198 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol xiii. 



Firth. I send you a wing to corroborate my identification 

 of the bird. J. Rudge Harding. 



Black Redstart in Somersetshire. — Mr. L. Harrison 

 Mathews informs us that at the end of January 1919 he had 

 under observation for a week or more a Black Redstart 

 {Phcenicurus 0. gibraltariensis) near Bristol. On February 

 2nd the bird came to an untimely end, and proved to be an 

 immature male. Although the species is an annual visitor 

 to the south coast, there do not seem to be many records in 

 the neighbourhood of the Bristol Channel. 



Distribution and Food of Little Owl. — Among a large 

 number of letters to the Field on the subject of the Little 

 Owl [Athene n. nocHia), we may note that Mr. J. E. Knights 

 states that one was taken and another seen a few miles west 

 of the Tamar in Cornwall (November ist, 1919, p. 603). Mr. 

 L. R. W. Loyd. who reported a Little Owl from south Devon 

 [antea, p. 164), writes us that it now appears that there was 

 a pair in the neighbourhood. Mr. R. C. Banks writes that a 

 pair attempted to nest in the summer of 1919 near Newport, 

 Monmouthshire, in which county he had previously recorded 

 the occurrence of the bird (Vol. XIL, pp. 162 and 210) . Readers 

 are reminded that Mr. W. R. Lysaght recorded the breeding 

 of this species " for four years past " in Monmouth {t.c, 



P- 237)- 



Four correspondents to the Field state that the bird is 



destructive to the young of game-birds, while others mention 



the following, taken as food : field-mice, House-Sparrow, 



Blackbird, Song-Thrush, Starling, beetles, grasshoppers, 



crane-flies, earthworms and blind-worm. 



Great Snipe in Caithness and Lanarkshire. — Mr. H. 

 Crum Ewing sent the Editor of the Field a Gallinago media 

 which had been shot on September 12th, 1919, on the Rattar 

 estate, Caithness {Field, September 27th, 1919, p. 442). Mr. 

 J. Wormald reports the occurrence of a bird of the same 

 species at Allershaw, Elvanfoot, Lanarkshire, on September 

 loth. This bird was identified by Mr. Hugh Wormald {t.c, 

 p. 490). Mr. T. R. Glyn also records an occurrence, but gives 

 no details of the bird, near Barnard Castle, Durham, on July 

 31st {t.c, p. 242), a very early date, and this reported occur- 

 rence requires confirmation before it can be accepted. 



Quail in Cheshire. — Mr. J. A. Dockray informs us that 

 on September 24th, 1919, he shot a Quail {Coturnix c coturnix) 

 from a bevy of four (nine had been seen previously) at Heswall. 



