Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/539

Rh pick out not only the egg of Brünnich's Guillemot, but also that of the Ringed Guillemot, from a basket containing eggs of the common bird. Needless to say he was found wanting. Mr. Potter mentions the late Canon Atkinson. I am glad to say that the author of 'Forty Years in a Moorland Parish' is still hale and hearty, and I had the pleasure of a long talk with him not many weeks ago at his home in Danby in Cleveland.— (Chestnut House, Heworth, York).

Nesting of the Great Plover.—While crossing a nesting ground of the Great Plover in Lincolnshire, on June 7th last, I chanced to run against a nest containing four eggs, two rather larger and longer than the other two, thus having the appearance of belonging to two hens. The eggs were quite warm, and on my approaching the nest a Great Plover rose about eighty yards beyond it.—R.U. Calvert (Ascott-sub-Wychwood, Oxford).

Black-winged Stilt in Somerset.—I have recently received a present of a specimen of the Black-winged Stilt, shot at Sedgmoor in July, 1896, a distance of four miles from here. The gentleman from whom I obtained it, and who had it in the flesh—Mr. C. Hooper, taxidermist, of Wells—thought it was some species of Snipe. The legs are about ten inches in length. This is, I believe, the first mention of the bird from Somerset, and the second from the West of England, one having been reported from Anglesea by Montagu. I shall be happy to send it for any naturalist's inspection. — (39, High Street, Wells, Somerset).

Roosting of the Swift.—Apropos of Mr. Gyngell's letter in last month's 'Zoologist' (p. 468), a friend of mine, when standing outside the house one evening at about eight o'clock, saw a Swift fly up and settle flat against the wall just under the eave. He watched it for some time, but it never moved. These birds evidently roost in this position, for which the forward-pointing hallux and toes of all the same length are well fitted. The Swifts did not leave the Norfolk coast till about Sept. 5th, but from the end of August till then were flying about along the cliffs in considerable numbers.— (82, Finchley Road, N.W.).

Wonderful Egg-producing Powers of the Wryneck.—A friend of mine discovered the haunt of a pair of these birds, Iynx torquilla, in a plantation at Farnborough, in Kent; he had noticed them going and coming from an old decayed plum-stub about 5 ft. 6 in. or so in height. Not being able to see far down the hollow limb, he broke a strip away, which fortunately snapped off at the very bottom of the hole, a distance of fully two feet. When first found, on May 23rd, 1897, there were seven eggs lying on the bare wood, which he took, afterwards replacing the strip in