VOL. XXXI.] NOTES. 27

NOTES NUMBER OF EGGS LAID BY THE JACKDAW. IN the Practical Handbook (p. 21) the number of eggs laid by the Jackdaw (Coloeus m. spermologus) is given as " 4-6, sometimes 7." It may, therefore, be worth recording that a nest at Comlongon Castle, Dumfriesshire, contains 8 eggs. The nest is also the bulkiest I have ever seen. The birds, entering by a bow-shot window of the fourteenth-century castle, have practically blocked the winding stone staircase which leads to the roofs, with a pile of sticks which measures 6 feet long by 6 feet high and 3 feet broad, on the top of which the nest is precariously perched. MANSFIELD. [Since the publication of Part I of the Practical Handbook in 1919, I have noted four or five cases of eight eggs in a clutch, and once nine. For notes on a staircase blocked by a solid mass of sticks 10 feet high, etc., see Yarrell, Ed. IV., II., p. 308. F. C. R. JOURDAIN.] HOUSE-SPARROW FEEDING YOUNG HEDGE-SPARROWS. ON July 5th, 1936, there was a nest of a Hedge-Sparrow (Prunella m. occidentalis) with four feathered young in my garden in Cambridge. They were calling for food, and a hen House-Sparrow (Passer d. domesticus) flew down and fed them. The following day she was seen to visit the nest again. That evening, two of the fledglings left the nest and the House-Sparrow was in attendance. The two remaining young ones did not fly till July 7th, and the House-Sparrow was twice observed to go to the nest and feed them. Throughout these three days, the female Hedge-Sparrow brought food regularly, but the two birds were never seen to meet at the nest. M. D. BRINDLEY. MORTALITY AMONGST REED-BUNTINGS AND OTHER BIRDS IN MARCH STORM IN MIDLOTHIAN. ON March 21st, 1937, after a period of snow and frost, I found dead, at Duddingston Loch, Midlothian, ten Reed-Buntings (Emberiza s. schceniclus) three Blackbirds (Turdus m. merula) and one Meadow-Pipit (Anthus pratensis). All the birds were in the same state of decomposition and all were found in old nests of Song-Thrush and Blackbird

26 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXI. built in young conifers. The fourteen birds were distributed in nine nests. Three nests contained single Blackbirds, and three, single Reed-Buntings, and the remaining three contained respectively, two Reed-Buntings, three Reed-Buntings, and two Reed-Buntings and one Meadow-Pipit. Possibly these birds unable to secure sufficient food sought the shelter of these nests in an unsuccessful effort to conserve their body heat and energy, and perished there of starvation. WILLIAM SERLE (JUN.) WATER-PIPITS IN CHESHIRE AND SUFFOLK. ON March 21st, 1937, on a patch of mud beside the marshes of the Dee, half a mile south of Parkgate, I had close views of a Water-Pipit {A nthus s. spinoletta). It settled within ten yards of me, and twice I put it up. Both on the ground and as it flew up I could see the white outer-tail feathers distinctly. It showed no trace of spring plumage, the head being dull grey with only a very short whitish eye-stripe. I was first attracted by the call-note, but that is hardly distinguishable from a Rock-Pipit's note and, owing to the bird's dark head, I had some doubt of its identity at the time. The white outer-tail feathers, however, appear to be decisive. On April 3rd, 1937, at the south side of Easton Broad, Suffolk, within half a mile of the sea, I had good views of two Water-Pipits. These, too, were on muddy ground at the edge of a marsh ; and, as with the bird seen in Cheshire, they were more or less in the company of Meadow-Pipits. Again, it was the white outer tail-feathers that were decisive, together with the call-note. Neither of these two birds was in full spring plumage, but one in particular had an almost blue-grey head, with a distinct eye-stripe, and at a distance its whole head and throat looked pale. In this case, I had the satisfaction of seeing several Rock-Pipits (A. s. obscurus) a quarter of an hour later at the edge of the shingle. Although I could not detect any difference in the call-note, the absence of white in the outer-tail feathers and the more uniform grey-brown of the upper-parts of these birds made a noticeable contrast with the Water-Pipits, which I found still at the same place half an hour later. I understand that the Water-Pipit has not been definitely recorded from either county before. Possibly it has been overlooked. Muddy or brackish marshes seem to be favourite haunts of the species, and March and April are perhaps the months when it is most likely to be seen. H. G. ALEXANDER.

