NOTES. 341 



and autumn and a few remain during winter. An unusual 

 instance is noticed of the Great Black-backed Gull nesting in 

 the grass on the centre of a low flat island formed by a sand- 

 bank. The Slavonian Grebe is a common winter- visitor, and 

 sometimes remains over summer. The storm that strewed 

 Ireland with Fork-tailed Petrels in October, 1891, brought 

 some numbers to Lough Swilly. 



Spreading of the Jay in Ulster. — " Jays have of late 

 years been extending their range, and have since 1901 been re- 

 peatedly obtained near Navan. Mr. S. Scroope found a nest 

 on June 6th, 1909 ... in that part of Meath. . . . The 

 farther spread of Jays into southern Ulster is evidenced by one 

 sent to Messrs. Williams & Son from Maguire's Bridge, co. 

 Fermanagh, on the 7th November, 1906 ; while Major 

 Hamilton, of Castle Hamilton, Killeshandra, co. Cavan, writes 

 to me on November 13th, 1909 : ' For the first time Jays 

 have appeared in the county ; one was shot to-day. . . .' " 

 (R. J. Ussher, Irish Nat., 1910, p. 13). 



Wrynecks in Yorkshire. — lynx torquilla is an extremely 

 local bird in Yorkshire, being almost restricted as a breeder to 

 the south of the county. The record of one heard near 

 Ripon on June 8th, 1909 (W. Gyngell, Zool., 1909, p. 467), 

 may therefore be noted, although the bird has been observed 

 so near as Harrogate (Birds of Yorks., p. 270). I may mention 

 that on the Holderness coast, where this bird is said to be 

 an unusual migrant, I saw one on September 14th, 1909. — 

 H. F. W. 



Little Owls in Hertfordshire. — Mr. C. G. Talbot- 

 Ponsonby writes to us that Athene noctua is now very common 

 round Hitchin. 



White-tailed Eagle in the Scilly Islands. — Mr. F. W. 

 F[rohawk] records {Field, 18.xii. 1909, p. 1100) the shooting 

 of a specimen of Haliaetus albicilla on one of the Scilly 

 Islands on November 11th, 1909. Another example is said to 

 be frequenting the islands. 



Notes on the Breeding of the Sparrow-Hawk. — 

 Some interesting observations on the young of Accipiter nisus 

 by Mr. J. Steele Elliott (Zool., 1909, pp. 467-8) reveal the 

 facts that the young were in the nest for twenty-seven days, 

 and were in the vicinity for eight days more ; the parent birds 

 removed most of the feathers from the prey before bringing 

 it to the nest ; the whole of a bird smaller than a Thrush 

 appears to be devoured, but in the case of such birds as 

 Thrushes the legs, and in larger birds the legs, head and part 



