54 BRITISH BIRDS. 



to this unusual site on account of the many acres of low-lying 

 meadows, in which several Snipes always breed, having been 

 more or less under water from recent heavy rains. 



Julian G. Tuck. 



[Although it is very unusual to find Snipe breeding in such 

 an open situation as a wheat-field, yet it is worth noting that 

 other Limicolce, whose usual breeding-places are equally 

 different in character, will occasionallv nest in such a site. 

 Thus Mr. Oxley Grabham {Field, June 7th, 1902) has recorded 

 the Ringed Plover {Jigialitis Maticola) as nesting in corn-fields ; 

 and on two occasions I have met with the Common Sand- 

 piper {Totanus hypoleucus) breeding in Avheat-fields, probably 

 for the reason suggested by Mr. Tuck. — F. C. R. J.] 



THE SUPPOSED EGGS OF THE WOOD-SANDPIPER 

 TAKEN IN ELGINSHIRE IN 1853. 



Under this title Mr. W. Evans publishes in The Annals of 

 Scottish Natural History (1910, pp. 74-76) some interesting 

 correspondence between the late Professor Newton and him- 

 self concerning the supposed eggs of the Wood-Sandpiper 

 {Totanus glareola) taken in Elginshire on May 23rd, 1853. 

 Professor Newton gives extracts from letters written to him 

 by his brother Edward concerning these eggs, which he had 

 seen, and whose history he had heard from Charles Thurnall, 

 who found tliem. This correspondence shows that neither 

 Newton nor his brother believed that the eggs were anything 

 more than those of the Common Sandpiper, and that Thurnall 

 never identified the bird properly. Bond, who had a wonderful 

 knowledge of eggs, aj)peared to accept them as genuine, but 

 with the evidence of Edward Newton, who interviewed 

 Thurnall a few months after the taking of the eggs, now before 

 us, we do not hesitate to say that the record is most unsatis- 

 factory and should no longer be accepted. Mr. Evans' corre- 

 spondence with Professor Newton on the subject took place 

 in 1901, and although he had leave to publish the letters, 

 he hoped that Newton himself would do so. (c/. also Ann. 

 S.N.H., 1899, p. 14 ; Yarrell 4th ed.. Vol. III., p. 465 ; 

 Saunders' Manual, 2nd ed., p. 607). jj p ^y 



LITTLE TERNS NESTING AT TEES MOUTH, YORKS. 



During the last twenty years certain parts of the Tees Mouth 

 have slightly altered, partly through natural and partly 

 through artificial causes. The shingle-beds have accreted 

 considerably, and it is probably mainly due to this fact 



