62 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The fact of their occasionally nesting at a considerable 

 distance from the sea-shore in former times did not escape 

 Stevenson's notice, and he enlarges upon the subject in the 

 "Birds of Norfolk" (Vol. III., p. 124), quoting Sir Thomas 

 Browne (as above), who states that they bred " in cunny 

 burrows about Norrold [North wold] and other places " some 

 eighteen or twenty miles from the sea. Stevenson also men- 

 tions that these birds had been known to nest in the heaths 

 at Dersingham and Sandringham, and it is interesting to 

 have Mr. Noble's statement that they still frequent the same 

 neighbourhood for that purpose. 



I have also been told, but I forget my authority, that the 

 Sheld-Duck nests on the Twig Moor, the Lincolnshire breeding 

 place of the Black-headed Gull. Can any of your corre- 

 spondents confirm this ? It is worthy of remark that seven 

 of the species of Duck mentioned by Mr. Noble nest regularly 

 in Norfolk and one other (the Wigeon) is suspected of having 

 ^one so. T^ Southwell. 



WANT OF DOWN IN MALLARDS' NESTS. 

 Mr. Heatley Noble, in his interesting paper on the 

 " Identification of Ducks' Eggs," asks the experience of 

 readers as to the amount of down in Mallards' nests when 

 placed among thick rushes. I have observed tw^o such nests 

 this spring, in one of which very little down was present, 

 while in the other only a few bits could be found by hfting 

 the eggs. One or two pairs nest every season in the same 

 place, a large disused gravel-pit, overgrown with bulrushes, 

 etc., and I always notice the same deficiency of down in these 

 nests. 



With reference to Sheld-Ducks, on June 9th, this year, I 

 had, in this corner of Yorkshire (Hull district), a very similar 

 experience to Mr. Noble's in Norfolk, viz., the sight of 

 twenty-two adult birds on the wing together. 



M. WmZAR COMPTON. 



COMMON CRANE IN ANGLESEY. 



A FEMALE Common Crane {Grus communis) was shot at 

 midnight on the 16th May, 1908, at Rhosneigr, Anglesey, by 

 the gamekeeper, on the estate of Colonel Thomas J. Long. 

 The plumage and feet of the bird are in most perfect condition, 

 and there is no indication that it had been in captivity. 

 Judging from the colour of the plumage it had not quite 

 reached maturity ; but the ovaries were well developed, the 

 largest being about the size of a pea, and the red wattles on 



