136 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiii. 



movement through the district, and that these birds seen 

 towards the end of August are on migration, and are not 

 members of the regular breeding stock. A. Astley. 



ON THE BREEDING OF THE LESSER REDPOLL IN 

 GLAMORGANSHIRE. 



As a breeding species the Lesser Redpoll {Carduelis I. 

 cabaret) is by no means common in southern Glamorganshire, 

 in fact I look upon it as rather scarce, although in winter small 

 parties are constantly to be seen. 



On May 14th, 1910, I was fortunate enough to discover 

 a nest practically completed and ready for eggs, in a fork of 

 a small alder about ten feet from the ground. On visiting it 

 on May 19th, there were four eggs, the fifth and last being 

 laid on the 20th. All the young were hatched out on May 

 30th, and they left the nest on June nth. Sitting did not 

 actually commence until the full clutch was laid. This 

 gives an incubation period of ten days, and a fledging period 

 of twelve. 



It is interesting to note that on June 13th, within 100 yards 

 of the nesting place, I observed a female busily engaged in 

 pulling off fluff from the cloth coverings of some small fish- 

 rearing ponds. I was not able to find any other nest, but 

 have no doubt in my own mind that this pair of birds raised 

 a second brood, as there were certainly no other Redpolls 

 in the district. Geoffrey C. S. Lxgeam. 



WILD HYBRID BETWEEN HOUSE-SPARROW AND 

 TREE-SPARROW. 



In May 1918 I received a Sparrow killed at Fordham, 

 near Colchester, Essex, on May ist, 1918. It appeared to 

 me to be a hybrid between a House-Sparrow {Passer d. domes- 

 ticus) and a Tree-Sparrow (P. montaniis). Dr. Hartert has 

 kindly examined it for me, and he writes me : " The Sparrow 

 you sent me cannot be anythmg else but a hybrid between 

 the House- and Tree-Sparrow. It has nearly all the charac- 

 teristics of a Tree-Sparrow, but is larger, especially the bill 

 is much bigger. The black on the throat is more extended 

 than in the Tree-Sparrow, although a little less than in the 

 House-Sparrow, and the chestnut of the crown is darker, 

 more really chestnut. It is an interesting bird." I see M. 

 Suchetet records only three examples in a wild state in his 

 book Oiseanx Hyhrides a. I'etat sauvage. J. B. Nichols. 



