308 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



several hundred eggs of the Common Tern. Three was the greatest 

 number of eggs we found in a nest, although the keeper of the swannery 

 informed us afterwards that they laid four; but as he said that many 

 people visited the Chesil Beach, and that on the Sunday before "a party " 

 had been there and taken, as he said, " 'undreds and 'undreds " of eggs, it 

 was not surprising we did not find the full number. We obtained several 

 interesting varieties, the most curious one, perhaps, being of the size of 

 a Thrush's egg. It was evidently too late for the eggs of the Ringed Plover, 

 as the two nests we found contained respectively one and two young ones. 

 These were placed in the middle of two plants of the bladder campion, and 

 were rather well-hidden from view. When placed on the beach they could 

 hardly be noticed, their colour harmonising wonderfully with the shingle. 

 On a marshy piece of land in the middle of the " Fleet," as this backwater 

 is called, were several Cormorants and Shags, standing apart, with their 

 wings outstretched.— -Ernest Salmon (Clevelands, Wiay Park, Reigate). 



The Speed of Swallows. — An experiment has been recently made in 

 Ireland with a view to ascertain at what rate Swallows fly. On July 12th 

 a House Martin, Chelidon urbica, was taken from a nest which contained 

 young under the eaves of Lowry's Hotel at Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, and, 

 after being placed in a cage, was conveyed ten miles away to Ballymote, 

 where, at 10.30 a.m., it was liberated. The nest was watched, and at 

 10. 43 a.m. the bird returned, having accomplished the ten miles in twelve 

 minutes, a rate of speed equivalent to fifty miles an hour. — J. E. Harting. 



Curiosities in Nesting. — During a short stay in Cumberland this 

 spring the following peculiarities were noticed. We fouud a clutch of four 

 Jackdaw's eggs, of which two were quite unspotted, of a uniform pale blue, 

 lighter than a Starling's ; of the rest, one had two faint spots, the other 

 three or four. A Moorhen had made her nest in a bush five or six feet 

 above the water ; she had perhaps learnt a lesson from experience, as we 

 saw several eggs at the bottom of the stream that had been evidently 

 washed out of nests placed lower down. On the girders of an iron railway- 

 bridge a Water Ouzel had constructed her nest; besides ordinary traffic, 

 heavy mineral-trains were frequently passing above, within six inches of her 

 head ; we were anxious to see whether she would rear her brood in so noisy 

 an abode, but unfortunately the nest was pulled down. Under the same 

 bridge many Starlings had nested. — T. N. Postlethwaite (Hallthwaites, 

 Millom, Cumberland). 



A Puffin inland on Fresh Water. — During the second week of May 

 last I received a Puffin from a local fisherman of Portumna, Co. Galway, 

 who had caught it with a landing-net on Lough Derg (the Lower Shannon). 

 He informed me it was very easily taken. — J. E. Palmer (Lyons Mills 

 Straffan, Co. Kildare). 



