NOTES. ISO' 



I left home on the 20th July, and dkl not return till the-. 

 17th August. A few days after this I saw the tenant again, 

 and he informed me that one of his men had picked uji two 

 young birds not knowing what they were, but had set them fi-ee 

 again. From the description given to me there is no doubt they 

 were young Redshanks. Moreover, four birds of the same kind 

 (subsequent to the discovery of these young ones) were 

 frequently seen on the wing together. Three of them after- 

 wards disappeared, but the fourth stayed a little longer, thouoh 

 it had gone prior to the 17th August. 



Is it not a most remarkable thing for Redshanks to be found 

 staying and breeding so far inland, one may say in the central 

 county of England ? The time of their breeding, too, appears to 

 be unusually late. Perhaps the sewage had some sj^ecial 

 attraction. I may add that Snipe breed regularly on the ground 

 in question, and that in the spring of 1903 a pair of G-olden 

 Plover stayed there for some time, and were seen as late as the 

 13th of May in that year. A. H. Etches. 



[The Redshank has during the last few years been recorded 

 as breeding in many inland counties for the first time. In 

 Rutland, since 1893, when it first nested, it has increased as a 

 breeding species (C. R. Haines, Birds of Rutland, p. 148). In 

 Hertfordshire it was first found breeding in 1905 {Trans. Herts. 

 Nat. Hist. Soc. Vol. XIII., p. 60). As regards the Midlands, the 

 Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain very kindly supplies us with the follow- 

 ing information : " Dm-ing the last thirty-five years the 

 Redshank has established itself as a breeding species in the 

 Trent Valley. About 1896 it began to breed near Sudbury, in the 

 Dove Valley, and in 1901 near JMorbury. In 1902 I recorded 

 it from north-east Derbyshire for the first time ( Vict. Hist, of 

 Derby, I., p. 146). In Staffordshire I recorded it as breeding 

 from Uttoxeter for the first time in 1902 (Report N. Stafs. Fidd 

 Club, 1902-3, p. 65), and soon afterwards it was recorded from 

 Kings Bromley. In 1905 it was reported as nesting near 

 Stafford, Whichnor, Rugelev, Kings Bromley, and Colwich, 

 (Rep. N. Staffs. Field Club, 1905-6, p. 47), so that it is now 

 well distributed in Staffordshire as a breeding species. It may 

 possibly have bred in Bucks, near Olney, but this has never 

 been proved, nor has it yet, I think, been recorded as breedino-^ 

 m Worcester. In Bedfordshire, however, it bred in 1896-9, but 

 not since (J. Steele Elliot, Vict. Hist, of Beds., I., p. 132). It 

 has increased in numbers and has extended its breeding range- 

 in Nottinghamshire of late years (J. Whitaker, Birds of Notts.,. 

 p. 273-4). Mr. 0. V. Aplin found two pairs nesting in Oxford- 

 shire in 1905 (Zool., 1907, p. 324). It has not previously, I 

 think, been recorded as breeding in Warwickshire." — Eds.] " 



