214 BRITISH BIRDS. 



to Thanet, asking him to keep a look-out for the arrival of 

 migrant Jays, and if possible to procure me specimens. I 

 may add that our native Jay [G. g. rufitergum) is a scarce 

 species in that district. In due course he wrote me that 

 two had been seen to arrive and fly into Dumpton Park on 

 October 16th [1910], and that numbers were there on the 

 18th ; five that were shot there on the 17th and 18th he sent 

 to me, and later a sixth that lie had himself shot on the 19th 

 from a straggling flock of about thirty flying, high up, from 

 north to south. One of the birds shot on the 17th proved 

 to belong to the British race [G. g. rufitergum), and was pre- 

 sumably one of the few resident birds of the district ; all the 

 others belonged to the continental race {G. g. glandarius), 

 and were, by the greyer tint of their backs, easily separable 

 from the single bird sent with them and the other British 

 examples in my possession. 



Curiously enough, about the same time I had an opportunity 

 of examining a Jay that was shot at Northiam, in Sussex, 

 on October 16th, 1910, and this also belonged to the continental 

 race. 



Although there cannot be any doubt that the continental 

 Jay has occurred many times in England (Dr. Hartert states 

 that it occurs sporadically), I am not aware of any previously 

 published records of fully identified examples, so that perhaps 

 the publication of this note may draw others — which I hope 

 it may — for besides confirming the suspected occurrence 

 of this race in Kent (and Sussex), it emphasizes once more 

 the imjaortance of the study and recognition of geographical 

 races in connection with the study of migration. 



N. F. TiCEHURST. 



SUPPOSED EGG-DAUBING BY THE JACKDAW. 



With reference to Dr. Wiglesworth's article (supra, p. 176), 

 I took, some years ago, a clutch of Jackdaw's eggs from a hole 

 in a tree near Reading which were bedaubed with fresh, ivet 

 cow-dung. (It was a dry afternoon.) As far as I can recollect 

 all the eggs had been about equally treated. They were not 

 otherwise remarkable, and were not exposed to the view 

 of passing birds. H. M. Wallis. 



On May 3rd, 1901, when investigating the nests of a colony 

 of Jackdaws which inhabited the hollow limbs of a large 

 walnut tree in Kent, I discovered a nest, placed deeply in a 

 crevice, containing four eggs, all of which were completely 

 covered with a thin coating of argillaceous loam, interspersed 



