barnacle (B. leucopsis), the two species being generally confused in the north of Ireland even to this day. In August of the same year Molyneux relates to a correspondent the following observations, of a Col. Solomon Richards of Wexford, culled from his father William Mo!y-

6 VOL. XVI.J NOTES. 311 neux's notes. These must have been written at least as far back as 1698 : It is most certain the Barnacles in the Harbour of Wexford from the 21 st of August on which they come to the 21st May on which they goe every year, are in numbers wonderfull, but on May "the 21st they all leave it going northwards by sea, and in the opinion of many curious observers they goe to the northern Isles of Scotland to breed, for on the 21st of August following they doe certainly and constantly return, bringing their young ones with them in numbers beyond expression. This relator, as he rode forward and backward between Dublin and Wexford, hath often seen them at sea, coming a day or two before their arrival as also going a day or two before their departure, and for about 20 years hath observed their not failing the time of going and coming, as also of their swimming when the Tide is with them, and flying when against them, and now and then resting on the water." These remarks, of course, also in reality refer to the Brent - Goose for which Wexford Harbour has long been known as a favourite resort. N. F. TICEHURST. POCHARD NESTING IN WEST SUSSEX. ON May 24th, 1922, whilst visiting a decoy pond in West Sussex, I noticed a drake escorting two ducks amongst rushes fringing the border. All three birds were Pochards (Nyroca ferina). After half an hour's wading, I came across a nest of this species with a little down and several feathers, from which eggs had evidently been taken. A friend kept these ducks under observation for three weeks subsequently, but failed to find any evidences of their nesting again. In the Practical Handbook (Vol. II., p. 317), it states : " Distribution increasing and now breeds," etc., " Sussex," etc. This is a species I have particularly looked out for as a breeder, throughout several years ; and in my experience this has always been one of the very rarest ducks to breed in the county. CECIL SMEED. NUPTIAL DISPLAY OF VELVET-SCOTER. ON March 3rd, 1923, I walked east from Rye, Sussex, along the. road between the dunes and the marsh, and while passing a large reedy mere, on which some errant farmhouse ducks were getting an easy living, I saw a large black bird (which for the moment I took for a Coot) flying towards me. As it settled on the water, the fact that its secondaries were entirely white woke me to the fact that it was a Velvet-Scoter (Oidemia fused). As soon as it lit it began an obviously ceremonial display towards another of the same species, already on the water, but which I had not noticed previous to the arrival of the drake. The display consisted in raising its bill towards the zenith and making shuddering leaps forwards towards the other bird

7 312 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. xvi. which I assume to be the female, as it was much browner and less strongly marked about the head ; but which, unless I am mistaken, somewhat later went through the same antics. They then began diving, not always in the same fashion, some dives were quiet, some a leaping plunge, and some (or one at any rate) a flight submersion, the wings being open as Mallards sometimes dive. This last I take to be part of a courtship display. During such dives as I timed they were under water for 25 or 26 seconds. They were within a hundred yards of where I stood and through my glass I had a good view of them. DONALD GUNN. NESTING DATES OF CORMORANTS AND SHAGS. I WAS glad to see Mr. W. J. Ashford's note (antea, p 286) on the early nesting of the Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) which I can corroborate. Mr. Jourdain's article (Vol. VII., p. 94), quoting Ussher's Birds of Ireland, gives Ireland as furnishing the earliest eggs, with the date, April 4th. In 1914 I paid special attention to the nesting of both Cormorants and Shags in the Isles of Scilly. On April 20th I first visited the main western colony in these islands. Here I found young Cormorants in all stages, from fully fledged youngsters to naked chicks just out of the egg. Some nests were empty, pointing to the young having already flown. I have never seen it mentioned how long the young of the Cormorant remain in the nest. The time is fully a month, for young just hatched on this April 20th were still in the nest on May 19th, some being still there on June 2nd, and it was not until I visited the colony on June 16th that I found it empty When were the eggs deposited from which these fully fledged youngsters of April 20th were hatched? The incubation period is four weeks. These youngsters were at the very least three weeks old on April 20th, so that their parents had full clutches of eggs and commenced incubation on or about March 3rd, therefore they commenced laying at the end of February. It must also be remembered that some young had on the 20th of April probably already flown. With regard to the Shag (P. graculus), I found them nesting very late on the Isles of Scilly in 1914, and the fishermen inform me that they have found early nests of this species, which points to the Shag being double-brooded. It must, however, be borne in mind that these fishermen do not discriminate between the two species, calling them all Shags, so what they saw may have been Cormorants. In The Annals.

