continued Outdale Avenue, Prestwick, Ayrshire KA91BK 451

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1 Notes Fulmars attacking and killing Little Auk At GMT on 13th February 1983, at Marsden, Tyne & Wear, B. C. Forrester, J. Knox, A. Murray and I were watching a Little Auk Alle alle in calm conditions 400m offshore. It appeared to be exhausted and unable tofly.after about 15 minutes, it swam near to a flock of about 40 Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis resting on the sea. Two Fulmars separated from the flock, swam towards the auk now only a few metres away, and both proceeded to peck voraciously at it; the auk promptly dived, only to be attacked again when it resurfaced a short distance away. This went on for at least 20 minutes. At hours, in fading light, the Fulmar flock flew off, leaving the two still pecking and pulling at the distressed auk, at times lifting it from the water. Five minutes later, the two remaining Fulmars flew off, leaving the Little Auk underside up and obviously dead. DAVID GIVEN continued Outdale Avenue, Prestwick, Ayrshire KA91BK 451

2 452 Notes Pintail migrating with Brent Geese At about GMT on 15th October 1982, about 40 km out of Harwich, the ferry from the Hook of Holland was overtaken by two groups of dark-bellied Brent Geese Branta berniclaflyingin a WSW direction roughly towards Horsey Island, Essex. One group of 11 geese, flying in rough 'V formation, was led by a female Pintail Anas acuta. The speed of the geese was leisurely, and the wingbeats regular and relaxed, though purposeful. The Pintail appeared to be having difficulty in flying slowly enough to keep in contact with the Brents: from time to time she dived almost 30m, veering sharply from side to side, and at other times 'towered', before resuming her position at the head of the formation. I estimated the wind-speed at 20mph (32kph), the speed of the ship at 13mph (20kph), and the overtaking speed at 5mph(8kph), and concluded that the air-speed of the flock was therefore about 35-40mph (56-64kph). Sir Peter Scott (verbally) suggested that the Pintail may have become lost or separated from erstwhile companions and taken up with the Brent Geese, whose direction of migration, if not their speed, suited her. CRISPIN FISHER Fairings, Grmdon Underwood, Buckinghamshire HP'18'OSL Instances of one species becoming 'caught up' in a migrating party of another are perhaps not rare: examples include Starlings Stumus vulgaris with Little Auks Alle alle; and an Avocet Recurvimstra avosetta with Pomarine Skuas Stercorarius pomarirms (1977, The Natural History of Cape Clear Island). EDS Pair of apparently adult male Kestrels Homosexual behaviour has been described for several bird species, for example Greylag Goose Anser anser (Fabricius 1981), gulls Larus and Greenshank Tringa nebularia (Nethersole- Thornpson 1979). In most cases, the species concerned show little or no sexual dimorphism, although such behaviour has also been recorded among male ducks (Anatidae). On 13th March 1982, at Niva, Zealand, Denmark, I came across three adult male Kestrels Falco tinnunculus performing territorial flights simultaneously, rather close to each other. Two behaved as a pair, displaying close to each other several times during a couple of hours, each period of display lasting for a few minutes; they also performed territorial flights on their own, but only for short periods. On 14th March, I revisited the area. The same 'pair' was performing the same flighting several times in the morning. In one instance, one of the male Kestrels landed at a perch, while the other displayed vigorously around it; after about 30 seconds, the displaying male landed close to the perched male and a few seconds later a copulation between the two, lasting seconds, took place, the Kestrels calling eagerly while copulating. On several visits during March and April 1982, I did not observe these two males again, but came across several 'normal' pairs of Kestrels in the area. I do not know of any case of homosexual behaviour among raptors, and neither Newton (1979) nor Cramp & Simmons (1980) mentioned it. Avian homosexual behaviour seems most frequently to take place among species with little or no sexual dimorphism. KLAUS MALLING OLSEN Mollegade 21, st. t.h., DK2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark

