(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. 76.) BERTRAM LLOYD. COURTSHIP DISPLAY OF BLACKBIRD. MY sister writes—" At 5 p.m. on January 20th, 1944, I watched a cock Blackbird (Turdus m. merula) displaying before a hen. He was sitting on the branch of a tree, and was swaying from side to side, bowing, and repeatedly wiping his beak on the bough. On closer investigation it was noticed that he was singing a sub-song of short phrases. The hen sat on a bough about a yard away very still, as if mesmerised." The Handbook account of the displaj' of this bird does not mention either the swaying or the bowing noticed by my sister. The beak-wiping was no doubt a nervous act, due to excite­ ment. It would appear that the above account may be of interest, as describing an uncommon form of display. M. BROOKS-KING. [It is evident from the recorded data that the display actions of the Blackbird, as in the case of some other Passerines, show wide variation and conform to no well-defined pattern.—B. W. T.]. EAGLE-OWL IN YORKSHIRE. ON December 17th, 1943, in Yarker Bank Plantation, a mixed wood of several acres about one mile from Leyburn, Wensleydale, Yorks, I was attracted by a great commotion amongst the birds. Mistle-Thrush, Blackbird and Fieldfare were all in the utmost agitation, and never before have I seen Wood-Pigeons exhibit such signs of real panic. At first, I could see nothing to account for this, and my appearance made no difference to the distraught be­ haviour of the birds ; but suddenly, after I had been standing for some time beneath a beech, an enormous bird swept low down. That it was an owl was unquestionable from its shape and silent flight. The upper plumage was dark with reddish mottling or edging to the feathers ; the head was dark, with what appeared as a short, thick darker line down each side. There were tufts or " ears," because they " feathered " with the breeze. The wings and tail were dark and definitely barred. The bird flew along the glade for about 100 yards at about four feet from the ground and then swung up into a pine. During its passage the birds went almost frantic. I followed up, but could only get fleeting glimpses of the great bird before it again flew low down and away to a distant wood. The 216 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXVII. short glimpse in the pine showed an exceptionally large bird standing very erect. The under-parts were lighter and mottled or streaked, but I. could get no detail. The face was that of an owl and the ear- tufts were visible. The size and colouring of the bird appear to indicate an Eagle-Owl (Bubo b. bubo), J. P. UTLEY. [The description leaves no doubt that the bird was an Eagle-Owl. The particulars which Capt. Utley is able to give would not entirely preclude its having been one of the non-European Eagle-Owls escaped from captivity rather than Bubo bubo, but the possibility that it might have been some such other species seems so slight as to be hardly worth entertaining.—EDS.]. WOOD-SANDPIPER IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. ON August 13th, 1943, at the edge of a small, rushy woodland pool on a lower slope of the Cotswolds near St. Catherine's, I saw a brown and white sandpiper probing in the mud, which proved to be a Wood-Sandpiper (Tringa glareola). It was possible to get within about ten yards of the bird owing to cover provided by some reeds. It was a dainty bird, somewhat smaller than a Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) and the sepia brown back was patterned with white markings. On being flushed it rose obliquely to about 30 feet, circled and returned to the same position. In flight it did not appear so black and white as the Green Sandpiper and showed a white rump (though this was less conspicuous than in that species) and had a barred tail. The call, on flushing, was a shrill triple note, which I found difficult to describe but wrote down as "chiree-ree-ree" (all of the same pitch). After feeding for about five minutes the bird again towered and did not return. On this occasion the triple call note was followed by a more liquid " too-ee." There was no white wing-bar and head neck and throat were streaked with brown. W. D. MELLUISH. NOTES ON REDSHANK FLEDGING. THE following observations on the fledging of Redshanks (Tringa totanus britannica) were made in 1943. A brood of four were ringed on the day of hatching, May 19th. Twenty-five days later, on June 13th, a calm day, one of this brood, after fluttering for a few yards just above the long grass, was caught and the following particulars of development taken down. Bill: greenish brown, tip black ; length ij% ins. Legs : pale yellowish amber ; tarsus length 2 ins. Middle toe : if ins. Second primary: length 2§ ins. Feathers had replaced down on all parts of the body except cheeks and nape. Down was adhering to the tips of the inner primaries, secondaries, some wing-coverts, back, rump, tail, under tail-coverts and some breast feathers. The under wing-coverts were still sheathed, the longest being § in. On the twenty-sixth day, during a heavy rain squall, when a fair wind was blowing, I turned up one of the brood. With quickly VOL. XXXVII.] NOTES. 