226 BRITISH BIRDS. 



I saw them at close quarters, and one of the old birds showed 

 very clearly the white eye-stripe and blue-grey crown. 

 Whether these were on migration or were bred locally I am 

 unable to say, but as the country in which they were seen 

 was marsh-land close to the sea it is possible that the former 

 supposition is the right one. J. Beddall Smith. 



[This, of course, suggests a family party, and the country 

 is no doubt suitable, but the date of observation is too late 

 to make it a certainty that they were bred locally. — N. F. T.J 



RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 

 On September 16th I shot an immature male of the Red- 

 breasted Flycatcher (Muscicapa parva) from a hedge near the 

 coast at North Cotes. There were not many birds passing at 

 this time, but the hedges contained Redstarts, Pied Flycatchers, 

 and Garden- Warblers, and there were many Wheatears along 

 the sea-beach. This is, I believe, the first occurrence of this 

 species in Lincolnshire. G. H. Caton Haigh. 



LESSER REDPOLL IN ESSEX. 

 It may interest Mr. R. Hay Fenton, whose note under this 

 heading appeared in. your issue for October (p. 161), to know 

 that the Lesser Redpoll may annually be heard in Epping 

 Forest in May and June, and undoubtedly nests there, though 

 sparingly. The whole of last summer a pair of these birds 

 frequented the cottage gardens behind the Wake Arms Inn, 

 and I have frequently heard the unmistakable trilling of this 

 bird in the Theydon and Epping districts of the forest, though 

 I have never looked for the nest there. 



In the neighbourhood of Brentwood and particularly Warley 

 this bird is of annual occurrence in the breeding season, and 

 some years, by no means uncommon, and it seems to be partial 

 to young birch-scrub. 



Some further dates of the nesting of the Lesser Redpoll 

 may be of interest : — 



Near Shrewsbury, Shropshire; May 24th, 4 eggs, May 17th, 

 5 eggs, May 29th, 4 eggs, June 6th, 5 eggs, all fresh ; June 

 7th, 5 eggs, incubation advanced; June 1st, 5 large young 

 ones. D. H. Meares. 



THE IRRUPTION OF CROSSBILLS* (Plate XIII.). 

 With tins number we give a series of maps which has been 

 very kindly prepared for the purpose by Commander Lynes, 



* For previous references to this subject, cf. pp.. 82, 123, 162, 

 190-194, 