3 Notes 453 REFERENCES CRAMP, S., & SIMMONS, K. E. L. (eds.) The Birds of the Western Palearctic. vol. 2. Oxford. FABRICIUS, E Homosexualitet hos Grag&hanar. Var Fagelvarld 40: NETHERSOLE-THOMPSON, D. N. & M Greenshanks. Berkhamsted. NEWTON, I Population Ecology of Raptors. Berkhamsted. Dr C. H. Fry has commented: 'We do not know that both were males, only that both were in male plumage. It is improbable, but possible, that one was a male-plumaged female and identified as such by "her" mate.' Derek Goodwin has added: 'The observations indicate that either two males or (but I think less probable) a male and a female in completely male-type plumage were paired together. This is in my opinion of much more interest than the copulation or attempted one between the two males, as male birds of many species may attempt to copulate with many creatures or artifacts that supply one or more features in common with a soliciting female.' EDS Moorhens eating apples The Moorhen Gallinula chloropus is described as being able to climb freely along branches and on foliage, and its diet as including plums Prunus, pears Pyrus and crab apples Malus sylvestris (BWP). At St Cross, Winchester, Hampshire, young Moorhens in my orchard eat fallen apples as a regular diet, and one individual in 1983 habitually climbed into the top branches to consume unpicked fruit. Best ripe russets are preferred, and cooking apples are ignored. JAMES HANCOCK Brookside, Back Street, St Cross, Winchester S0239SB BWP lists many fruits, including crab apple, but regular eating of apples is not inferred. EDS 211. Juvenile Moorhen Gallinula chloropus in apple tree, Hampshire, September 1983 [James Hancock) A white-headed juvenile Long-tailed Skua Juvenile Long-tailed Skuas Stercorarius longicaudus show a great range of general head and underpart coloration, from all-dark to extremely pale. An example of the latter was seen approaching during a seawatch from St Ives, Cornwall, on 3rd

4 454 Notes September Head-on views showed a very grey bird with a gleaming white head. Some observers even hesitated initially to identify it as a skua. It then rested on the sea about 300m offshore, floating buoyantly like a small gull Lams, and looking largely white. Such very distinctive individuals are described or illustrated in some books for example BWP and Harrison (1983, Seahirds: an identification guide) but wider awareness of their occurrence may be useful. D. M. NORMAN Hazelmere, 50 Shirbum Road, Torquay, Devon Possible 'Eastern* Common Gull on Fair Isle On 18th August 1984, on Fair Isle, Shetland, I was counting a group of Common Gulls Lams canus, when I noticed that the upperparts of one of the adults were much darker than those of the others. The darker individual was also slightly larger and structurally 'stronger-looking' than the rest. The following features were noted: SIZE: slightly larger and heavier-looking than COLORATION: greyish areas of normal Cornother Common Gulls present, most notice- mon Gulls replaced by dark slaty grey, ably around head, with longer, stronger- tending in tone towards the greyness of looking bill. Wings appeared longer, with Lesser Black-backed Gull L.fuscus of the race large prominent mirrors, giving bird very graellsii. Other plumage and bare parts attenuated appearance. Legs slightly longer- similar in coloration to those of other Comand thicker-looking, making bird appear to mon Gulls, stand taller than its compatiions. Reference to the literature revealed that these features most closely fitted the central Russian, western and central Siberian subspecies L. canus heinei, described by Dementiev & Gladkov (1951) as 'The largest form of Grey [= Common] Gull, with long wings and long, powerful bill. Overall tone darker than in Western subspecies...' BWP describes heinei as conspicuously darker on upperparts than the nominate race, and gives a series of measurements showing clearly that heinei averages larger on all measurements. BWP also suggests that some heinei reach northwest Europe in winter. It seems possible that the Fair Isle individual was heinei, and that wider awareness of the field characters of that race may lead to better knowledge of its status in western Europe. K. OSBORN 24 Rykhill, Chadwell-St-Mary, Nr Grays, Essex RM164RR S. C. Madge has pointed out that the 1982 'Ringing Report' (Ringing & Migration 4: 304), commenting on the recovery near Andreapol, USSR (56 38'N 32 27'W), in May 1982 of a Common Gull ringed in Sussex in January 1981, stated the opinion that 'This, together with previous winter-ringed birds reported from Novgorod, Vologda and Arkhangelsk, suggest that some Russian birds of the race heinei reach us in winter.' EDS Arctic Terns incubating Ringed Plover eggs to hatching In 1982, one pair of Ringed Plovers Charadrius hiaticula bred on Coquet Island, Northumberland, a 6.5-ha site which holds large breeding populations of terns Sterna and Black-headed Gulls Lams ridibundus, plus smaller numbers of several other species of seabirds. The plovers frequented a stony beach during the early part of May. On 20th May, their nest scrape was found, containing four eggs, at the top of the beach, at the base of a low bank and partly obscured by hanging grass. This beach was also used by about 80

