PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 439 



Orkneys and Shetlands. It is not uncommon in Somerset and the Isle of Man, 

 and has been found breeding occasionally in several counties of the great English 

 plain Kent, Sussex, Dorset, Herts, Bucks, Oxon, Norfolk, and Lincoln. In Ireland 

 it nests in almost every county, but is rare in the south-east. Outside the British 

 Isles it breeds on the Continent up to Northern Scandinavia, the Murman coast, 

 lat. 66| in the Kanin Peninsula, and the Arctic Circle on the river Petschora. From 

 here it is found on mountain streams in hilly districts south to Spain and Portugal, 

 Italy, possibly in Sardinia, the mountain ranges of Turkey and Greece, the Caucasus, 

 and apparently in the Canaries. In Northern Africa it is said to breed in Tunisia, 

 and perhaps also in Algeria ; while in Asia it is found south of the Arctic Circle 

 and east to the Lena, Manchuria, South-east Mongolia, and Japan. To the south 

 its breeding range includes the mountain systems of Persia, Baluchistan, and 

 Kashmir. Its winter range is very extensive ; in Africa it has been recorded 

 from Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and 

 on the mainland south to Cape Colony ; throughout Southern Asia to Ceylon and 

 the Malay Peninsula, and not only in the islands of Malaysia, but also to Australia 

 and Tasmania in the Australasian region. [F. c. E. J.] 



3. Migration. A summer visitor, arriving in April, especially during the 

 latter part of the month. Immigration into England is said to take place first and 

 chiefly on the western half of the south coast (cf. B. O. C. Migration Reports). 

 Towards the end of July old and young leave their inland haunts for the estuaries, 

 and during August a gradual decrease takes place until most of the birds have left 

 us by the end of September. A few examples may be recorded later in the autumn 

 or even in the winter months. In the south-eastern part of England, where the 

 species is scarce as a breeding bird, it is mainly known on passage. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The usual breeding-place is somewhere in the vicinity 

 of a rapidly running stream, sometimes among the shingle on islets in midstream, 

 often sheltered by the broad leaves of the butter-bur, or within a few yards of 

 the bank of the stream or loch, frequently among undergrowth in woods or in a 

 niche in a bank, sometimes on a rocky shelf, but oftenest in mowing grass. Excep- 

 tionally it has been known to nest in a pollarded willow, in a rabbit-scrape, on a 

 ruinous shed, and in an old blackbird's nest, while it has been found breeding on 

 several occasions in cornfields, and even in gardens, under bushes, or on strawberry 

 beds. (PI. LVI.) The share of the sexes in building seems not to have been recorded. 

 The eggs are normally four in number, pyriform in shape, and placed with pointed 

 ends converging in the nest hollow, which is neatly lined with dry grasses, bits of 