8 VOL. XVI.] NOTES. 313 of Scottish Nat. Hist., 1908, p. 51, I pointed out that Shag's nests contained eggs that year on the Island of Sule-Skerry, in Orkney, on February 24th. In Scilly, in 1914, on April 21st, I saw only one egg of the Shag and two young just hatched. On May 14th manj' were just hatching ; on June 2nd some were large enough to "ring." On June 16th there were hundreds just hatched and hundreds of eggs still unhatched ; and on June 25th the same applies, and it was not until July 16th that the majority of the remaining eggs seemed to have hatched off. Unfortunately on July 18th, owing to the coming great war, I had to leave these islands, leaving many problems still unsolved, but this late nesting of the Shag certainly looked as if it was the second broods. H. W. ROBINSON. INCUBATION-PERIOD OF LITTLE TERN. I HAVE often tried to determine the incubation-period of the Little Tern (Sterna a. albifrons) in Fife, but up to the present I have only been successful with three nests, each of which contained two eggs. So far as these were concerned, there was little variation. In two which I watched in 1920, the second eggs were laid early on 26th June, and the clutches hatched on the mornings of 15th and 16th July, giving incubation-periods of nineteen and twenty days respectively. In the third case, in 1921, the first egg was laid on 25th June and the clutch hatched on 16th July. In my experience the Little Tern lays an egg each day until the clutch is complete, so the incubation-period of this nest was probably twenty days after the second egg was laid. J. N. DOUGLAS SMITH. QUAIL IN ESSEX IN JANUARY. A QUAIL (Cotumix c. cotumix) was shot by a keeper at Langenhoe in Essex on Saturday, January 19th, The feathers sent were recovered from the dustbin after a meal had been made of the bird which, according to my informant, was in fine condition, GUY CHARTERIS. GREAT GREY SHRIKE IN WORCESTERSHIRE. -Mr. T. J. Beeston informs us that a female Lannis e. excnbitor was shot at Wolverley on February 6th, Its gizzard contained the bill of a Finch. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER IN CORNWALL. With reference to the note on this subject (antea, p. 290), the Rev,

9 814 BRITISH BIRDS. VOL. xvi. D. P. Harrison writes that he found Dryobates m. comminutus at Trevaylor in 1876 and saw it there almost annually up to about The only other place in west Cornwall where he met with it was at Tregadjick in the parish of Ludgvan. MR. EDGAR CHANCE'S OBSERVATIONS ON THE CUCKOO DURING Mr. Chance has kindly given us an opportunity of examining and making extracts from the notes of his 1922 observations of the Cuckoo (Cuculus c. canorus) which he has watched so closely since That it is the same Cuckoo seems clearly proved by the series of eggs which are all of the same type and by the fact that the bird has a white patch on back of the head. In 1922 observations were even more intensive and constant than before. The Cuckoo was first observed on April 29th, and on this occasion it was seen to be received by a male by demonstrations of the same kind as those described by Mr. Chance in his book {The Cuckoo's Secret, p. 113) when the bird was first observed in 1921 on April 30th. The first egg was laid in 1922 on May nth, and in 1921 on May 12th. The same methods were used in manipulating the Meadow- Pipits' nests as described by Mr. Chance in the account of his 1920 observations (see Vol. XIV., pp ), and there being a large number of Meadow-Pipits on the common in question in 1922, the Cuckoo was induced to lay 25 eggs, all in nests of this species. Of the 86 known eggs from this Cuckoo 83 have been laid in Meadow-Pipits' nests, 2 in Tree-Pipits', and 1 in Skylark's. With one exception the eggs in 1922 were laid every alternate day. All the eggs were laid in different nests, one pair of fosterers was victimized five times and several three times. The laying of all the 25 eggs, except one, was closely watched, often from hides within a few yards, by a number of observers. The bird was also filmed and photographed by Mr. Oliver G. Pike and Mr. H. M. Lomas (ultra-rapid camera) on several occasions with the nest fully exposed. Observations show that this Cuckoo invariably sat upon the nest and laid her egg in it while holding in her bill one of the Meadow- Pipit's eggs which she had taken up previous to sitting upon the nest. -H.F.W. BEWICK'S SWANS IN CARDIGANSHIRE. Mr. W. Miall Jones informs us that a Bewick's Swan (Cygnus b. bewickii) was shot from a flock of about forty individuals near the mouth of the Dovey on February 24th, 1923.