96 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



me that a pair of Common Gulls {Larus canus) are again 

 nesting on the Fame Islands this year (1912), and that he 

 saw their nest containing three eggs on June 24th. 



George Bolam. 



[We have already referred to the record of a pair breeding 

 in 1910 (see Vol. V., p. 29). In his book Mr. Bolam doubts 

 the correctness of Mr. Fortune's observations of t«enty-five 

 years ago [loc. ciL). — Eds.] 



SPOTTED CRAKE NESTING IN ROXBURGHSHIRE. 



At a small but strictly preserved loch in Roxburghshire 

 (where, besides numerous Mallards and Teal, several pairs of 

 Pochard and Shovelers breed), a duck of the last-named species 

 flapped up with studied lameness from a patch of j^ellow iris 

 only a few yards out in the soft bog. The drake — as usual — 

 then rose close beyond. On walking out towards the spot, I 

 saw that the young Shovelers were in process of hatching- 

 out, the date being May 17th, about a Meek later than their 

 average. A few steps beyond, a small rail-like bird darted 

 away like a rat among the low marsh-herbage. Within 

 half a dozen yards it stopped twice to look back, and by its 

 mottled neck and short bill, light-coloured, I saw it was not 

 a Water-Rail, and came to the conclusion that it must be a 

 Spotted Crake [Porzana porzana). While still Avatching it, 

 barely a dozen yards away, I realized a movement almost 

 beneath the binoculars, and at once saw several dark broAvn 

 downy chicks creeping away through the moss. It occurred 

 to me to catch one — they were still within a step or two — 

 but the soft bog gave way, and before I recovered a footing, 

 the chicks had disappeared. Later in the evening, while 

 sitting by the loch-side, I heai'd the distinct double note that 

 I have before associated with the Spotted Crake, both here, 

 at Houxty in Northumberland, and also in Spain.* 



On the morning of May 19th I returned to the loch, but 

 could neither see nor hear anything of the Crakes and the young 

 Shovelers had then left their nest. The note of the Spotted 

 Crake — wheel, wheel — is rather vibrant, distinctly audible 

 at some little distance. Therefore, should the Crakes breed 

 regularly at this loch, the fact can be verified next spring. 



It may be worth adding that in some young fir-plantations 

 around this loch, I found two nests of Reed-Buntings (Emheriza 

 ■s. schoeniclus) in the tops of young spruces, quite four feet 

 above the ground. Abel Chapman. 



* cf. Bird-life of the Borders, 2nd ed., pp. 137-8 ; also Ibis, 1894, 

 p. 342. 



