126 



BltlTISH BIRDS. 



VOL. VI. 



I have a record of another hasty and unusual choice of a 

 nesting-site by a Yellow Wagtail [MotaciUa f. raii). On 

 Juh^ 8th, 1909, the hay in the meado\\- in front of my house 

 was put into cocks and, owing to wet weather, the cocks 



YELLOW WAGTAIL'S NEST IX A HAY-COCK. 

 {Photographed by Miss Fitzherbert-Brockholes.) 



were left untouched for some days. On the loth a Yellow- 

 WagtaiFs nest, containing three eggs, was found in the side 

 of one of the cocks about eighteen inches fi'om the ground. 

 A fourth egg Avas laid on the IGth. and on the 17th the bird 

 had begun to sit. As the fii-st egg must have Ijcen laid l)y 

 the 13th, the nest must have been completed by the 12th, 

 which leaves a very short interval available for the Wagtail 

 to have selected the site and made her nest. 



Yellow Wagtails are very plentiful here, but this is the 

 only instance I have seen or heard of A\hen the nest has not 

 been actually on the ground itself. 



^\. Fitzherbert-Brockholes. 



[F. B. Whitlock states that in Leicestershire the nest of the 

 Yellow Wagtail is sometimes found on stumps in osier 

 beds.— F.C.R.J.] 



WHITE-WINGED BLACK TERNS IN ESSEX. 



On May 28th, 1912, as I have alreadv brieflv recorded in the 

 Field (8.VI.1912, p. 1170), I saw four Whi'te-winged Black 

 Terns (Hydrochelidon leucoptera) at Burnham-on-Crouch, 



