NOTES. 91 



side of the lock. On June 18th the nest was visited by the 

 keeper, and found to contain four eggs. On June 24th I 

 again visited the place, but unfortunately a barge had been 

 through the lock in the meantime, and the nest had been 

 swamped and the eggs washed away. A careful search in 

 the hole behind the nest showed one broken shell, while the 

 birds were still near by. The nest was so placed, that when 

 the lock was filled (in order to enable a barge to pass) it must 

 have been quite three feet under water. 



Mr. Heatley Noble records a nest in the " Victoria History 

 of Berkshire," while I believe another one has been found 

 more recently by Mr. F. C. Selous, near Newbury. 



W. Norman May. 



AN EARLY RECORDED WAXWING. 



The following extract from a letter which I have lately 

 received from Mr. R. D. Roberts, of St. Asaph, North Wales, 

 should prove of interest because it refers to one of the first 

 Waxwings recorded as visiting this country, and it is re- 

 markable that the specimen, although now 120 years old, 

 should still be in good condition. Mr. Roberts writes : " The 

 quotation in your ' Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales ' from 

 Pennant's ' British Zoology,' under the heading ' Waxwing ' 

 (page 130), is interesting to me inasmuch as the bird referred 

 to is in my possession, and though shot in 1788 is in perfect 

 condition. The account on the back of the case being nearly 

 illegible through age I recently had copies printed, and 

 enclose one." The label reads as follows : — 



Bohemian Chatterer or Waxwing. 

 {Bomby cilia Garrula.) 

 Kill'd during the cold Frost in December, 1788, at Garth- 

 Meiho, in the County of Denbigh, by Mr. William Dod, 

 of Edge, in Cheshire. 

 It was perching in one of the Fir Trees in the Avenue to 

 the House. 



H. E. Forrest. 



LESSER REDPOLLS NESTING IN SURREY. 



During a couple of hours spent among the birch trees on 

 Wimbledon Common on July 12th, I saw a nest of a Lesser 

 Redpoll {Linota rufescens), in a small birch, with four well- 

 fledged young ones, another brood on the wing, and at least 

 five pairs of old birds. Indeed, on this July morning, when 

 but few birds were singing, the Redpolls uttering their 

 characteristic call-notes, as they passed from place to place 



