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(212) Notes. Two-Barred Crossbill in Nottinghamshire

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(212) Notes. Two-Barred Crossbill in Nottinghamshire (212) NOTES. TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. SINCE the Two-barred Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera bifasciata) has not been recorded from this county for a considerable time (I can find only one old record, cf. J. Whitaker, Zoologist, 1902, p. 353), this report may be of interest. On December 22nd, 1943, while at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, I had an excellent view for about ten minutes of a male of this species whilst it was perched in an oak. The colour of the bird was a bright pink. The wing-bars were seen quite distinctly both when the bird was at rest, when they showed as two fairly broad white patches, and while it flew among the tree tops. No call was heard owing to the noise of other birds in the vicinity. The woods and vicinity are rich in larch and conifer trees. R. J. RAINES. MIGRATION OF CHAFFINCHES AND OTHER BIRDS ON THE SOUTH-WEST COAST. WITH reference to the notes on " Chaffinch Migration on the South West Coast," by D. A. Bannerman (antea, p. 177), this migration was also noted near Ilfracombe. The following notes are from the records I made of this movement. The first sign of migration was noted at 7.30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 20th, 1943, when small parties of 20-40 passerine birds were observed. They moved in quite distinct flocks, fairly well packed together, at intervals of not more than 30 seconds. The flight was steady but " jerky " at a height not exceeding 200 feet, and as far as I could observe they kept closely to the coast line. Standing on Hillsborough, Ilfracombe, which is 430 feet high, the flocks passed well below me, when several flocks could be seen at once. It was a lovely clear morning, no wind and the sun shining. Owing to my duties, I was unable to observe the movement through­ out the morning ; it was still in progress at 1 p.m., but I saw no further movement at 6 p.m., when I was again able to make observations. The same morning movement was again in progress on Thursday, October 21st, and Friday, October 22nd, 1943, but the flocks had increased from about thirty to two hundred birds. The weather was still clear, but the wind was fairly strong from the south-west. I saw no further movement of this migration after 1 p.m. on Friday, October 22nd. The following birds were identified during the three days migration, but what percentage they represented of the total numbers I regret I cannot say, as the far larger proportion of them passed unidentified:—Linnet (Carduelis cannabina), Chaffinch {Fringilla ccelebs), Meadow-Pipit (Anthus pratensis), and Stonechat (Saxicola torquata). I did not identify the Starling {Sturnus vulgaris). I was most struck by the compactness of the flocks—each separate, and distinct with very few stragglers. VOL, XXXVII.] NOTES. 213 There was quite a different movement on November 20th, 1943, when streams of Chaffinches {Fringilla coelebs) passed along the coast from 1 to 5 p.m. During this time thousands of Chaffinches, flying rapidly and very low, were seen as they passed along in a continuous movement. The weather was clear with no wind. No further movement was seen after this date. N. V. ALLEN. ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR OF A RED-BACKED SHRIKE. THREE pairs of Red-backed Shrikes (Lanius c. collurio) normally occupy adjoining territories on Ruislip Common. In 1942 a fourth cock bird frequented the marsh. His behaviour was hardly normal, so I watched the cock Shrike who held this territory throughout the 1943 breeding-season very carefully and came to the conclusion that he practised bigamy. After mating with a hen he neglected her and spent several weeks courting another bird quite close to the sitting one. The second bird eventually built a ragged, exposed nest in a young willow. The cock took up a watching station mid­ way between the two nests and returned to help the first hen with her brood after the second hen's nest had been robbed of its eggs. T. L. BARTLETT. WAXWINGS IN GREAT BRITAIN. WITH reference to the invasion of Waxwings {Bombycilla g. garrulus), we are able to add the following reports to those previously recorded (antea, p. 196). It is evident that the immigration has been fairly widespread. We should be glad to receive records from any districts not yet mentioned in these pages, with a view to a further analysis. SOMERSET.—The Rev. C. J. Pring reports one seen in a garden at Yeovil " just before Christmas " by Mr. S. Hutchings, who knows the bird well in captivity. SURREY.