NOTES. 265 



10th May. On 9tli April, 1906, there was a nest with two 

 unspotted eggs and a similar one on the ground ; and in 1907 

 a deserted nest near the same place contained four blue and 

 unspotted, and one normal egg {A7in. S.N.H., 1907, p. 246). 



* * * 



Swifts returning to different Colonies at different 

 TIMES. — There are two old-established colonies of Swifts, 

 three miles apart, in a neighbourhood in Devonshire. In 

 1907 the migrants returned to one colony " exactly one week 

 before a single bird was seen at the other " (E. A. S. Elliot, 

 Trans. Devon. A. A. Science, etc., 1907, p. 79). This interest- 

 ing observation is corroborated by some of the facts collected 

 by the B.O.C. Migration Committee (c/. Bull. B.O.C., XVII., 

 p. 12), and suggests that migratory birds which breed in the 

 same neighbourhood do not necessarily winter in the same 



place. 



•^ -^^ ^ 



Melanistic variety of the Honey-Buzzard in Devon. — 

 In September, 1904, a melanistic variety of the Honey- 

 Buzzard {Pernis apivorus) was obtained on Dartmoor (E. A. 

 S. Elhot, Trans. Devon. A. A. Science, etc., 1907, p. 78). 



* * * 



liiTTLE Bittern in Inverness-shtre. — A Little Bittern 

 (Ardetta minuta) — a rare visitor to Scotland — was picked wp 

 near Inverness on June 9th, 1907 (cf. W. Milne, Ann. S.N.H., 

 1907, p. 248). 



* -Sf -Sf 



Lapwing Breeding in November. — An anonymous cor- 

 respondent writes to the "Field," 7th December, to record the 

 fact that on 30th November he was shown, " in Devonshire, 

 a Green Plover with chicks four or five days old, apparently 

 uninjured." 



BOOKS OF THE MONTH. 



Birds of Britain, by J. L. Bonhote, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



100 Coloured Plates. (A. & C. Black.) 20s. net. 

 The Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales, by H. E. Forrest. 28 Plates. 



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 The Home-Life of Some Marsh-Birds. Photographed and described by 



Emma L. tm-ner, F.L.S., and P. H. Bahr, B.A., M.B.O.U. 32 



Plates. (Witherby.) Art linen, 2s. 6d. net, cloth boards, .3s. net. 

 Adventures in Bird-Land, by Oliver G. Pike. Illustrated. (R. T. S.) 



6s. net. 

 A Monoqraph of the Petrels (Order Tubinares), bvF. Du Cane Godman, 



D.C.L., F.R.S. Part I. Plates 1 — 19. (Witherby.) £2 5s. per part. 

 Cfilbert White of Selborne, by W. H. Mullens. M.A., LL.M. 7 Plates. 



(Witherby.) 2s. 6d. net. 

 Birds of the Loch and Mountain, by S. P. Gordon. Illustrated. 



(Cassell.) 7s. fid. net. 



