430 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



where eels had collected, all the rest of the ditches in the marsh, from the long 

 warm dry weather, being quite dried up. — Walter Pkentis (Raiuham). 



Ornithological Notes from Dorsetshire.— On August 5th I met with 

 a Greater Shearwater, Pujinus major, in Durleston Bay, Swanage. As it 

 was not shy I got within a few yards of it several times, and when disturbed 

 it took only a short fliglit, settling down again upon the shore without any 

 apparent alarm. I left it floating in the bay quite close to the shore. The 

 next day I saw it in Swanage Bay. As I have not since heard of its capture 

 or death, I would fain hope it has escaped the usual fate of rare birds iu the 

 neighbourhood of Poole. Two pairs of Stone Curlews (OEcUcnonns) selected 

 a fallow field in the neighbourhood for their nests. Unfortunately it required 

 reploughing before the young were hatched, and both nests were destroyed 

 Three broods of Pochards were produced this summer on their usual breeding 

 ground, which a pair selected about seven years ago for the first time ; at 

 least there is no record of such an event before. The present is a good 

 season for Sheldrake ; several broods have been noticed in the Poole Estuary, 

 but since the termination of the close season their numbers have been sadly 

 diminished. A Snipe which I flushed the other day, after taking a short 

 flight, settled upon the highest branch of an ash tree, and remained there 

 until I again disturbed it, wishing to satisfy myself that I was not mistaken. 

 — J. C. Mansel Pleydell (Whatcorabe, Blandford). 



Blue-throated Warbler on Spurn Head.— On Sept. 15th I saw two 

 Blue-throated Warblers on Spurn Head, and shot one of them. I after- 

 wards wounded the other, but lost it. On the 18th I procured three more, 

 one of which is a male, I think of the second year ; the other two are birds 

 of the year. These Bluethroats were all feeding on insects amongst the 

 bent grass covering the headland. They could hop very fast; I sometimes 

 put them up thirty or forty yards away from the spot I had marked them 

 down. — Theo. Fjsueu (Erfurt Lodge, Greenwich). 



Nesting of the Black Redstart in Bavaria. — On the very day that 

 a window-frame was put into a house in the process of building at Parten- 

 kirchen, Bavaria, a pair of Black Redstarts (Ruticilla titys, Scopoli) 

 commenced their nest in the space between the arch of the opening and 

 the frame itself. The men worked daily iu the room without the birds 

 minding them, and the eggs in due course were hatched. Soon after this 

 it became necessary to move the nest for the purpose of finishing the room- 

 It was accordingly carefully removed and placed in a small box hung up 

 outside the window under a joist intended to support a future balcony, and 

 about a yard from its original position. The birds made no objection, and 

 in due time the brood was reared. I am inclined to think that the males 

 do not change their plumage until the second year. A young pair, in the 

 plumage described by Dr. Bree under the name Ruticilla cairii, built their 



