344 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vii. 



one had hatched on the 30th. April ist, three young, three 

 eggs ; 2nd, four young, two eggs ; 3rd, four young, two 

 eggs ; 4th, five young, remaining egg infertile. 



There is no doubt that the incubation period in many 

 cases will have to be revised, for it has been worked out on 

 the assumption that incubation started with the laying of 

 the last egg, whereas in reality in a great number of species 

 it commences with the deposition of the first. 



Eric B. Dthstlop. 



BRAMBLING IN LONDON. 



On April 4th, 1914, I saw a Brambling [Fringilla monti- 

 fringilla) in Kensington Gardens. It was feeding on the 

 ground under some plane trees. I know the bird weU, and 

 saw the white rump distinctly as it flew away. 



D. Eabdley-Beecham. 



NUTHATCH IN SOUTH-WEST CORNWALL. 

 On January 7th, 1914, at Bonython, Cury, half way from 

 Helston to the Lizard, I saw a Nuthatch {Sitta e. hritannica). 

 The Hand-List of British Birds describes this species as rare 

 in west Cornwall and " very rare or unknown extreme south- 

 west Cornwall." This cannot be merely due to the absence 

 of large trees, for parts of the Lizard Peninsula are quite 

 well wooded, and I found that Green Woodpeckers were 

 decidedly abundant and Great Spotted Woodpeckers not 

 uncommon. In the extensive woods round the HeHord 

 River, moreover, there seemed to be quite a remarkable 

 number of Marsh-Tits {Parus p. dresseri), but I did not find 

 any Willow-Tits (P. a. hleinschmidti) with them. The 

 occurrence of any species in mid-winter is, I am aware, no 

 evidence of its status as a breeding-species, but these notes 

 on species considered to be mainly sedentary may have 

 some value. H. G. Alexander. 



[In the latest account of the birds of Cornwall by Prof. 

 J. Clark (Vict. Hist, of the County of Cornwall, I., p. 332), 

 the Nuthatch is said to breed '• regularly as far west as 

 Doublebois, in most years about Bodmin, and occasionally 

 about Falmouth : has nested twice at Helston ; common in 

 the middle and west as a winter visitor." It will be seen 

 that this account differs considerably from the account given 

 in Rodd's Birds of Cornwall, where it is said to be "almost 

 unknown " in the neighbourhood of Penzance. — ^P.C.R. J.] 



INCURSION OP WAXWINGS. 



Rutlandshire. — ^Two were seen by Sir Arthur Fludyer 

 on Jan. 19th, 1914, at Whissendine {Uppingham School 

 Ornithological Report for 1913, p. 11). 



