284. BRITISH BIRDS. [voL. XI. 
that Swallows (Hirundo r. rustica) in France nest commonly 
in trees in districts where the buildings have all been levelled. 
One poplar tree which was left standing by the Germans had 
at least a dozen nests in it, the lowest about ten feet from the 
ground. They also breed frequently in the dug-outs. House 
Martins (Delichon wu. urbica) were also present, but it is not 
definitely stated that they nest in trees. For notes on Swallows 
nesting in trees in England see British Birds, Vol. V, p. 143. 
KITE IN PERTHSHIRE.—Mr. P. Webster (Scottish Naturalist, 
1918, p. 21) states that “‘ during a recent holiday ” he noticed 
on three occasions at intervals of a day or so, a large bird 
of prey, with a deeply forked tail, obviously a Kite (Milvus 
milvus), being chased by Peregrines. As this was in the middle 
of the nesting-season we presume that it took place in May 
or June, 1917. The locality is given as the Loch Ard district. 
LETTER. 
ICELAND NOT GLAUCOUS GULL IN NORFOLK. 
To the Editors of BritisH Brrps, 
SIRs, 
My friend, Mr. Gurney, in his interesting Report (antea, p. 258), 
has, I see, given my name as a witness to the appearance of Glaucous 
Gulls on the Norfolk Coast, during the late spell of arctic weather. 
The bird which I was privileged to watch closely for three or four 
days in succession, on the beach at Sheringham, and duly reported 
to him, was, unless I am entirely mistaken, a rarer visitor. The body 
was much smaller and the wings proportionally much longer than 
those of the Glaucous Gull. The general colour of the bird was a dull 
white. The neck and shoulders were less clean-looking than the rest 
of the body, but, though I looked for it, I could not trace anything like 
a defined mantle. As there were no brown mottlings visible, the 
bird was presumably adult. As it was commonly either in company 
with, or not far from, Herring-Gulls and Lesser Black-Backs I had 
every tacility for estimating its comparative size. 
Iam well aware that the visits of the Iceland Gull are so few 
and far between that any story of its supposed appearance is to be 
received with caution. 
Mr. Gurney, in his list of Norfolk birds, contributed to Mason’s 
History of the County, writes : ‘* Mr. Stevenson and I, after numerous 
enquiries, can only certify one undoubted specimen ’’—a young female 
snot at Caister in November, 1874. But I am as satisfied as, without 
actually handling, it is possible to be, that the Sheringham bird was 
an Iceland Gull (Larus leucopterus), and could have been nothing else. 
Mr. Upcher—than whom few in England have a better know- 
ledge of the northern Gulls—was with me on one occasion; and I 
think I may venture to take upon myself to say that he was as satisfied 
as I that the apparently tired, white-winged Gull that we watched 
together at a distance, at times, of less than a stone’s-throw—whatever 
else it may have been, was not a Glaucous, and as the legs and feet were 
not black, the bird could not have been an Ivory Gull. 
T. Diesy Picorv. . 
THE LODGE, SHERINGHAM. 
5th April, 1918. 