VOL. XXXI.] NOTES. 27 RED-CRESTED POCHARDS IN LINCOLNSHIRE AND WESTMORLAND. I HAVE recently seen some Red-crested Pochards (Netta rufina) in a swamp on the East Lincolnshire marshes. I first saw three drakes and one duck, on the evening of April nth, 1937. On the following evening, one of the drakes had disappeared, the other three birds remaining on the swamp until April 26th, when there were again three drakes, presumably the same drake had returned. On my approach this time, however, one drake flew up when I was about 300 yards away, whereas the others, as they had always done, allowed me to approach to within 80 yards before taking wing, then flying only about 150 yards away and alighting again in the swamp. The next evening, April, 27th, I only saw one drake, which was feeding in company with a pair of Mute Swans. This drake flew up and away out towards the sea when I was about 200 yards away. I have not seen any of the birds since then. I was able to obtain excellent views and noted among other details the drakes' orange-red bills and feet, golden crests and black breasts. In flight a white patch on the wings was noticeable and a " whirring " noise was very audible. E. L. ROBERTS. ON April 8th, 1937, a drake Red-crested Pochard [Netta rufina) was reported from a tarn in the Westmorland hills, and was watched during the next few days by many competent observers. When I saw it on April 10th, it was keeping company with a female Common Pochard and a female Tufted Duck. There is no reason to think this bird an escape, as the place is very remote, and more than a hundred miles from any "ornamental waters". The bird was not very shy, but on the alert and when flushed rose and flew freely. There is only one previous record for Westmorland (1896). SIBYL CROPPER. [Full-winged Mandarin Ducks ringed and put down on the Buckingham Palace lake wandered as far as Sweden and Hungary, so that remoteness from a place of captivity is no bar to suspecting such birds as those recorded by Miss Cropper to be escapes. In May, 1935, the late Duchess of Bedford wrote to me : " We have bred Red-crested Pochards (at Woburn) for some years. They are hatched in incubators and reared under hens, and as soon as they fly they go where they please." Under these circumstances it is difficult to accept as those of truly wild birds occurrences of this species. H.F.W.]

28 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXI. TURNSTONE IN SURREY. DURING the afternoon of May 4th, 1937, at Barn Elms Reservoir, I was able to watch a solitary Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) under perfect conditions at a range of 20 yards. The bird was in summer plumage and both the black and white markings of the cheeks, neck and breast, and the chestnut of the wings and mantle were conspicuous features. REGINALD C. B. LEDLIE. SCARCITY OF IMMATURE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS ON SPRING MIGRATION ACROSS PENNINES. DURING the past ten years or so, I have spent a great deal of time in watching the overland migrations of the British Lesser Black-backed Gull (Lams f. graellsii) across the Pennines. The almost total absence of immature birds on this route in spring is so remarkable as to call for special comment. Unfortunately, several seasons passed before I realized that the scarcity was a permanent feature, so that I only commenced taking systematic notes in 1931. Westbound birds in spring cross the Pennines apparently via Wharfedale and the Aire Gap, whence in the course of a season thousands of Gulls follow the Ribble on its way to the sea. The spring movement is at its height in late March and the first three weeks in April. From Waddington Fell there are several points where one can always find crowds of resting birds, preening and sleeping. To two of these, viz. : the sewage of the Co-operative Estates at Great Mytton, and (on the Lancashire side) an alluvial flat near the Calderstones Sewage Farm at Whalley, I have paid special attention, making frequent visits every spring accompanied at different times by my wife, Mr. E. Battersby and Mr. E. Davis. The resting flocks are not only easy to observe at short range but may be taken as typical because their composition is constantly disturbed as birds arrive and depart. Most of these parties have been meticulously counted a simple matter generally, as Lesser Black-backs tend to assemble together away from other species. Congregations of 50 to 70 birds are usual but numbers may reach anything up to 150. Out of the immense number of these birds which I have watched in the period 1931 to 1937 inclusive, I have noted a total of 27 in immature plumage. Four out of this total were seen in one day (April 14th, 1933). It is, of course, possible that a few birds may have been overlooked, and that

