NOTES. 117 



it may interest your readers to know that in Cage Birds of 

 July 14th, 1910, Dr. A. G. Butler records a case of hybridism 

 between this species and a Blackbird {T. merula) at Beckenliam 

 in Kent. On writing to Dr. Butler for further particulars 

 he tells me that the Ring-Ouzel was the hen. The first nest 

 was built some seven or eight feet from the ground, and five 

 young (two cocks and three hens apparently) were reared. A 

 second nest was built in a Dorothy Perkins rambler in June, 1910, 

 and by the 6th July two young birds had left the nest. At 

 this date the young of the first brood were still about the 

 garden, and Dr. Butler describes their plumage as follows : — 

 " One male bird had three white spots on each side of the lower 

 throat, the chin and throat otherwise buff, and the breast 

 still more or less spotted ; the mantle showed strong indica- 

 tions of ashy edging to the feathers, giving a laced character 

 to the plumage. The second male had no decided white 

 on the lower throat, but a narrow crescent paler than the chin 

 and upper throat. In the females the chin and throat were 

 pale buff. Of course, as with all young Thrushes, the breast 

 was more or less spotted." It is most unfortunate that Dr. 

 Butler did not procure one of these most interesting birds. 

 The Ring-Ouzel, according to Dr. Ticehurst, has only been 

 known to nest in the county on three occasions, although it 

 occurs regularly on migration, and has once been recorded 

 as staying so late as June 21st. It may be noted that wild 

 hybrids are most likely to occur when one of the species is 

 on the edge of its breeding-range, and is therefore unable to 

 find a mate of its own kind. Paget's Pochard, the hybrid 

 between the White-eyed Duck and Pochard, has generally 

 been taken under such conditions. J. Lewis Bonhote. 



ROCK-THRUSH IN ORKNEY. 



Mr. W. Eagle Clarke records in the Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History (1910, pp. 148-9) the occurrence of an adult 

 male of the Rock-Thrush {Monticola saxatilis) at the Pentland 

 Skerries lighthouse on May 17th, 1910. There is only one 

 previous authentic record of this species in the British Isles, 

 namely, the one shot on May 19th, 1843, in Hertfordshire. 

 Probably both these occurrences were due to the birds getting 

 out of their course during their spring-migration. 



H. F. W. 



UNUSUAL NESTING-SITES FOR THE GOLDCREST. 



The photograph on p. 46 of the current volume of British 

 Birds suggests nothing unusual to me, though I have no 

 doubt that in other parts of the country the site chosen may 



