VOL. XV. J NOTES. 63 



notes may therefore be of interest as showing that the bird 

 has bred for two, it not three, years in Cumberland. 



On June ist, 1919, I found a pair breeding in a wood near 

 Carhsle. They had chosen a decaying beech tree for their 

 purpose, and at a height of 12 ft. had started boring one 

 hole but left it unfinished, boring another a few inches to 

 the right of the first. The base of the tree was covered 

 with chips. The nest contained one nestling and three eggs, 

 and on the 8th four nestlings, naked, except that the blue cjuills 

 of the wing-feathers were present. On the 15th they were fully 

 fledged. This day, whilst waiting for the parent birds to feed 

 the young, I several times heard the Woodpeckers "jarring." 



On April nth, 1920, I came across a pair in another wood 

 near Carlisle, but quite ten miles distant from the last locality. 

 Unfortunately, I was unable to visit the wood again, and 

 so cannot say whether they nested there or not. 



On May 28th, 192 1, I found a pair breeding near Brampton. 

 The tree selected was an elm, and at a height of 20 ft. they 

 had started boring a hole, but left it unfinished, boring 

 another a few inches below. There were no chips at the 

 base of the tree, but at a distance of 3 yards and above from 

 it, wood chips were scattered about. On kicking the tree 

 a bird flew out, and climbing up I heard the young inside. 



The nest was next visited on June 4th. I tried to enlarge 

 the nesting hole in order to get down to the young, but was 

 unable to do so. Whilst I was up the tree both parent birds 

 kept flying anxiously from tree to tree in the near vicinity, 

 calling loudly, and one of them "jarred " thrice. 



R. H. Brown. 



LITTLE OWL IN LANCASHIRE. 



Mr. T. L. S. Dooly's note {antea, p. 45), reminds me that a 

 Little Owl [Athene noctua mira) was shot at Banks, a few 

 miles north of Southport in February 1920. The bird is now 

 in the possession of Mr. D. D. Pennington. F. W. Holder. 



CLUTCH OF FOUR EGGS OF THE HOBBY. 



It may be of interest to record that on June 27th, 1921, 

 I found in Suffolk a nest of the Hobby {Falco s. subbiiteo) 

 with the unusual clutch of four eggs. In the course of a 

 long experience of this interesting Httle Falcon, both in 

 England and abroad (I have examined in the last six years 

 in England over thirty nests with eggs and young), I have 

 never seen more than three eggs and quite a considerable 

 percentage of nests have contained only two. I recorded 



