84 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xm. 



longed struggle took place for possession between a Wryneck 

 and a Great Titmouse (P. m. newtoni). After nearly a fort- 

 night the Wryneck remained the victor. N. F. Ticehurst. 



UNUSUAL NESTING SITE OF A KESTREL. 



BowDEN House School, Seaford, Sussex, stands thirty feet 

 from a road leading to the Downs. On the side facing the 

 road, a short pipe leads the rain water from the roof into a 

 funnel, about a foot in diameter, and thence the water runs 

 to the ground, forty feet below. In this funnel a Kestrel {Falco 

 t. tinnunculus) is breeding. The nesting-place is only four 

 feet from the v.dndow of an occupied bedroom. The whole 

 buildings are modern and contain over eighty boys and others. 

 The o.32in. of gentle rain which fell on June 20th caused 

 some commotion, but the birds have not deserted. The 

 tail of the sitting bird could be seen from the ground below, 

 and was first noticed on June loth, while young, several 

 days old, were observed on July loth. Incidentally House- 

 Sparrows have built in the " conduct pipe " above the 

 Kestrels' nest. J. F. Thomas. 



HOBBY IN SHROPSHIRE AND WORCESTERSHIRE. 



As recent records from Shropshire and Worcestershire are 

 scanty, it may be worth recording that a Hobby {Falco s. 

 subbiiteo) made its appearance in the Dowles Valley close 

 to the Manor House on the evening of June 4th, 191 9. Fre- 

 quently it circled around over the open land, but the greater 

 part of the time was spent toying around the adjoining 

 plantation, either gliding over the woodlands, rising and 

 falling with their contours, or passing in and out around 

 the larger tree tops of this hill slope. It eventually roosted 

 within the covert. A hurried attempt to construct what 

 I thought might have proved a suitable nest for it to 

 occupy in the top of one of the larger oak trees, did not 

 prove successful, as I have not seen this Falcon there since. 



J. Steele Elliott. 



KITE IN KENT IN 1822. 

 When at Hutton-in-the-Forest, near Penrith, on Janua.ry 4th, 

 1 917, I saw there a stuffed specimen of the Kite {Milvus 

 milvus) (male) labelled as " shot 26 Nov., 1822, by mconlight, 

 at Broome Park, Kent." Hugh S. Gladstone. 



[Though of course a winter record does not prove anything, 

 it is not unlikely that this bird is one of the native stock of 

 Kites: cf. History of the Birds of Kent, p. 281.— N.F.T.] 



