68 The Oologists' Record, September 1, 1923. 



" waders. The four eggs, greenish in ground colour, were much 

 " blotched with umber at the larger end, like those of a Snipe. 

 " The nest was so narrow and so deep that, as they lay, they were 

 " tilted almost vertically, with their apexes pointing downwards, 

 " and the blunt mottled ends uppermost, flush with the surround- 

 " ing brown tundra. In measurement they average 35*1 X 25-1 

 " millimetres. Compared with those taken by Mr. Popham, mj^ 

 " eggs are less distinctly marked, and the blotches are more blurred 

 " and confluent. 



" The discovery of this nest so close to Golchika encouraged 

 " me to search the country further, and, although I found no more 

 " eggs, T was fortunate enough to seciire specimens of the young 

 " in down, as will be told in a future chapter, and also had the 

 " opportunity of observing the bird's behaviour throughout the 

 " summer. 



" As the result of these observations, I came to the conclusion 

 " that this nest was not in a very typical position. Judging by 

 " other breeding-grounds that I located later on, I should say that 

 " characteristic Curlew Sandpiper ground was the slope of the 

 " dry, open tundra, especially where the reindeer moss was more 

 " or less broken up by tufts of grass, and where the bird could 

 " have an uninterrupted view of the surrounding country." 



DOUBLE BROOD OF REED WARBLER. 



Towards the end of May, 1922, I found a Reed Warbler's nest 

 containing four eggs. A Cuckoo deposited her egg in this nest 

 removing a Reed Warbler's egg at the same time. I removed 

 the Cuckoo's egg, leaving the three remaining Reed Warbler's 

 eggs to hatch. Two eggs proved to be unfertile, but one youngster 

 was duly hatched and reared. The same pair of birds produced 

 two further eggs in the same nest which contained the two addled 

 eggs, and successfully hatched and reared the young from this 

 later laying. This is the first occasion of which I have known a 

 Reed Warbler to have a second brood after successfully rearing 

 the first. It is a common thing for a Reed Warbler to rebuild 

 after having had a first nest destroyed, the second nest being 

 built with the material from the first nest and usually but a few 

 feet away from the destroyed nest. In this case no second nest 

 was built, the birds using the first nest for the two broods. 



Geo. J. ScHOLEY. 



Harrison & Sons, Ltd., Primers in Ordinary to His Majesty, St, Martin's L»ne, W.C. 3. 



