18 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vn. 



WHINCHAT WINTERING IN YORKSHIRE. 



I AM not aware whether the Whinchat {Saxicola ruhetra) has 

 been recorded as wintering so far north as Yorkshke. I saw 

 one at Ottringham, East YorksMre, on January 3rd, 1913. 



M. WlNZAE, COMPTON. 



EARLY BREEDING AND LARGE CLUTCH OF EGGS 

 OF BARN-OWL. 



A FRIEND of mine found two eggs in a nest of the Bam-Owl 

 {Tyto a. alha) at Bradfield, Berks, on March 25th, 1913, and 

 by March 30th four had been laid. I have kno\\'n this nest 

 since 1910, and in my experience the eggs were not laid till 

 the second week in May. In 1910, on June 10th, it contained 

 eight eggs and one young bird, an unusually large clutch. 



A. B. Fletcher. 



[Although many Barn-Owls do not lay till May, there are 

 a good many instances on record of breeding in April. The 

 only definite record of eggs in March with, which I am 

 acquainted is that mentioned in the Zoologist, 1867, p. 601, 

 where W. V. Legge describes finding two eggs in Essex on 

 March 24th, 1866. The normal clutch of this species is 

 about five or six, but instances of seven and eight are not 

 very rare. Mr. Hughes-Hughes has a clutch of nine eggs 

 from Cheshire, taken by the late W. Pumell, and another 

 set of nine eggs has been taken in Denmark {Orn. Monatsher. 

 1908, p. 39). Still higher numbers have been occasionally 

 met with. M. A. Mathew records a clutch of ten all fresh, 

 and W. Pumell took a set of ten at Hatherton, Cheshire, now 

 in the British Museum. The largest number of which I have 

 a note is eleven (J. Murton, Zoologist 1870, p. 2181), which 

 were found at Carnforth. In the Zoologist, 1913, p. 175, 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney after referring to three instances in which 

 Barn-Owls' nests have been found in Norfolk with seven 

 eggs or young, states that " the Barn-Owl generally laj's 

 more eggs than the Tawny Owl." This is rather a mild form 

 of stating a well-known fact, for while four is an exceptionally 

 small clutch for the Barn-Owl, and sets of five and six are 

 normal, the usual clutch of Ta\\Tiy Owls in this district is 

 only two or three in number. Sets of five are quite rare and 

 I have only notes of about a dozen instances altogether. — 



F. C. R. JOURDAIN.] 



MARSH-HARRIER IN CHESHIRE. 

 On May 4th, 1913, I saw a large raptorial bird which I was 

 unable then to identify, flying over Rostherne Mere, Cheshire. 



