VOL. VI.] NOTES. 348 



of the species all tend to support it. Thus, Dr. Laver has 

 recorded [Essex NatnraUsf, IX., p. 52) an example picked up 

 dead near Harwich on 30th March, 1895, when it was probably 

 about to breed. Again, on the 21st April, 1896, Dr. J. H. 

 Salter, of Tollesbury (who now owns the specimen above 

 mentioned) saw and watched for some time, in a roadside 

 reed-bed in the eastern part of the county, an unmistakable 

 example which, at the date in question, must surely have 

 been breeding, or about to breed, in the vicinity. 



Now comes news that an adult male (which has been seen 

 by Dr. Laver, who informs me of the occurrence) was obtained 

 out of a party of seven, on or about the 13th inst. (Feb.), 

 at a locality, which is in every way well suited to the habits 

 of the bird, in the northern portion of the county. Its exact 

 whereabouts need not be disclosed to the exterminator. The 

 birds can hardly have been breeding at so early a date, but 

 the number of the little flock suggests strongly that it was 

 composed of a family party which had been bred in the 

 immediate vicinity during the previous summer. 



Miller Christy. 



[We do not consider that the presence of a little flock in 

 winter necessarily points to breeding in the district. — ^Eds.] 



riRECREST IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



I OBSERVED a Firecrest [Regulus i. ignicapillus) on February 

 16th, 1913, at Chfton, near Bristol. The bird was much 

 more shy and restless than a Goldcrest, but I identified it 

 thoroughly by means of the light stripe over the eye, and the 

 note, which was very different from that of the Goldcrest. 



D. MuNRO Smith. 



PROBABLE INHERITANCE OF EGG-COLOUR IN 

 SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS. 



In 1911 a pair of Spotted Flycatchers {Muscicapa s. striata) 

 raised a brood from eggs of the pale blue variety at Felsted, 

 Essex. I do not know ^^hether a second brood was raised, 

 as I did not find the second nest. In 1912, in the sime place, 

 there ^^ere two nests belonging to two pairs of birds within 

 fortj' yards of each other, and in each nest were light blue 

 eggs from which broods w&ve raised. This instance seems to 

 point to the fact that the }'Oung follow the mother in the 

 matter of egg-colour. J. H. Owen. 



