220 BRITISH BIKDS. [vol. xiii. 



20th, 1919, I was very much puzzled by the conduct of a 

 Wood-Pigeon {Columba p. pahinibus) which I put off its nest in 

 the centre of a tall belt of hazel bushes. The bird fluttered 

 down to the ground, and then flapped along very awkwardly 

 among the stems of the bushes. On emerging into the open, 

 it fluttered along very slowly just above the ground for a 

 considerable distance. Thinking it was wounded I pursued 

 it, but soon realized that it was really unharmed. I was 

 entirely at a loss to explain its behaviour, and thought it 

 must have been due to stiffness and. to being hampered by 

 the bushes. But now that I have read Mr. Booth's letter, 

 I am convinced that it was trying to decoy me away from 

 the nest in exactly the same way as a Partridge does. 



H. J. Vaughan. 



LITTLE STINT IN SURREY. 



On July 22nd, 1919, I noticed a Little Stint {E. m. minuta) 

 at Frensham Pond in the south-west of Surrey. I had the 

 bird under frequent observation for about two hours. It 

 returned repeatedly to a particular stretch of sandy shore 

 close to the margin of the lake, and was by no means shy, 

 allowing me on several occasions to approach to within seven 

 or eight yards without taking alarm. The Stint was in the 

 company of a Dunlin during the greater part of the time I 

 had it in view, but once when the latter bird flew away to some 

 distance on being disturbed, the Stint for a short time joined 

 two Common Sandpipers, but very shortly returned to the 

 Dunlin. Howard Bentham. 



SHELLED EGG IN PARTRIDGE OF THE YEAR. 



A FRIEND sent me from Long Melford, Suffolk, on November 

 17th, 1919, the head and legs of a Partridge {Perdix p. perdix) 

 which he had shot at Shumpling Hall on November ist. 

 When the bird was prepared for cooking it was found to 

 contain a fully shelled egg, the broken pieces of which were 

 also sent to me. 



The tarsi were yellowish-green and finely and closely 

 scaled and the bill and head were not so heavy in development 

 as in an old bird. My friend has had thirty years' experience 

 of Partridge shooting and he considered the bird a young 

 one, with which I agree as does Mr. R. C. Banks, to whom 

 I showed the head and legs. This seems an extraordinary 

 case of precociousness, and so far as I know, unprecedented 

 in the case of the Partridge. Allen Silver. 



