Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/142

110 A Dipper seen at Selbrigge Pond, Hempstead, this month by Mr. Upcher; the second time only that this species has occurred in April.

1st.—Mr. R. Gurney saw five pairs of Shelducks at Cley, and also washed-up bodies of a Sclavonian Grebe, a Little Auk, a Gannet, and several Puffins, Razorbills, and Guillemots.

2nd.—Two Spoonbills on Breydon (S. Chambers).

3rd.—Spoonbills still on Breydon, flying from there to Hickling (W. Lowne).

4th.—Thirty Great Crested Grebes on Ormesby Broad (W. Lowne).

6th.—Two Kestrel's eggs in a hollow alder tree at Hempstead; from these, though exposed to the sky, the old bird must, owing to the depth of the hole, have had considerable difficulty in rising. This example is perhaps worthy of being added to Mr. W.G. Clarke's abnormal nesting sites (Zool. 1897, p. 449). The eggs were only lying on chips.

12th.—A small flock of Curlew Sandpipers, some in very ruddy dress (H. Slater).

15th.—A youth of eighteen paddling his canoe on the Yare was attacked by a Mute Swan which had a nest: the craft was upset, and the canoeist had a narrow escape from drowning.

19th.—Five young Ray's Wagtails thrown out of their nest by a Cuckoo at Sutton, and about this time some young Pied Wagtails at Keswick were similarly ejected, but no Cuckoo was seen.

21st.—One Reeve, seen at a former well-known breeding place on our principal broad, by Mr. Lee.

23rd.—Spoonbill on Breydon (Chambers).

25th.—Perhaps the chief event of the year was the discovery this day of a nest of the Common Sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucus) with its four unmistakable eggs. It was found by Mr. Oswin Lee under a gooseberry-bush in the garden of an inn by the side of one of our broads, where he was photographing. The bird was plainly identified. This is a discovery of more than local interest. Cf. J.E. Harting, 'The Field,' April 28th, 1877, though there can hardly be a doubt that the Sandpiper has nested in Lincolnshire (J. Cordeaux, Zool. 1893, p. 304); with this exception, these are the first authenticated eggs in the eastern counties south of the