VOL. xm.] NOTES. 81 



There was no difference in the type of egg, so I cannot say 

 whether this large clutch was the result of two birds laying 

 in the same nest or not. Subsequently on May 29th I ringed 

 six young birds from this nest, two of the eggs proving infertile. 



A. Mayall. 

 Dr. a. H. Foster, of Hitchin, Herts., recently sent to me 

 for examination a clutch of seven eggs taken from the nest 

 of a Chaffinch {Fringilla c. ccelebs) near Hitchin, Herts., in 

 June 1918. Of these six were normal in appearance and all 

 were much of the same type. The seventh egg was decidedly 

 larger, measuring 20.5x16 mm., with a pale blue ground 

 and a few fine brown spots and streaks at the big end. 



As this egg might possibly have been that of a Cuckoo 

 {Cuculus c. canonis) I had it carefully weighed and found it 

 to be exactly 153 mg. in weight, while the average weight of 

 five of the Chaffinch's eggs from the same clutch was 123 mg. 

 As the average weight of a Cuckoo's egg is 231 mg., and the 

 lightest of over 700 eggs weighs 165 mg., we may infer with 

 certainty that the egg is not that of a Cuckoo, but most 

 probably that of the Chaffinch. 



In this case we have a clutch of seven eggs. The ordinary 

 set in this species ver)' seldom exceeds five. Sets of six 

 may be found in many collections, but few collectors have 

 met with this number personally more than once or twice 

 in the course of their nesting career. F. C. R. Jourdain. 



GREY WAGTAILS NESTING AT A DISTANCE FROM 



WATER. 



It is seldom that the Grey Wagtail [Motacilla c. cinerea) 

 nests out of sight, or any distance away from a stream, as 

 recorded by your correspondent {antea, p. 56), although I 

 have known a nest in the rock face of the railway cutting 

 through the Wyre Forest, some 250 yards from water. This 

 year a pair chcse to nest in a hole in the back wall of my 

 stable, some fifty yards from the stream and on the opposite 

 side of the building. This nesting site had been previously 

 occupied by a pair of Blackbirds, whose nest the Grey Wag- 

 tails adapted to their own requirements by merely re-lining 

 it. J. Steele Elliott. 



PIED FLYCATCHER IN SUFFOLK IN SPRING. 



There are only scattered records of the Pied Flycatcher 

 (M. h. hypoleuca) in Suffolk in spring. Babington {Cat. 

 of the Birds of Suffolk) mentions six occurrences in April 



