NOTES. 33 



were not noticed by the gamekeeper when he made his rounds- 

 on the 28th, but he saw them on the 30th. On May 1st and 

 2nd, when I visited the mere again, I could not find them, and 

 a large number of passing migrants of other species, which I 

 saw on April 29th — including many Common Sandpipers, five 

 Common Terns, two White Wagtails, many Yellow^ Wagtails, 

 and the six Dunlins — had also disappeared. 



T. A. Coward. 



PURPLE SANDPIPER IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 



An example of the Purple Sandpiper {Tringa striata) struck 

 Hanois Light, Channel Islands, and a wing was sent for 

 identification on November 15th, 1906. This species, no 

 doubt, has been overlooked in these islands (whose orni- 

 thology is very incompletely known), and is not mentioned in 

 Smith's " Birds of the Channel Islands." 



C. B. TiCEHURST. 



REDSHANK BREEDING IN WARWICKSHIRE. 



In the spring of last year a pair of Redshanks {Totanus 

 calidris) — locally called "Whistling Plovers" — nested in a boggy 

 field in the district of Hampton-in-Arden. Four chicks were 

 hatched, one of which w^as by some means killed ; the other 

 three left with their parents in the autumn. 



This spring, about the beginning of March, three birds, a 

 cock and two hens, returned, and two nests were made near 

 the previous one. Judging by the pieces of eggshell lying 

 near the nest it would appear that in one case the four chicks 

 have been successfully hatched ; if this is the case they 

 emerged about April 27th. It is doubtful whether the young 

 birds have survived the floods, not being yet of an age to fly. 

 One egg, which proved to be addled, was taken from the 

 second nest by the gamekeeper, and I think it very probable 

 that the others are infertile, since there appears to be only one 

 cock bird. 



Last year Redshanks were recorded for the first time as 

 breeding in Warwickshire {vide B.B., Vol. I., pp. 158 and 

 191), Oxford, eighty miles away, being, so far as I know, the 

 nearest place where they had previously been seen. 



A. G. Leigh. 



BLACK TERN IN CHESHIRE. 



On April 29th, 1908, I watched a small party of Terns on 

 Marbury Mere, near Northwich, which consisted of five 



