Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/114

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Wagtails eating Trout.—Both the Pied and Yellow Wagtails (Motacilla lugubris and M. raii) have been observed to take Trout fry. They regularly frequent the nursery ponds here in the spring. Each pond is fitted with a fine screen of perforated zinc at its outlet, which collects a considerable amount of floating matter, consisting for the most part of aquatic and other plants. Amongst this floatage a good many insects occur, and these naturally prove an attraction to the birds. Occasionally, however, a small Trout gets too near the screen, and is washed on it by the current, when the Wagtails take advantage of such an occurrence to secure the fish and to devour it. I need hardly say that they are made welcome to any fish they take in this way, as no one here would think of molesting them. The habit, however, seems worth recording.— (Solway Fishery, Dumfries).

The Kingfisher in Surrey.—When so much is written about the extermination of Alcedo ispida in England, it is pleasant to be able to record that this bird is frequently to be seen so near London as Surrey. The Kingfisher still exists on the Wey and the Mole, the two chief rivers in the county, as well as on their smaller tributaries. About three winters ago I saw a specimen on the river Mole at Cobham; in October, 1897, another on the Pip-brook near Dorking; in the same month another at Bramley, near Guildford, in the valley of the Wey. On the Tillingbourne stream, which rises on Leith Hill and flows westward into the Wey, I have frequently seen Kingfishers; several times near Abinger Hammer, and in May, 1896, at Shere. There is a certain pond in the valley where I suspect a pair nested last season, for I made several expeditions to see them, and was generally rewarded. I am inclined to think that this species has increased in the county these last years; certainly I do not remember having ever seen so many. Can we attribute this to the Wild Birds Protection Acts? A correspondent of the 'Field' recently reported that a pair of Kingfishers had for some time frequented the lake in Battersea Park, a very uninviting part of Surrey one would think. It would be interesting to know whether the birds are still to be seen there.— (Shere, Guildford, Surrey).

[The bird is also to be seen on the Wandle.—]