NOTES. 415 



two on Ruislip Reservoir (Middlesex) on April 24th, 1909 — 

 but the occurrence of such a considerable number of birds 

 in a limited area may be thought worth recording. The 

 wind, which had for some time previously been easterly, 

 shifted to the N.W. on the 9th, and was light from the S.W. 

 on the 10th. The advent of the Scoters was probably due 

 to this change. Not one of the birds was feeding while I 

 watched them, and their behaviour — dozing on the water or 

 at the most paddling idly — suggested that they were resting 

 after a prolonged flight. Their presence in the district was 

 possibly only a manifestation of an extensive migratory 

 movement in which other species of ducks were involved, 

 for at Tring there was an adult drake Goldeneye (Clangula 

 glaucion) accompanied by a brown-headed bird — obviously, 

 from its inferior size, a duck — three or four pairs of Teal 

 (Nettion crecca), several Shovelers (Spatula clypeata) and, 

 scattered over the waters, perhaps thirty Wigeon (Mareca 

 penelope) ; whilst at Weston Turville there was a flock of 

 eight restless Wigeon that were frequently on the wing. 

 I saw no birds of any of these species when I was passing 

 the reservoirs on April 3rd. 



Chas. Oldham. 



COMMON SCOTERS IN CHESHIRE. 

 On April 10th, 1910, I saw six Common Scoters on Radnor 

 Mere in Alderley Park, Cheshire. These birds were evidently on 

 migration, and were already gone on the 11th. The reports 

 of Scoters on inland waters in the south at about the same 

 time seem to indicate that a general movement was in progress. 



M. V. Wenner. 



RINGED PLOVER NESTING IN SURREY. 



When at Frensham on May 30th, 1909, I was not a little 

 surprised on discovering that a pair of Ringed Plovers 

 {/Egialitis hiaticola) had remained to breed in the neigh- 

 bourhood, as there is no earlier record of the species having 

 nested in Surrey, and hitherto it appears only to have visited 

 the county as a somewhat casual spring and autumn migrant, 

 although doubtless known instances of its occurrence have 

 occasionally been allowed to pass unrecorded. 



Adjoining Frensham Great Pond, a lake of some 100 acres 

 in extent, is a wide expanse of uncultivated land, thinly 

 covered with short grass and stunted heather. On this ground, 

 at a spot about 300 yards from the margin of the lake, the 

 bird had selected a site thickly strewn with small pieces of 