VOL. xxxi.] NOTES. 29 a greater number of visits would have increased the total to some slight extent. But after making these allowances the number of juvenile birds seen in this locality is so small as to be negligible. No reason can be put forward for this scarcity, but the solution would seem to lie in the intensive study of purely coastal migrants in spring. In autumn, the proportions are more what would normally be expected considering the nearness of the breeding stations in northwestern England. As negative evidence is useful, it may be worth mentioning that I have had the binoculars on thousands of Lesser Blackbacks during the last few years in this district without satisfactorily identifying the Scandinavian form (Larus f. fuscus). CLIFFORD OAKES. GOLDEN ORIOLE IN DEVONSHIRE. The Earl of Mansfield informs us that he had a very good view of a female Golden Oriole (Oriolus o. oriolus) in Devonshire on April 12th, 1937. RUDDY SHELD-DUCK IN DUMBARTON. Mr. N. Hopkins records (Scot, Nat., 1936, p. 142) a duck which he identified as a Ruddy Sheld-Duck on Summerston Loch on May 20th, 1936. This may well have been an escaped bird. BEHAVIOUR OF MALE MALLARDS WITH BROODS.-Mr. Bertram Lloyd in his article under this title (antea, Vol. XXX., pp. 334-6) gives some references to previous observations, but it must be pointed out that this subject has been treated somewhat fully by Herr Ludwig Schuster in the Beitr&ge zur Fortpflanzungs-biologie der Vogel, 1928, pp. 103-6, in which he gives conclusive evidence from various sources showing that the male, although generally a " bad father," does from time to time take an active part in the care of the young. This is not only the case with the Mallard (A. platyrhyncha) as observed by Helm (Journal f. Orn., 1905, p. 582) and Hantzsch (Vogelwelt Islands, p. 172), but the latter writer also describes similar conduct in the case of the male Pintail, Teal, Scaup, Goosander and Barrow's Goldeneye. This is also confirmed by Faber, who records instances of the male Sheld-Duck, Pintail and Teal behaving in the same way. Rosenius also cites the Shoveler; Hortling the Tufted Duck (Ornis Fennica, 1927, p. 69) and H. J. and C. E. Pearson (Ibis, 1925, p. 243) give similar evidence with regard to the Scaup in Iceland. This behaviour is not, however, confined to the north, as Dombrowski (Ornis Romaniae p.,634) cites the Goldeneye, and references are also given

30 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXI. to cases mentioned by Hermann, Komjathy and Graf von Zedlitz. In the case of the Pochard (N. ferina) similar behaviour is normal (Schuster and others). For further details Herr Schuster's paper should be consulted, but it may be worth recording that Mr. J. Atkinson photographed a male Mallard in the act of arranging the down over the eggs after the duck had hurriedly left the nest without covering the eggs, and later on accompanied her back to the nest. In Wild Life, Vol. VIII, p. 140, there is a photograph of this incident, and also one of the duck and drake together at the nest. F. C. R. JOURDAIN. GARGANEYS IN FIFESHIRE, KINROSS AND LANARKSHIRE. Miss E. V. Baxter and Miss L. J. Rintoul note seeing three Garganey (Anas querquedula) on a loch near Burntisland on April 30th, 1936 (Scot. Nat., 1936, p. 149), and two on Loch Levan on September 30th (p. 172), while Mr. W. Rennie records (p. 150) a pair at Possil Marsh on March 19th. PINTAILS BREEDING IN ANGUS AND SUTHERLAND. Miss E. V. Baxter records seeing a Pintail (Anas acuta) with a brood of downy young on a loch in Angus in the summer of 1936 (Scot. Nat., 1936, p. 141) and Mr. J. H. B. Munro saw a party of six and, a duck with a young one on a loch in Sutherland in June, 1936 (i.e., p. 163). SHAGS INLAND. Mr. E. G. Pedler writes that three Shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) on the River Thames in the middle of April and beginning of May, 1937, frequently rested on the buttresses under Barnes Railway Bridge, and are quite undisturbed by trains going overhead and barges passing alongside. Mr. K. B. Rooke reports several Shags in Cambridgeshire one at the University Farm on February 17th, one found dead near Cambridge in the same week, several in the washes near Mepal about the 14th, and one on the Cam at Grantchester on March 7th. BLACK-TAILED GODWITS IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. Mr. H. L. K. Whitehouse informs us that he, with Messrs. R. Gulliford and R. N. H. Whitehouse, saw three Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa I. lintosa) on April 15th, 1937, at the edge of some noodwater between the River Severn and Hasfield, Gloucestershire. LITTLE GULL IN NORFOLK IN SPRING. Miss Judith M. Ferrier writes that on April 27th, 1937, she watched an immature Little Gull (Larus minutus) in company with Blackheaded Gulls at Scolt Head. The bird is infrequently seen in spring.