NOTES AND QUERIES. 14 5 



Gludy Lake last mouth. The Herons seem increasing here. A very fine 

 old cock Heron, with very long neck-fealhers and crest, was killed by one 

 of my sons. Its weight was unusual, namely 4 lbs., if anything rather 

 over than under, and, although it was evidently suffering from the effects of 

 the severe frost, it was in fairly good condition. Nuthatches are also more 

 plentiful, but my old friend the Barn Owl seems quite to have died out, 

 for it is long since I have seen one. Does the Brown Owl, which is very 

 common here, drive it away ? When at Abervstwith last summer I 

 obtained a specimen of the Purple Sandpiper picked up dead on the beach 

 there, which 1 sent to the British Museum. The past season has been 

 noticeable for the scarcity of Woodcocks, although the first flights were 

 numerous. The most interesting news, however, is that since the snow 

 fell a couple of Kites have been soaring over and near the town ; one of 

 them coming into a farmyard on the outskirts of the town after the 

 owner's pigeons. These birds cover a great expanse of country in the 

 course of a day. Being in the train, about four miles from here, I saw both 

 these Kites from the window, and getting out four miles further up the 

 valley I again saw them making their way up the Usk in the direction in 

 which I had first observed them. I had not been out of the train more 

 than five minutes, so that they must have flown those four miles in a very 

 short space of time. I am glad to say I have not heard of any bird of the 

 species being shot, so that I hope the few that we have may be allowed' to 

 remain unmolested, and breed somewhere this spring in peace. — 

 E. Cambridge Phillips (Brecon, S. Wales). 



[We heartily endorse our correspondent's views on the subject of the 

 Kites lately observed by him, and earnestly appeal to our readers to assist 

 as much as possible, by advice and remonstrance, in checking the practice 

 which unfortunately prevails of making rare birds still rarer bysh>oting 

 them whenever opportunity occurs. — Ed.] 



Plovers and Gulls in Captivity. — It is perhaps little known how easily 

 different kinds of plovers and waders may be kept in a walled garden with 

 a certain amount of watchfulness and care. The Green Plover very 

 often succumbs to the rigours of English winters when deprived of its 

 power of flight; for this species is one that is usually caught when 

 young and pinioned, sometimes for ornamental, sometimes for useful 

 purposes, in order to keep down destructive slugs and other garden pests. 

 But as yet (I write in the middle of February) I have succeeded in keeping 

 alive and well all through the winter, three Green Plovers and two Grey 

 ones, hesides a Curlew and four Black-headed Gulls, sent me from Scoulton 

 Mere in June of last year, when still in nestling down and the flight 

 feathers half grown. These are now in splendid plumage and general con- 

 dition, having lost nearly all the brown feathers of the first plumage, whilst 

 the bills and legs are assuming a reddish hue. One of the Green Plovers, 



