VOL. XIV.] NOTES. 161 



The \'oung of the first nest flew on September 12th • the 

 second nest was harried by a pair of Jays ; and the young 

 of the thn-d nest flew on September 6th or 7th. All three 

 nests were built in thick clumps of sloe bushes, and were all 

 withm a radius of three hundred yards. It is impossible 

 to say whether these nests contained second or third broods • 

 but the date seems unusually late. A. Mayall'. 



CIRL BUNTING BREEDING IN NORTH-EAST BUCKS. 



Although the Cirl Bunting {Emberiza cirlus) is known to 

 breed m the Chiltern Hills district, as stated in Hartert and 

 Jourdam's Birds of Buckinghamshire and the Tring Reservoirs 

 p. 181, there seem to be no nesting records from the north-east 

 of the county. In 1920 a few pairs were met with between 

 Fenny Stratford and Newport Pagnell, and two nests with 

 four and three eggs respectively were found on May 21st and 

 June I7tli: the former in furze, three feet from the ground, 

 and the latter in a thick bramble-bush at the foot of a large 

 ^^"^- H. L. Cochrane. 



NESTING-SITES OF THE HOBBY. 

 In a recent number of the Field, Mr. Norman Gilroy records 

 the fact that on July 3rd, 1920, he found the Hobby {Falco 

 s. subbuteo) breeding in the nest of a Rook {Corvusf.frugilegus) 

 m a rookery still occupied by the Rooks. He states that he 

 believes this to be the first recorded instance of a Hobby 

 nestmg in such a place and under such conditions. On June 

 30th, 191 1, I found the Hobby breeding under similar con- 

 ditions, but I did not pubhsh the fact. The nest contained 

 three eggs which were chipped and ready to hatch. 



As a rule I have found that nests of Carrion-Crows {Corvus f. 

 corone) are used, and once I have seen the eggs in the nest of 

 a Heron (Ardea cinerea), but in this case the Herons had 

 hatched and flown and left the Heronry for the season, and 

 once in a nest that might have been the deserted nest' of a 

 Sparrow-Hawk. Mr. J. Walpole-Bond adds to this list the 

 deserted nests of Magpies, Ring-Doves and sometimes on the 

 drey" of a squirrel in his Field Studies of Some Rarer 

 British Birds, in which work will be found the most accurate 

 description that I know of the habits of this and seventeen 

 other rare birds. James R. Hale. 



HEN-HARRIER IN SHROPSHIRE. 



I HAVE recently examined at the local taxidermist's a female 

 Hen-Harrier {Circus cyaneiis) shot about October 30th, 1920, 



