BIRD NOTES 17 



contents at its leisure. Failing to smash it at the 

 first attempt, the bird would drop it from a yet 

 greater height until the desired end was attained. 

 The same thing obtains in open weather, the 

 bivalves being dropped upon the flint walls, and the 

 broken fragments discussed upon the grass-bare apex 

 of the " wall " above. In certain spots quite an 

 accumulation of broken shells is to be found in the 

 winter. 



Hooded Crows are seen in considerable numbers 

 on the "flats" when collecting for the northern 

 flight, at March-end. Hundreds, many of them 

 apparently paired, were seen there 31st March 1898. 

 The latest recorded were five, on llth May 1900. 

 Four were seemingly trying to persuade a drooping- 

 winged comrade to try and risk the journey. My 

 earliest record of returning birds is 22nd June 1896, 

 when I saw six on the marshes. 



SWIFTS 



It has always been a puzzle to me what becomes 

 of the annual increase of the Swift. From my 

 earliest remembrance some six pairs of these birds 

 have yearly made their nesting quarters in the eaves 