5 Notes 455 pairs of Arctic Terns S. paradisaea, whose earliest eggs were seen on 18th May. On 24th, the four warm plover eggs were still present, but on 26th two Ringed Plovers were seen in another part of the island; initially, these were thought to be a second pair, but in the light of subsequent events it is likely that they were those from the first site. On 29th May, the plover scrape held only three plover eggs, but also two tern eggs; the situation was the same on 1st June. On 8th June, the scrape held two tern and two plover eggs, one of the latter having a small hole through which the chick could be seen moving; a newly hatched plover chick was about 60 cm away, beside two eggs in another tern scrape. The following day, the oldest chick was not seen, but the second chick was in the original scrape and the third chick was about to hatch, being seen through the hole in its egg shell. Adverse weather prevented subsequent visits until 17th June, when none of the plover chicks was seen; the tern eggs had hatched and the chicks were by the scrape. D.J. RADFORD 4 High Ridge, Alton, Hampshire Derek Goodwin has commented as follows: 'Obviously the "pot egg principle" was working here. In some, perhaps all, species that make several scrapes, it seems to depend largely on chance which scrape the first egg is laid in, but once it has been laid the rest are normally laid beside it. Where two species which both lay in similarly placed scrapes and do not exclude each other from their territories are very abundant, the result is often mixed clutches which are incubated by the more dominant or more eager incubator of the two.' EDS Swallows and Sand Martins pecking at tarmac road On 10th September 1982, at Ross Links, Northumberland, from a parked car, my wife and I saw a group of three Swallows Hirundo rustica and a Sand Martin Riparia riparia settle on a narrow track about 40m away. We could see very clearly that they began to peck deliberately at the tarmac surface, as if picking up food, though we were unable actually to see anything in their bills. During the subsequent half hour, more small groups of Swallows and once about 25 Swallows and a Sand Martin behaved in this way. On each occasion, they were on the ground for perhaps only 30 seconds at a time. The sky was overcast, with a light wind, and the ground was dry. There are previous records of Swallows feeding from the ground or low vegetation(see Brit, Birds 74: 98 and comment) and, as I have seen them feeding on insects on close-grazed grass, I assumed that on this occasion they were picking insects from the track, which on each side was edged with short grass and then a hedge. Close inspection, however, revealed no insect or other form of life, the only loose matter being pieces of straw and chaff and dry dust. I can only assume that the Swallows and Sand Martins were picking up small pieces of grit; the alternative, that they were picking up pieces of chaff, seems improbable. P.J. OLIVER / Albany Court, Palmer Street, London SW1 Although inconclusive, we publish this note to prompt careful observation and reporting of future similar incidents. EDS Unusual Swallow nest On 6th June 1982, at Stanford Reservoir,

6 456 Notes Leicestershire, I located a new nest containing five eggs of Swallow Hirundo rustica. Positioned about 6m above ground on a ledge at the apex of a large tractor shed and wood store, the nest contained no mud whatsoever, but consisted wholly of untidy straw, with some fine hair lining, and looked exactly like that of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus. The young hatched a week later and, on 27th June, they had red gorgets clearly visible and were capable of leaving the nest. J. G. CRANFIELD 42 Dunton Road, Broughton Astley, Leicestershire LE9 6NB Dr C. J. Bibby has pointed out the possibility that this was the nest of a House Sparrow, taken over by the Swallows. EDS Swallow with no feet At GMT on 2nd September 1981, while mist-netting Swallows Hirundo rustica near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, an adult female was caught which had no feet and virtually no legs. There was no trace whatsoever of a tibia or tarsus on the left; only a withered stump approximately 0.5 cm long remained of the right tibia, with a trace of old thread or strand of wool firmly embedded in it. The Swallow's weight of 20.6 g was about average, and its general condition was no different from that of other Swallows caught that evening. It had bred in the summer, as a brood-patch was detected; it is therefore presumed that the legs and feet were lost in the spring or summer of 1981, in previous (if any) breeding seasons, or even as a nestling. On release, the Swallow flew towards overhead telegraph wires and landed on a wire with surprisingly little difficulty, only briefly fluttering its wings, initially to gain balance and later when other Swallows settled nearby. After five minutes, it flew off in the direction of the local roost. We have since caught two Swallows at this roost which showed slight damage to the legs; hair and wool was wrapped tightly around the toes and tibia of one. MARTIN WELLS 715 Manchester Road, Stocksbridge, Sheffield S30 5DQ The ability of this bird to perch on a telegraph wire is particularly noteworthy. EDS Wren swimming On 18th December 1982, at a flooded gravel-pit at Bungay, Suffolk, I saw a Wren Troglodytes troglodytesflyfrom a bramble Rubus and out across the water. It attempted to land on a single reed Phragmites projecting no more than 30cm above water level about 20m from the bank. The stem broke, and the Wren fell into the water, submerging completely. It emerged again, spluttering and panic-stricken, and began to swim/flutter around in small circles. It then seemed to recover, and set out determinedly for the nearest bank. It seemed unable to rise from the water and began to 'row' itself along, making quite good speed. Half-way to the shore a Moorhen Gallinula chloropus moved to intercept it. The Wren saw the Moorhen, and raised its striking rate, accelerating away to the bank, where it disappeared into cover provided by a low branch at water level. Small birds often splash about in puddles or birdbaths, but I have never seen anything like this before. The Wren was certainly swimming, not just fluttering on the surface. At each downward wing stroke, the head bobbed higher out of the water, for all the world like a human racing breast-stroker. ALICK MOORE 34 Clarendon Gardens, London W9