VOL. VII.] NOTES. 347 



usually occurring (when it occurs at all) between the second 

 and third, or third and fourth. That eyasses of any ejTie 

 are of different sizes, even at a verj^ tender age, simply takes 

 origin from the fact that female Peregrines — almost from the 

 hour of hatching — are universally larger than the males, 

 as (but this, of course, is ^^ell known) is invariably the case 

 with the adults. Even in the case of incubation starting 

 and continuing with the first and succeeding eggs laid, all 

 but the last — we will suppose — holding males, then the 

 " falcon " eyass, although hatched several days after the 

 tiercels, would still soon outgrow them. Male Peregrines 

 certainly preponderate : this is proved from female eyasses 

 being in the minority, as well as from the fact that more 

 unmated adult tiercels are met ^^-ith than falcons. It ^^•ould 

 be interesting to know if the biggest eggs produce females. 

 This I mean to find out some clay. J. Walpole-Boxd. 



SPOONBILL IN CHESHIRE. 



Mr. John A. Dockeay informs me that a Spoonbill {Platalea I. 

 leucorodia) was shot on November 16tli, 1913, on Burton 

 Marsh, on the east side of the Dee Estuary, partly in the 

 county of Cheshire and partly in Flintshire. He has sent 

 me a photograph of the bird taken soon after it was shot : 

 it is a fine specimen, but rather damaged about the head 

 and neck. Messrs. Coward and Oldham, in their work on 

 the Fauna of Cheshire, Vol. I., p. 310, only refer to two or 

 possibly three records from the county- — one on Tatton 

 Mere about the middle of the last century, and one on the 

 Dee Marshes near Burton (the same localit}^ as the present 

 specimen), of which the date is variously given as 1859 and 

 1864. Mr. H. E. Forrest {Fauna of N. Wales, p. 261) also 

 refers to the latter records. F. C. R. Jourdain. 



SMEW INLAND NEAR EDINBURGH. 



An adult male Smew {Mergus alhellus) in perfect plumage 

 appeared on Duddingston Loch on March 20th, 1914, and 

 has been there for a considerable time each day until to-daj', 

 the 29tli. It has done all its feeding m shallow water within 

 an area of about twenty square yards. It has rested mostl}^ 

 on a stone standmg in the water, and sometimes on a nest 

 that a Coot is busy building. This is the first Smew that 

 I have seen on the loch during a residence of eleven years. 

 The loch is within the city boundaries and near HoljTood 

 Palace. William Serle. 



