1920.] Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 731 



Warbler (Mr. A. J. Cami)b('ll), and the nesting of tlie 

 Wliite-runiped Swift (Mr. Cochrane). There is also a 

 report on " Bird-ringing/' besides the interesting shorter 

 notes always to be found in the pages of our conteraporaiy. 

 Most of the papers have excellent photographic plates. 



We have left to the last a paper running throngh all 

 three parts, and entitled " Material for a Study ol' the 

 JMcgapodiidaj/' by the well-known Osteologist Dr. Shufeldt. 

 An article from his pen is always worthy of close study ; 

 while in this case the wonderful nature of the Megapodes 

 gives special interest to such a full and careful account of 

 thcni, illustrated both by black and coloured jjlatcs. 



XX iX — Letters, Extracts, and Nolo). 



The Nest of a Mesopotamian Plover. 



Dkak Sir, — The a('comi)anying [)hotogra[)h (Plate XVil.) 

 of a nest andeggs of Chettvsin leucura (White-tailed Pl()\ er 

 or Lapwing) was taken by my son, Capt. W. Edgar Evans, 

 H.A.M.C., near Amara, Mesopotamia, on 29 May, 1918. 

 Many pairs of C. leucura were breeding in the neighbonr- 

 liood of Amara tliat year, but their nests Mere l)y no means 

 easy to find, tlie iiatural wariness of the birds, the open 

 cliaractcr of the country, and the almost tropical heat of 

 the sun combining to defeat his attempts. Regarding the 

 t\>o nests he found and photographed, my son has supplied 

 the following in formation : — 



"The first nest 1 succeeded in finding was in an irrigated 

 but uncultivated piece of land near the Tigris, two to 

 three miles above Amara. The ground was iu parts fairly 

 wet; while the drier j)orti()ns were much encrusted with 

 white 'salt,' and sparsfdy coveied with suicdas and grasses. 

 Here four pairs of White-tailed Lapwings were nesting iu 

 1918. They were extremely demonstrative on my approach, 

 yelping, after the manner of Redshanks, as they flew around 

 or perched on some small eminence. On 17 May, a direct 

 search for the nests having first failed, I returned to the 



