142 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xv. 



they passed within thirty feet of me, there was no mistaking 

 them for any other bird. At Prestatyn shore, N. Wales, I 

 saw five Bean-Geese at 3 p.m. on July 29th, flying in line, about 

 forty feet up. They were travelling westwards, and making 

 good progress in the face of a pretty stiff breeze. Their calls 

 were almost drowned by the sound of the wind and the sea. 



Jas. M. McTear. 



LATE NESTING OF STOCK-DOVE. 



A PAIR of Stock-Doves {Columha cenas) have just laid their 

 third clutch of eggs this season in a large hole in a beech tree 

 in my garden in Montgomeryshire. Incubation commenced 

 about September gth, and I think it is a remarkably late 

 date. Fresh eggs were previously observed in this nesting- 

 hole on April 13th and June 29th last respectively. 



W. M. CONGREVE. 



The instance recorded by Captain W. M. Congreve of a 

 Stock-Dove breeding three times successively in the same 

 hole, and beginning the incubation of the last clutch on 

 September 9th is very interesting, but cases of even later 

 nesting have been several times recorded previously. Mr. J. 

 Whitaker found two eggs hard set on September 21st, 1915. 

 in Notts. {Field, October 2nd, 1915), and E. C. Moor records 

 two eggs on September 27th, 1868, near Woodbridge, Suffolk 

 {ZooL, 1869, p. 1517), while C. M. Prior found a set of two 

 eggs on October 2nd, 1875, in Bedfordshire {ZooL, 1876, 

 p. 4881 and 1879, p. 339), and young were found in a nest 

 in Yorkshire on October 29th, 1907 {Field, November 2nd 

 1907). It is evident from the above notes thai the Stock- 

 Dove, occasionally at anj^ rate, nests nearly as late as the 

 Ring-Dove {Cohmiba pahtmbus) . F. C. R. Jourdain. 



Possible Red-Breasted Flycatchers in Devon. — 

 Mr. W. Walmesle}/ White sends us a description of two birds 

 seen by Miss Brownell in her garden at Exmouth on several 

 occasions between the third week in I\Iay and mid-Jul}^ 1921. 

 The description both of the plumages and call-notes answers 

 well to those of Muscicapa parva, but the species is a very 

 difficult one to identify on the part of an observei' who has 

 had no previous acquaintance with it. 



Ruff in Gloucestershire. — Mr. F. H, L, Whish informs 

 us that an immature male Philomachns pugnax was shot on 

 the River Se\-ern, at Stonehouse, on August 22nd, 192 1, and 

 passed into his possession. 