—Four at Banstead, January 8th (A. W. Moss, Times, Jan. 25, 1944). ESSEX.—Three at Althorne in January (C. B. Ashby). HERTFORDSHIRE.—Mr. H. H. S. Hayward reports that three were seen by Mr. H. V. Gray on Berkhamsted Common on February 1st, and Mr. E. W. Arnold observed a party of a dozen or more on February 26th in a residential road in Rickmansworth bordered by high hawthorns. They were still there on March 12th. MIDDLESEX.—One seen on the edge of Hampstead Heath by a reliable observer between Gainsborough Gardens and Heath Side on December 14th. (V. R. Garrett per London N.H.S.). OXFORDSHIRE.-—One at Bix (erroneously cited as " Bax "), near Henley, January 13th and again two days later (Mrs. E. M. Bantoft, Times, Jan. 25, 1944). A party of eight to nine birds has been present in a locality on the northern outskirts of Oxford for several weeks, frequenting chiefly a small piece of hedgerow by a main road, adjacent to a garden containing a small pond at which the birds frequently drink. They were observed by W. B. Alexander, B.W.T. and others on February 21st, having been reported there two days previously, 214 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXVII. and subsequently by a number of observers. As far as is known the last date on which they were seen was March nth. There is some evidence that a considerably larger number was originally present, but this lacks positive confirmation by any ornithologist. SUFFOLK.—Three seen five miles out of Stowmarket on the Bury St. Edmunds road, January 14th (J. M. Wallace, Times, Jan. 25, 1944). GLOUCESTERSHIRE.—Mr. H. H. Davis informs us that one was seen on Clifton Downs by Mr. R. Poulding on October 30th. This is nearly a fortnight earlier than the first east coast record, but Mr. Davis is satisfied that the identification can be relied on and has given us particulars confirming this opinion. WORCESTERSHIRE.—Mr. H. G. Alexander has informed us of one reported to him near Barnt Green through Mr. M. E. Pumphrey in early February, 1944. Also a flock reported at Bewdley on January 31st by G. C. Mackaness in local press. WARWICKSHIRE.—Mr Alexander also reports one seen by Mr. J. Shewell between Redditch and Studley on January 18th, and Mr. J. Spalding saw two at Handsworth, Birmingham, on March 4th and three in the same place on March 10th. NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.—Mr. J. Staton reports : two seen at Gedling by himself on February 4th ; one at Moorgreen Reservoir on February 13th by Messrs. J. S. and A. K. Gill; four at Colwick Woods on the east boundary of Nottingham on February 19th by R. J. Raines. DURHAM.—Capt. D. I. Molteno informs us that numbers haunted the district of Barnard Castle from January 9th to 15th ; one flock consisted of thirty-five birds and smaller numbers were seen in the same district for at least a week. Corporal P. A. Humble saw twenty at Bishop Auckland on December 13th. FIRECREST IN IRELAND. ON December 7th, 1943, when walking near Glengarriff, Co. Cork, we picked up underneath telegraph wires an adult male Firecrest (Regulus i. ignicapillus), which had been dead only a short while. This is the first known occurrence of the species in Ireland, and the specimen has been presented to the National Museum, Dublin. J. E. FLYNN, G. F. MITCHELL. MID-AUGUST SONG OF GARDEN-WARBLER. AT noon on August 16th, 1943, in a bushy dell at Drayton Beauchamp (Bucks) where a Garden-War bier (Sylvia borin), presumably nesting, was in song during May and June, I watched and heard one singing steadily for three quarters of an hour within a few yards of where I was seated. This song, though including frequent bouts of a full minute's duration, was mainly a weaker version of the normal " spring " song, of which it lacked the ebulli­ ence and richness of tone. For almost half an hour, however, there were scarcely any pauses of more than a few seconds in the warbling. VOL. XXXVII.] NOTES. 215 On August 17th, between 1.30 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. at exactly the same spot, my wife and I heard the bird again singing. Except that it was less sustained, the pauses lasting longer, the song was similar in volume and timbre to that heard on the previous day; but on two occasions when beginning a song-bout, the bird sang with all the " full-throated ease " and characteristic sweetness of the best Garden-Warbler in early June. On August 19th and thereafter I could find no signs of the singer at this haunt. This was, in my experience, a very unusual date for the song of the Garden-Warbler—much more so indeed than September. H. G. Alexander, however, has apparently noted a weaker warbling version of the ordinary song in August and September (cited in The Handbook of British Birds, Vol. ii, p.
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