800 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
gaining steadily, pressed the duck so hardly that she was forced to rise on 
the wing to escape. Later, about 8 p-m., 1 observed the Coot sitting 
placidly on her raft, and, although I appeared in the open on the bank, she 
would not abandon her eggs to the evening mists then rising.—OLtver V. 
Artin (Great Bourton, Oxon). 
Swallows dying of Cold.—On May 15th, at the edge of a field of 
young corn on one side of Clattercutt Reservoir, I picked up the fresh 
remains of two Swallows (partly eaten by some animal or bird), and one 
House Martin. I happened to see them as I walked along, and made no 
search for others, although possibly there were many more out of sight. 
Like the birds mentioned by Mr. Nelson (p. 250), the Martin was in good 
condition, and had evidently been dead only a few hours; indeed, it was so 
fresh that I made a skin of it. Rain fell heavily on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 
and 14th, and we had large floods in the valley, the weather being very 
cold; wind N.N.E. The 15th was stormy, with cold N.W. wind and hail- 
storms. Besides hundreds of Swallows and House Martins, numbers of 
Sand Martins hawked over the water, far from any nesting-haunt, where in 
an ordinary season they should have been at this time of year, a most 
unusual circumstance.—Oxiver V. Apiin (Great Bourton, Oxon). 
Ornithological Notes from South Cumberland.— Although the vegeta- 
tion has been backward in the district, most of the migrants arrived about 
the usual dates. Swallows and House Martins I first noticed on April 
24th, and Corncrakes on the 25th. ‘The Cuckoo arrived on 27th: this 
is about the date on which the bird is invariably heard here. The 
Willow Warbler I did not observe till early in May, and the Creeper about 
the same time. On April 29th many Sandpipers were seen along the 
Duddon Estuary ; these on the following days were dispersing up neigh- 
bouring becks. Most of the early-laying birds have nested late this spring. 
On April 24th I found a Missel Thrush’s nest containing two fresh eggs, 
and on the 25th a Blackbird’s; in the following week I saw other Black- 
birds’ and Song Thrushes’ nests containing newly-laid eggs. On May Sth 
a Ray’s Wagtail’s eggs were found, and on 6th a friend discovered, on the 
Fells, a Curlew’s nest and a Snipe’s, both having fresh eggs. On 6th I saw 
the first Stone- and Whinchats, and one Wheatear. Up to the date of 
leaving the neighbourhood (May 12th) I neither saw nor heard the Nightjar, 
although they frequent the district in small numbers. On the Duddon 
Sands were many Sheldrakes: these birds breed in the estuary; they were 
much tamer than during the winter months, and allowed us to approach 
within gun-shot, although we were accompanied by a noisy colley. On 
May 7th we found, by watching the parent birds, some young Peewits, a 
day or so old; they were most amusing, running quickly for some distance, 
and then squeezing themselves into the foot-prints that the cows had made 
