NOTES. 93 



but with a jet-black head. In subsequent correspondence 

 Mr. Hardmg gives the following observations : — " The bird 

 flew for a moment to a wire-fence and I had just time to get 

 my glasses on it, before it flew again. All I could see wasjthe 

 striking black head, which extended quite to the nape . . . 

 I was so amazed at this unexpected sight that details as to 

 chin or eye-stripe escaped me. The bird otherwise seemed to 

 be practically a Yellow Wagtail, of which there were many in 

 the marshes where this one appeared. Two days later I walked 

 across the same stretch of marsh accompanied by a friend. 

 Suddenly the black-headed Wagtail flew j^ast us, within three 

 hundred yards of where I had seen it before, and we exclaimed 

 simultaneously, ' There he is — a jet-black head ! ' " We 

 think there is little doubt that the bird seen by Mr. Rudge 

 Harding was an example of Motacilla flava melanocephala. 



Wryneck in Cumberland. — An example of lynx torquilla 

 was killed against telegraph-wires near Drumburgh on June 

 27th, 1909 (D. L. Thorpe and L. E. Hope, Zool., 1910, p. 184). 

 During the time Dr. Heysham lived in Carlisle (1778-1834), 

 and up to about 1865, the bird was a regular summer- visitor 

 to Lakeland ; from then until 1892 it became a rare straggler 

 (c/. H. A. Macpherson, Fauna of Lakeland, p. 167). The 

 authors above quoted say that it has only been recorded 

 twice in Cumberland during the last fifty years. 



Short-eared Owl Nesting in Essex. — In 1896 Mr. E. A. 

 Fitcli recorded the nesting of the Short-eared Owl [Asio accipi- 

 trinus) in Essex (c/. Vol. I., p. 314). The same observer now 

 records (Zool., 1910, p. 270) the nesting of a pair in 1910 in a 

 marsh near Northey. Unfortunately eight out of the brood 

 of nine were killed by a mowing machine which cut into the 

 nest. 



Supposed occurrence of the Swallow- tailed Kite in 

 Surrey. — Mr. T. Parkin has discovered a specimen of Elanoides 

 furcatus at Guildford, which is said to have been shot some 

 years ago at Chiddingfold (Zool., 1910, p. 270), but the history 

 of the specimen is incomplete and unsatisfactory. 



Garganey on the Solway. — A male example of Quer- 

 quedula circia in eclipse-plumage is reported as shot " on 

 Solway," presumably on the Cumberland side, on August 

 14th, 1909 (D. L. Thorpe and L. E. Hope, Zool., 1910, p. 190). 

 The Garganey is a very rare bird on the Solway, and we believe 

 that Sir Richard Graham has during the last few years been 

 breeding this species at Netherby. It is possible therefore that 

 the specimen referred to was an escape. 



