NOTES. 59 



Like the Snipe the Woodcock is undoubtedly sometimes 

 double-brooded, and nests have been found considerably later 

 in the season than that recorded by our correspondent. 

 Eggs have been taken in Yorkshire as late as July 14th 

 (T. E. Metcalfe, quoted in Victoria History of Yorkshire), while 

 in Ireland the Rev. W. W. Flemyng found a nest with four 

 eggs on July 14th, 1890, in co. Waterford (Zool, 1890, p. 312), 

 and a nest in co. Tipperary had four eggs on July 21st, 1892 

 (Field, May 6th, 1899). This last nest was the second brood 

 of a pair which had voung on April 2nd. 



F. C. R. J. 



SNIPE PERCHING. 

 On May 31st last I was on a large marsh in Berkshire with 

 Mr. H. M. Wallis. All along one side of this marsh there is 

 a line of large pollard trees, and behind certain of these are 

 placed high hurdles serving as butts for Snipe-driving in the 

 winter. We had reached one end of the marsh, and I was 

 watching several Snipe "drumming" overhead, when one of 

 them suddenly lowered and rounding a pollard tree perched 

 on the top of a hurdle which was placed close by. Mr. Wallis 

 tells me that this is the first time he has ever seen a Snipe 

 actually perching, and, personally, though I have watched 

 Snipe in their breeding haunts fairly closely for some years 

 past I have never seen a similar case. 



GWYNNE WlTHERINGTON. 



This, of course, is unusual, but a search through the 

 " Naturalist " columns of the " Field " or " Land and Water " 

 would result in the discovery of many other recorded 

 instances, as it is one of those perennial topics of controversy 

 which recur at intervals every few years. Probably most 

 Limicoline birds which breed in wooded districts occasionally 

 adopt this habit, and I have even seen the Curlew perched 

 for several minutes on a pine tree on the heaths of Brabant ! 

 The habit is, however, commonest among the Totani ; the 

 Redshank is very fond of perching on posts or rails, while 

 the arboreal habits of the Sandpipers are well known. 



F. C.R.J. 



Besides the species above mentioned I have noted that 

 Greenshank, Dusky Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Reeve, 

 Common and Wood-Sandpiper and Whimbrel make a habit 

 of perching upon trees and bushes in their breeding grounds. 



H.F.W. 



