VOL. VI.] NOTES. 349 



BAR-TAILED GODWITS IN ORKNEY. 



I HAVE seen Bar-tailed Godwits {Limosa I. lappotiica) in 

 Orkne}^ on two or tluee occasions, liut being unaA\are that 

 they ^^■erc considered scarce visitors there, I have unfortunate!}'- 

 only kept one record. This was a bird seen on Westray on 

 May 4th, 1911. It was getting its summei--pluinage. 



M. Bedford. 



WOODCOCK'S DISEASED FEET. 



In December, 1912, Mr. H. S. Gladstone sent the feet of a 



Woodcock that had been picked up dead at Thornhill, 



Dumfriesshire, to Mr. Witherby, who forwarded them on 



to me for an opinion. The under-surface of the base of the 



toes, corresponding to the metatarso -phalangeal joints, was 



the seat in both legs of a moderate-sized elastic swelling. 



On cutting into this I found that it was due to a chronic 



inflammatory condition of the sheaths of the large flexor 



tendons that pass over the posterior aspect of the joint into 



the toes. The tendons were embedded in a quantity of 



caseous material for a distance of about three-eighths of an 



inch and the lining membrane of the sheaths was injected, 



but the jomts were quite free and healthy. Had the subject 



been human and not avian, I should not have hesitated to 



have ascribed the condition as due to tuberculosis. It is 



frequently seen m wading birds kept in captivity, and was 



always supposed at one time to be a manifestation of this 



disease, but is now I beheve referred to other causes. It 



must be quite rare, I think, in wild birds of this family and 



perhaps worthy of record. I regret that I was unable to have 



a microscopical examination made. With the arrangement 



recently made with an expert veterinary pathologist whereby 



such material as the above can now be examined (see Feb. No., 



p. 282) more valuable opinions will be at the disposal of readers 



than I am able to give. N. F. Ticehurst. 



Male Pied Flycatcher returning to nesting-place 

 WITHOUT A mate.— In 1911, the Rev. H. N. Bonar reported 

 the nesting of a pair of Pied Flycatchers [Muscicapa h. 

 hypoleuca) in Haddington (c/. Vol. V., p. 84). In 1912 on 

 visiting the same spot on May 2nd he found the male already 

 there and watched it beginning to build a nest, but there 

 was no female. Mr. Bonar kept a Avatch on the bird for the 

 whole of the month, but no female ever turned up nor did 

 the male continue nest-building, though he stoutly defended 

 the nesting-hole and sang incessantly. Mr. Bonar was 

 abroad from the end of May to June 24th, by which date 



