nOTES 



PARROT-CROSSBILL IN NORFOLK. 



As well identified examjales of the Parrot-Crossbill {Loxia 

 pytyopsittacus) seem to be very few in number, I think it 

 important to record the following midoubted sjieciraen from 

 Norfolk. 



Mr. Pashley, of Clej^, told mo. that a bird he believed to be 

 the Parrot -Crossbill was taken by a gamekeeper named 

 John Forsdick, at Langham, a few miles inland, in September 

 1907. The specimen was lost sight of imtil the other day, 

 when Pashley fomid the head only, the bird having been so 

 knocked about when shot, that it was not worth mounting. 

 The wing measurements were thus unfortimately lost, but 

 I submitted the skull to Mr. Witherby and Dr. Hartert, who 

 have both been kind enough to examine it with the utmost 

 care, and express the opinion that it is a true Parrot-Crossbill. 

 The bird was in red plumage, and api3arently an adult male. 



Clifford Borrer. 



EARLY NEST OF REED-WARBLER WITH 

 CUCKOO'S EGG. 

 Last year I recorded {British Birds, IX., p, 48) an early nest 

 of the Reed-Warbler at Tring Reservoirs, Hertfordshire. 

 This year, on May 14th, at the same place, Miss A. C. Jackson 

 and I foimd a nest containing four Reed- Warbler's eggs and 

 one Cuckoo's egg. This is a much earlier date than I have 

 ever known Reed- Warblers to have eggs here, and so therefore 

 is it for a Cuckoo's egg in a Reed-Warbler's nest. I have not 

 myself found one of our " Reed- Warbler Cuckoo's " eggs 

 before June 8th, but we have one taken by the keeper on 

 May 23rd, 1907, from a Sedge- Warbler's nest. For fifteen 

 years I have known this Cuckoo or these Cuckoos at the Tring 

 Reservoirs to lay in Reed- Warblers' nests, and I onl}^ know 

 of the one case of a Cuckoo's egg here in a Sedge- Warbler's 

 nest. I doubt if there is more than one female, because all 

 the eggs, of which I have altogether seen fifteen and of which 

 twelve are now in the Tring Mt;seum, are so much alike that 

 they might well be eggs of one female. It would be interesting 

 to know what the Cuckoo does this year with her other eggs, 

 as on May 14th there was no other Reed- Warbler's nest near, 

 and the Sedge -Warblers there were only beginning to lay, as 

 we found one nest with a single egg. If it is true, as has been 



