OTES 



ARRIVAL OF SUMMER MIGRANTS. EARLY 

 APPEARANCES IN 1915. 



The Migration Committee of the British Ornithologists' Chib 

 completed that part of its work which entailed the systematic 

 collection of records at the end of the Spring migration of 

 1914, having conducted its operations over a period of ten 

 years. Every year recently a certain number of our readers 

 have sent us notes on the early arrival or first appearance 

 of our summer residents and these it has always been ovir 

 practice to hand over for the use of the Migration Committee. 

 We propose in the future to publish a brief summary of 

 such notes on this subject as our readers send us, which 

 relate to unusually early appearances. Up to the present 

 we have received the following : — 



Swallow {Chelidon r. rustica). — One, Llandeloy, Pembroke, 

 March 24th and 25th (Rev. J. Lloyd) ; four, Tring Reservoirs, 

 Herts, March 26th to 31st (Dr. E. Hartert) ; two, Sherborne 

 Park, Dorset, March 30th (W. J. N. Ryan). 



Sand-Martin {Riparia r. riparia). — Five or six, Tring 

 Reservoirs, Herts, March 26th to 31st (Dr. E. Hartert). 



Although a few early Swallows are reported from the 

 west of England and Wales every year in the latter half of 

 March, their appearance in Hertfordshire at so early a date 

 is quite exceptional and is remarked on by Dr. Hartert 

 who states that local residents whom he has consulted have 

 never before seen one in March. The record of the Sand- 

 Martins is, of course, hardly so exceptional. 



CROSSBILLS BREEDING IN NORFOLK. 



The first notice I had of Crossbills [Loxia curvirostra) being 

 in the neighbourhood was given to me by my friend Mr. 

 L. Robinson, of Middleton, to whom I am greatly indebted 

 for all the assistance he has given me. He first noticed 

 Crossbills in the summer of 1912, when he saw two old birds 

 feeding their young in his garden ; a few birds remained 

 during the winter, and during the next summer he again 

 saw old birds feeding their young. These birds were still 

 about in the spring and summer of 1914. In August large 

 flocks began to appear and many remained during the winter. 

 Early in the morning of February 27th we saw a hen 

 Crossbill cutting tAvigs off a larch and carrying them to a 



