VOL. VI.] NOTES. 129 



flushed from her nest containing seven eggs by an observer 

 who is well acquainted with this species." But Mr. Aplin 

 does not say who the observer was, and this is all-important 

 information in a record of this kind. In our judgment it 

 has yet to be satisfactorily proved that Clangula hyemalis has 

 nested in the British Isles. 



"Courtship" Actions of the Goosander. — Mr. S. E. 

 Brock gives {Scot. Nat., 1912, p. 116) a brief description of 

 the display of Mergus m. merganser which commences in 

 November and becomes more fully developed later. One 

 of the actions is very much like that described and figured 

 as action No. 2 by Mr. H. Wormald in his paj)er on the 

 "display" of the Mallard [antea. Vol. IV., pp. 2-7). In 

 another, the bird while swimming makes a spasmodic move- 

 ment with the feet, throwing up a jet of water. Both these 

 are performed by the duck as well as by the drake, but less 

 frequently by the former. In a third action, only observed 

 by Mr. Brock in the case of the drake, the head and neck 

 are very suddenly stretched perpendicularly up^^'ards to 

 their fullest extent with the bill gaping and then with equal 

 abruptness the bird assumes its normal position. This is 

 performed while it is swimming raj^idly in company with one 

 or moi'e females. Dr. Townsend's description in the Auk of 

 the actions of the Red-breasted Maganser should be compared 

 (see antea, Vol. V., p. 85). 



Great Crested Grebe nesting in " Lakeland." — In the 

 report for 1911 for Cumberland and Westmorland by Messrs. 

 L. E. Hope and D. L. Thorpe, we find that Mr. E. B. Dunlop 

 records [ZooL, 1912, p. 183) the nesting of Colymhus c. cris- 

 tatus " on a certain quiet sheet of water" in "Lakeland," 

 in 1911. Two pairs were seen and one of them was observed 

 in company with tw^o yoimg. Mr. Dunlop remarks that he 

 has " good reason to suppose that they bred in this locality 

 in the two previous seasons." It is curious, considering the 

 bird's well-marked extension in Scotland, that its presence 

 as a breeding species in the Border counties had not been 

 notified before. 



Black-tailed Godwit in Cumberland. — Mr. W. Nichol 

 reports {ZooL, 1912, p. 187) that he saw four Limosa Umosa 

 on August 15th, 1911, near Silioth, and three on August 22nd 

 at the same place. With this record should be compared 

 those from Skinburaess later in the same month {antea, 

 Vol. v., p. 320). 



