292 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vni. 



eventually flew on May 30th. I frequently saw the joung 

 of the first brood (sometimes two together) sitting on the 

 second nest Avhile the hen was incubating and the male fed 

 them there, sometimes with holly berries as a change of diet. 

 To get two broods off by the end of May seems to me to be 

 very quick work. A point I should like to raise is : to what 

 extent is the Mistle-Thrush double-brooded ? Apart from 

 the above instance I have no sure proof — at any rate in 

 this immediate district — that the bird is otherwise than 

 single brooded, though very occasionally young birds, not 

 long flown, are seen in July in North Wales. Howard 

 Saunders {Manual, 2nd Edition), gives two broods in the 

 south, " but in the north the fine weather is too short for 

 more than one ; " but I doubt if weather has much to do 

 with it considering how early the Mistle-Thrush as a rule 

 breeds. S. G. Cummings. 



[Many instances of two birds in a season came under my 

 notice in Derbyshire : one within a few j^ards of my house. — 

 F.C.R. J.]. 



MISTLE-THRUSH SINGING ON THE WING. 



The Rev. W. F. Johnson writes to the Northern Whig : 

 *' The other day I heard a Mistle-Thrush's note and looked 

 up at the trees, but my eye was caught by one on the Aving, 

 and as I watched I heard it give utterance to its song, or 

 part of it, for it only gave a few notes, and as it flew on gave 

 a few more. Three times as I followed its flight I heard 

 its notes. I have never noticed this before, and should like 

 to know if this is a habit of the Mistle-Thrush or only a 

 vagary of this particular bird." Never having heard the 

 Mistle-Thrush utter its song whilst flying, I think this 

 observation must be exceptional, and consider it worth the 

 greater publicity afforded by British Birds. 



Nevin H. Foster. 



DIPPER IN SURREY. 



During the very cold weather on March 28th, 1915, I saw 

 a Dipper [Cinclus cinchis '! subsp.) on the River Mole, between 

 Leatherhead and Cobham. M. V. Wenner. 



. EARLY NESTING OF GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 



On March 27th, 1915, I found the nest of the Great Crested 

 Grebe [Colymhus c. cristatus) on a small lake in Surrey. 

 There were four eggs in the nest and these were very dark 

 in colour, but they did not float when put into water and 



