NOTES. 313 



England, but in the Midlands mostly towards the end of May, 

 and in the Shetlands and S. Kildanot till the third week in June. 

 Yet Mr. J. W. Fawcett, writing in the Naturalist for 1890 

 (p. 353), states that in Durham the nesting-season begins at 

 the end of February or in March, if the weather be favourable ; 

 but if backward, not till the end of March or the beginning of 

 April ! In all probability nest-building is carried on at 

 these periods, but the eggs are not laid till considerably 

 later. The period during which the nest remains empty ap- 

 pears to be very variable (from two to six weeks in the cases 

 quoted by Mr. Riviere), and further observations on this point 

 would be useful, as well as with regard to the question as to 

 whether the light-coloured egg is always the last to be laid. 

 Mr. Riviere is, however, not the first to make this assertion, 

 for the late Dr. Rey states in his work on the Eggs of Middle- 

 European Birds that the light-coloured eggs of both Tree and 

 House-Sparrow are without exception the last laid eggs in 

 the clutch (p. 305 and 308).— F.C.R.J.] 



HOODED CROWS IN CARNARVONSHIRE. 



Since the visitations of the Hooded Crow [Corvus comix) not 

 only to Carnarvonshire but also to the other most northerly 

 counties in Wales are so exceptional, the fact that a pair were 

 seen on December 31st, 1910, on the Carnarvonshire side of 

 the Rhos-on-Sea golf-links (through Mhich the county boundary 

 runs) will doubtless prove of interest to many ornithologists. 

 They were observed by Mr. T. A. Goodfellow, of Gloddaeth, 

 for the accuracy of whose identification I can vouch. On 

 January 7th, 1911, he saw a single "hoodie" at the same 

 place, but he prefers to think that it was one of the pair which 

 were seen just a week earlier. R. W. Jones. 



EGGS OF THE CUCKOO. 



In Vol. 2 p. 424) I gave some notes on Cuckoos' eggs found 

 in 1908. 



On June 14th, 1909, I visited the locahty in Surrey where I 

 found the eggs numbered 2 and 5, and again discovered a 

 Cuckoo's egg in the nest of a Tree-Pipit the exact counterpart 

 of Nos. 2 and 5 ; and as the eggs are of a type not commonly 

 seen, I think it fair to assume that the same bird visited the 

 locality again in 1909. 



In the New Forest, Hampshire, on June 7th, 1909, I found 

 a Tree-Pipit's nest containing three eggs of the red-spotted 

 form and a Cuckoo's egg. I removed the latter and one of the 

 former, and on returning to the place later in the day found 

 the Tree-Pipit still on the nest. On visiting the nest the next 



