252 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



and 221-2). Mr. Masefield also informs us that the nest 

 was on the Staffordshire side of the river Dove. The details 

 given (loc. cit.) from information supplied by Mr. E. 

 Grindey are as follows : — The nest was in a small fir about 

 16 feet from the ground. Mr. Grindey watched one of the 

 birds fly from the nest on May 23rd, 1915. On a second 

 visit he repeatedly saw both birds and satisfied himself that 

 they were both Hooded Crows. He also saw the young after 

 they left the nest. Mr. Grindey shot a Hooded Crow in the 

 breeding season some years ago near the Dale, and is inclined 

 to think that this is not the first time they have bred. 



The Hooded Crow has been recorded as breeding from time 

 to time in several of the eastern coastal counties of England. 

 In most of these cases one of the pair was a Hooded and the 

 other a Carrion-Crow, but in a few instances both birds were 

 Hooded Crows. Hitherto, so far as we know, there was only 

 one fully substantiated case of breeding in England outside 

 these limits, viz., in Warwickshire in 1883, both birds being 

 Hooded Crows {Zool., 1883, pp. 337, 423). In Wales it has 

 been recorded as breeding with the Carrion-Crow in 

 Merionethshire and Breconshire. 



Late Stay of Yellow Wagtail. — Mr. J. Steele Elliott 

 states (Zool., 1916, p. 467) that he saw a Motacilla f. rayi on 

 November 11th, 1916, at Newnham, Bedfordshire. 



LETTER. 



HABITS OF RED-BACKED SHRIKES. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — I have read INIr. Owen's most interesting and accurate 

 account of the nesting-habits of the Red-backed Shrike in the January 

 number of British Birds (antea, pp. 175-180). I have noticed one or 

 two pecuharities which he has not mentioned, viz., that the young 

 brood when satisfied with food, which is, by the bye, not a very usual 

 occurrence, will warble and sing while in the nest, as soon as they 

 are feathered, you can see their backs heave and throats move. The 

 song is almost the same as that of the old bird. The young of the 

 Grey Shrikes behave in the same maimer. 



Again, when the young first leave the nest; which they do when 

 barely able to fly at all, they will at once try and hitch any large 

 morsel on to a thorn or wedge it between two twigs. 



E. G. B. Meade-Waldo. 

 Stonkwall Park, Kent, February 3rrf, 1917. 



