NOTES. 29 



[We are very glad to publish this note, if only because it 

 is a good illustration of how much there is yet to be done in 

 working out the distribution of some of our commonest birds. 

 Dr. F. G. Penrose tells us that the Snipe nests at Downton, 

 near Salisbury, and we have no doubt that it does so in many 

 other places in Wiltshire, but we are surprised to be unable 

 to find a record (we have not made an exhaustive search) of 

 its nesting in the county, although it is well known to breed 

 more or less commonly in the surrounding counties. In his 

 "Birds of Wiltshire," the late Rev. A. C. Smith seems to 

 consider the Snipe as a winter migrant only in the south of 

 England, yet it was well known to Gilbert White a hundred 

 and fifty years ago as a breeder in the adjoining county of 

 Hampshire.— Eds.] 



BAIRD'S SANDPIPER IN NORFOLK. 



In his " Ornithological Report for Norfolk " {Zoologist, 

 1909, p. 124) Mr. J. H. Gurney makes the important announce- 

 ment that a specimen (sex and age not noted) of Baird's 

 Sandpiper {Tringa bairdi) was shot at Hunstanton, Norfolk, on 

 September 16th, 1903. The bird, " which was not recorded 

 at the time, and has only been recently brought to the 

 knowledge of Norfolk naturalists, was received on the 19th by 

 Mr. George Bristow, taxidermist, St. Leonards, and examined 

 while still in the flesh by Mr. M. J. Nicoll, himself the shooter 

 of the first British T. bairdi.'''' This second specimen has 

 since passed into Sir Vauncey Crewe's collection at Calke 

 Abbey. It will be remembered that the late Howard 

 Saunders included Mr. Nicoll's specimen in his " Additions 

 to the list of British Birds since 1899," contributed to our 

 first number (Vol. I., p. 15). 



H. F.W. 

 RUFFS IN NORFOLK. 

 On May 6th, about six a.m., at Hickling, while crouching 

 behind some bushes watching a pair of Stonechats, ten 

 Reeves and three Ruffs {Machetes pugnax) passed so close that 

 I was able to note the brilliancy of one Ruff in particular. 

 Later on, about ten o'clock, a flock of from seventy to eighty 

 flew over the marshes, going due east. All that day these 

 birds were about the broad in large flocks, sometimes dropping 

 down to feed, sometimes circling round for several miles ; 

 with glasses we could watch their progress as they made the 

 circuit of the marshes. When crossing the broad they flew 

 quite low down. For several days in succession I have come 

 across little batches of these birds, standing about in the 



