VOL. X.] NOTES. 247 



SAND-MARTINS NESTING IN DRAINPIPES. 



With reference to the note on this subject {antea, pp. 167 and 

 226), as far as my experience goes it is not such an unusual 

 thing for Sand-Martins {Riparia r. riparia) to nest in drain- 

 pipes, at least in my part of Somerset. Three such situations 

 exist on the main road leading from Wells to Shepton Mallet, 

 the birds occupying the drain-pipes leading from the road 

 to the river Sheppey. Sand-banks are unknown in this 

 locality. 



A more unusual place is that taken up by a small colony 

 of Sand-Martins on the Wells sewage-farm at Burcott, where 

 the nesting holes are bored in a huge heap of rubbish, the 

 refuse from the streets of Wells. Last season many broods 

 were successfully reared, despite the hundreds of rats infesting 

 the place. Another favoured site here is a hole in an old 

 wall ; hundreds of birds also annually resort to the jjeat 

 cuttings of central Somerset for breeding purposes. 



Stanley Lewis 



j^It may be noted here that the heaps of sawdust near 

 Brandon in which Sand-Martins are mentioned as breeding 

 in Yarrell (4th ed., Vol. II.. p. 35S), were still being used by 

 these birds in 1S98.— N.F.T.J 



KINGFISHER SWALLOWING A FROG. 



I HAD no idea that Kingftshers {Alcedo i. ispida) ate frogs, 

 but Mr. Topp, taxidermist of Reading, very kindly sends me 

 the following particulars — '" The other day a Kingfisher was 

 sent in from Theale and I found on opening the bird a large 

 frog, it must have killed it, I cannot think how he could have 

 swallowed such a large one, the hind leg of the frog was 

 2| in. long." Heatley Noble. 



LATE STAY OF CUCKOO. 



Referring to the record of a Cuckoo seen on December 1st, 

 1916, near Swindon {antea, p. 186) and the editorial note 

 to it, in which it is stated that this is believed to be the latest 

 date hitherto recorded for the British Isles, may I direct 

 attention to pp. 239-240 of my Birds of Northumberland and 

 the Eastern Borders, in which I referred to a Cuckoo seen near 

 his vicarage at Charlton, Northumberland, by the Rev. W. 

 J. Meggison on February 4th, 1877, and again next day, and 

 yet again in the second week in March I Mention is therein 

 also made of two young Cuckoos picked up in an exhausted 

 condition by Mr. Calvert Chrisp, in his garden at Hawkhill, 

 in November, 1876 (exact date not preserved) ; he took theui 