217 fluttering wings it rose to about 20 ft., flying over a wide ditch to alight about 60 yards away. On the twenty-eighth day at the same spot I came upon probably the same nestling. The evening was quite calm and I approached cautiously, hoping the youngster would crouch in the long grass. It began to retreat, bobbing in characteristic style, then decided to go no further. As I continued to advance it took wing, flying apparently fairly easily at a height of about 15 to 20 ft and for about 200 yards. Turned up again within five minutes, it flew back, this time about 300 yards. The thirty-fourth day was quite calm too, and the flight and appearance on the wing of one of these juveniles was quite like that of the adult birds, one, at least, of which was still attending the young. On the ground the young bird was easily distinguished by its manner, as well as by the ring, which was easily discernible. P. A. RAYFIELD. GREENSHANK'S MODE OF FEEDING WHILE at Hoylake, Cheshire, on the Dee estuary, on August 27th, 1943, I watched a Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), which in addition to its normal mode of feeding, frequently employed the method described by Major A. W. Boyd in The Handbook, running with its head submerged. On five occasions, however, its whole head and body were under water, so that all that was seen was its tail moving along, sometimes at considerable speed. As far as I could see the prey was invariably a small fish, and when the bird was successful in capturing one it would run to the side and then put the fish on the sand and proceed to eat it, a method of operation no doubt determined by the depth of the water. G. IAN LACEY. DISPLAY OF THE COOT. THE following note on the display of the Coot (Fulica air a), observed at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, contains some features not mentioned in The Handbook. Two Coots were in the centre of the fish pond here, when two more came up from different directions, running on the surface of the water with the neck curved down so that the beak almost touched the water, instead of holding their heads up in the usual manner. These two went into the aggressive p'osture as described in The Handbook, and each swam round in small circles, apparently not taking any notice of the other. The two pairs then separated, each pair containing one of the two which had displayed. JOHN BARLEE. MAGPIES AND ROOKS PERCHING ON THE BACKS OF ANIMALS.— Mr. C. H. Cooke reports that he saw several Rooks (Corvus f. frugttegus) perching on the backs of reclining sheep near Pinner, Middlesex, on April nth, 1937, and evidently searching for pests in the wool, and Mr. D. H. Naylor reports a Magpie (Pica p. pica) seen perching on the back of a pig and picking something off, near 218 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXVII. Bewdley, Worcestershire, on January 23rd, 1944. The cor­ respondence on this subject (antea, pp. 159 and 199) is now closed, unless any correspondents succeed in definitely identifying the para­ sites being taken by the birds. The reference to Mr. F. A. H. Low in the previous note (p. 199) should have been to Mr. F. A. H. Coon. ENTRANCE TO NUTHATCH'S NESTING-HOLE ENLARGED AND NO MUD USED.—With reference to Capt. J. P. Utley's note under this heading {antea, p. 95) Mr. P. S. Burns informs us of a similar case observed at Mill Hill, Middlesex, in May, 1937. The birds chose a natural hole 30-40 ft. up in an oak and after some days' occupation began enlarging the entrance until there was about half an inch of white wood all round. No mud was used at this nest, which was under close observation until after the young had flown. LARGE FLOCK OF LONG-TAILED TITS.—Lt.-Col. J. R. Kennedy informs us of a flock of just over fifty Long-tailed Tits (JEgithalos caudatus rosaceus) seen in a plantation in Essex in J anuary, 1944. So large a number of these birds together is in our experience unusual, though flocks of at least double this size are observed on occasions. PROLONGED TRILL OF WOOD-WARBLER.—With reference to Mr. H. R. Tutt's note on the prolonged trill used by a Wood-Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix) in Surrey in June, 1943 {antea, p. 159), Mr. H. J. Hoffman informs us that he heard a similarly prolonged trill used by an unmated male in another Surrey wood. It was first heard on May 20th, but after a week it apparently left, having failed to secure a mate. Mr. Tutt's bird was mated and the nest was found partly built on June 23rd. This date would normally indicate a second nest built after the destruction of an earlier one, and Mr. Tutt is of opinion that this is what had in fact taken place, but the possibility that the male might have been actually Mr. Hoffman's bird, which had finally secured a mate, is not entirely ruled out, the localities being some ten to eleven miles apart. LATE DRUMMING OF GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.—With reference to the notes under this heading {antea, p. 160), Mr. B. T. Brooker informs us that he heard one drumming at Fawley Court, near Henley-on-Thames on November 28th, 1943, and Mr. E. W. Hendy reports that he heard one on December 1st, 1912, at Alderley, Cheshire, when snow was on the ground. LONG-TAILED DUCKS INLAND ON CORNWALL-DEVON BORDER.— Mr. A. C. Leach has sent us particulars of two Long-tailed Ducks {Clangula hyemalis) in first winter plumage seen on January 4th, 1944, on Tamar Lake near Bude, about 5 J miles inland on the borders of Devon and Cornwall. The Reports of the Devon and Cornwall Bird-Watching and Preservation Societies, from 1929 and 1930 respectively, contain no inland records, with the exception of one for November 19th, 1938, for the same locality. PUFFIN ON THAMES IN LONDON.—Messrs. W. R. Philipson and T. Bispham report an immature Puffin (Fratercula arctica grabce) on the Thames opposite Chiswick Mall on January 3rd, 1944. The weather was mild with high south-west wind.