VOL. VI.] NOTES. 67 



that the complement of eggs would then be complete. When 

 about half-way up the tree, he was very surprised to see a 

 Long-eared Owl (Asio o. otis) quit the nest, and still more 

 so on finding the contents to consist of five eggs of the Magpie 

 and one of the Long-eared Owl. The whole were about 

 three parts incubated. Bernard Starley. 



SPOONBILLS IN SUFFOLK. 



On June 4th, 1912, I saw three Spoonbills {Platalea I. letico- 

 rodia) about two miles north of Southwold, and watched 

 them on the wing with a field -glass. The flight was very 

 easy, and rapid for birds of that size, and I noticed that 

 they flew with necks extended and not drawn back like a 

 Heron. A few days previously three had been seen on 

 Breydon and possibly these were the same birds. 



Julian G. Tuck. 



BLACK-THROATED DIVER IN CARNARVONSHIRE. 



On May 14th, 1912, 1 had the pleasure of watching for the third 

 time in three consecutive years an adult Black-throated Diver 

 {Gavia arctica) in Llandudno Bay. When recording the 

 occurrence of the second individual, I ventured to suggest 

 that it was quite possible that the species passed along the 

 Welsh coast more often than was generally supposed, and I 

 feel that the present additional occurrence tends to prove 

 more clearly that the species does journey northward and 

 passes along the north coast of Wales with some degree of 

 regularity. Richard W. Jones. 



EARLY BREEDING OF DOTTEREL. 



When making my way over some very high ground in the 

 northern Highlands on May 25th, 1912, I found a nest of a 

 Dotterel {Charadrius morineUus) with three eggs. The bird 

 was at the nest, and I consider it likely had been sitting for 

 a day or two. This is the earliest date on which I have ever 

 heard of a Dotterel's nest. It is curious if a so-called " early " 

 reason should affect a bird which breeds at so high a level as 

 the Dotterel. Clifford Borrer. 



"TWIN' NEST OF BLACK-HEADED GULLS. 



W^hile visiting a small nesting-colony of the Black-headed 

 Gull {Lams ridibundus) near the mouth of the Blackwater, 

 Essex, on June 3rd, 1911, I came across an unusual " twin " 

 nest, a photograph of which is here reproduced. 



The nests, which were scattered over more than an acre of 

 marsh to the number of seventy or eighty, were built up 



