NOTES. 93 



appears that towards the time of moulting the cilia become worn 

 away and the feathers lose much of their "bleating" power. 

 Mr. Bahr gives June 25th as a late date to hear the " drum- 

 ming," but I may mention that I have just heard and watched 

 Snipe "bleating" to-day (July 7th) in Hampshire. 



In the Jack Snipe {Galliuago gallinula) the outer tail-feathers 

 have not this specialized structure, and the author, failing to 

 reproduce the sound, suspects that its production must be 

 accounted for by some other mechanism. 



![Sf either do the feathers of the Great Snipe (GalUnago major) 

 produce any sound, and here, too, the rami are soft and easily 

 separable, and the sound produced by the bird, which is of a 

 " snapping" nature, seems to be vocal. 



In other Snipe, in which the " bleat" is of varying intensity 

 and pitch, some of the tail-feathers seem to be responsible foV 

 the sound. H.F.W. 



"FOUE BIRDS IN A LONG-TAILED TIT'S NEST." 



With further reference to this subject [antea, page 62), 

 though Mr. Lechner's arg-ument appears reasonable it is 

 not absolute proof, as the two extra birds may not have 

 been parents. 



Last year, for instance, I saw Hedge Sparrows feeding 

 young Thrushes, and this season a Hedge Sparrow was 

 helping a Chiffchaff to feed its young ones. 



Chas. E. Pearson. 



[Other correspondents have given us iiistances of young 

 birds being fed by old ones other than their parents. 

 We have yet to obtain absolute proof that large clutches 

 of Long-tailed Tits' eggs are produced by more than one 

 hen. — Eds.] 



MIGRATING BIRDS RETURNING TO THE SAME 

 PLACE. 



With reference to Mr. V. Wilson's note on this subject, I may 

 say that last year I had a curious and perhaps unique clutch of 

 three Cuckoos' eggs in a Meadow Pipit's nest (see "Zoologist," 

 1906, p. 276), which were evidently the produce of threp 

 different Cuckoos. This year, in the same locality. Cuckoos' 

 eggs of the same three types have been found in Meadow Pipits' 

 nests, which I have no doubt at all were laid by the same birds. 

 Hereabouts the Sedge- Warbler is the favourite foster-parent, 

 and in each of the years 1895, 1896, and 1897 I found, within 



