186 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiv. 



The 3'oung in both cases were seen out of the nest with the 

 parents and both nests were found, one on the face of the 

 stream bank, the other in a hole in the brickwork connected 

 with a shiice-gate. Hugh Whistler. 



[Cf. British Birds, II., p. 376 and VI., p. 18. — Eds.] 



MIGRATORY WHITE WAGTAILS IN YORKSHIRE 

 IN AUTUMN. 



On September 23rd, 1920, a friend and I visited the ruins 

 of Egliston or Egglestone Abbey, about two miles south 

 of Barnard Castle, on the Yorkshire side of the Tees, and 

 there I saw three White W^agtails (MotaciUa a. alba) running 

 about on the turf within the enclosure, one of which had an 

 entirely grey crown. On my return home I looked up this 

 species in Nelson's Birds of Yorkshire and found it stated 

 (p. 124) that so far this bird had entirely escaped observation 

 in Yorkshire during the autumn migration. 



This fact is a surprising one to me, for on the sewage outfall 

 works, at Ewood Bridge, near Rawtenstall (E. Lancashire), 

 less than ten miles from the Yorkshire border, I have seen 

 migratory White W^agtails every spring and autumn, and as 

 a rule more in autumn than in spring, for several years. The 

 regularity of their appearance along with that of many Pied 

 and Yellow Wagtails (M. a. lugubris and M. f. rayi) seems 

 to suggest something of a fly route, and I have supposed that 

 in spring they were making for the Ribble Valley and that 

 those seen in autumn had come to the sewage works by that 

 route ; though of this I can gi\'e no proof beyond the observed 

 direction of the flight of travelling parties, which is as a rule 

 towards the W^lialley Gap — a great southern gate to the 

 Ribble country. To me it appears probable that if observers 

 who know the bird and live in the neighbourhood of the 

 Yorkshire Ribble would keep a good look out at the migratory 

 seasons they would find White W^agtails there. 



C. K. Parker. 



• MALE WHINCHAT MATED TO TWO FEMALES. 



On May 30th, 1917, I flushed a female Whinchat (Saxicola r. 

 r libel ra) on a hillside near the Bowland Forest district, in 

 Lancashire, and was greatly surprised to find a nest containing 

 twelve eggs, I retired and watched closely for an hour or so, 

 during which time the female returned to the nest, whilst a 

 male and another female approached. The male visited the 

 nest, but during the time I was able to stay the other female, 

 whilst remaining near it, never actually visited it. It certainly 



