VOL. XIV.] NOTES. 39 



below and hastily dropped back into the clover. What 

 particularly struck me was the exquisite grace of the whole 

 performance, quite unexpected from so comparatively clumsy 

 a bird. W. B. Nichols. 



CIRL BUNTING NESTING IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 



The nest of a Cirl Bunting {Emberiza cirlus) was found on 

 the outskirts of Melton Mowbray, on May 3rd, 1920. It con- 

 tained three eggs, a number never exceeded in my somewhat 

 limited experience in this country — half a dozen nests — though 

 according to " the books," four or five form the normal clutch. 

 But this, I make bold to think, is yet another myth, perpetu- 

 ated by systematic " cribbing " all down the ages. It was 

 quite by chance I was enabled to make this new record for 

 the county. The boy who found the nest showed acumen 

 beyond his years, so I had the eggs brought for my inspection. 

 A single glance was enough to show that my assumption 

 that they would prove Yellowhammer's, could no longer be 

 maintained. H. S. Davenport. 



[Mr. A. R. Horwood has recorded a nest and eggs of this 

 species from near Leicester in the Naturalists' Journal, 1896, 

 but we know of no other record. — Eds.] 



BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL IN NORTH LANCASHIRE. 



On May 19th, 1920, Major G. Haines saw, among the 

 Yellow Wagtails on his tennis lawn at Hay Carr, near 

 Lancaster, a fine male specimen of the Blue-headed Wagtail 

 {Motacilla flava). He had the bird under observation for 

 some time, and being within four yards of it, saw very plainly 

 the distinctive white chin and superciliary stripe. There is 

 no mention of the species in Mitchell's Birds of Lancashire, 

 and although it is a regular migrant to the coast of north 

 Wales, there is only one other record of the species for 

 Lancashire. H. W. Robinson. 



EARLY NESTING OF GREY WAGTAIL. 

 Ox April 24th, 1920, I found a Grey Wagtail's {Motacilla 

 c. cinerea) nest in Surrey containing five nearly fully-fledged 

 young, so that the first egg must have been deposited during 

 the closing days of March. 



A pair of Grey Wagtails have to my knowledge nested 

 in the same locality for the past seven years, but I have no 

 previous record of eggs having been laid before the second 

 or third week of April. Howard Bentham. 



[The date recorded by Mr. Bentham is quite exceptionally 



