OCCASIONAL NOTES. 215 
equal to the sixth; tarsus, one inch and three-eighths; middle toe and its 
claw, one inch and five-eighths. The extreme length of the bird could not 
well be taken, as the tail had been pulled out. Colour:—Bill, greenish 
yellow; base of upper mandible darker; legs, green; top of the head, dark 
olive-brown ; back of neck lighter: centre of back, black, the edges and 
tips of many of the feathers being marked with stripes, rather than spots, 
of white; scapulars and wing-coverts, plain olive-brown; chin and throat, 
dull white; breast and sides, olivaceous buff, without a shade of slate-grey ; 
vent and under tail-coverts, dusky brown, slightly barred and spotted with 
dull white. Although at least three examples of Crea Baillonii have 
been obtained in Cornwall, the above is the first recorded instance of the 
capture of Crex pusilla in that county.—JoHn Garcompr (Stonehouse, 
Devon). 
[In Mr. Rodd’s ‘ List of Cornish Birds,’ 2nd ed., 1869, it is stated that 
Mr. Drew, naturalist, late of Plymouth, had a specimen of the Little Crake, 
which he said he had received from that neighbourhood. His surmise 
that the species would turn up some day in Cornwall has now been 
verified.—Ep. | 
Former Nestine or tHe Kite 1x Lonpon.—It has been stated that 
Kites used formerly to breéd in London. In the Report of the Select 
Committee of the House of Commons on Wild Birds Protection will be 
found this statement by one of the witnesses examined (Appendix, p. 169):— 
“T have seen in old London newspapers references to taking Kites’ nests 
in Hyde Park, and it used to breed in the clumps of trees at Gray’s Inn, 
and other places in London, between one and two centuries ago.” I shall 
be much obliged to any correspondent who will enable me to verify this 
statement by referring me to any published accounts on this subject.—J. E. 
Hartine. 
Woop Pickons NESTING NEAR A Hovuse.—lI do not think the nesting 
of the Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus, near a house is an uncommon 
occurrence. During the few years of my residence near Pershore, in 
Worcestershire, a pair of these birds nested every season in a deodar, 
within ten yards of my front door, the branches of which were touched by 
every carriage that came to the door. On one occasion the nest was not 
more than seven feet from the ground, and I used to go nearly every 
morning and pull down the branch to see how the young birds were 
getting on.— Witiiam H. Heaton (Meadow Croft, Reigate). 
Autumn anp Winter Micrants.—From observations which I have 
made in this district during the past winter I can fully confirm Mr, Cor- 
deaux’s remarks (p. 102), as to the scarcity, if not total absence, of the 
Common Snipe and Jack Snipe. In fact, the disorder among our autumn 
