432 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Ealing in 1863, and at Kingsbury in 1877, on both occasions in the 

 early spring. — F. D. Power (Brixton), 



Late Swallows. — On Nov. 2nd I observed two Swallows [Hirundo 

 rustica) circling round my house and garden, and on the 4th the 

 number increased to five. I thought the recent gale would probably 

 have driven them away, but the following morning they were still 

 here. Before the first date I had not noticed any for some weeks. — 

 E. H. Eamsbotham (Elmhurst, Garstang). 



Little Owl and (?) Wood-Sandpiper in Lincolnshire. — Although 

 the gradual spread of the Little Owl {Athene noctua) in the eastern 

 counties is pretty well known, it may interest some readers of ' The 

 Zoologist' to know that it has become almost numerous in Lady 

 Winchilsea's park at Haverholm, where, as a woodman informed us, 

 on Aug. 24th last, he first began to notice it only about two years ago. 

 In walking through the park on that date, accompanied by my son, 

 we happened to see one of the Owls roosting against the bole of a 

 large elm where a branch had once been broken off, and were so 

 entertained with its alertness and the rapid hawk-like flight with 

 which it made off that we followed it up to the clump of trees 

 whither it had sought refuge, and were there so fortunate as to 

 encounter the man. He called the birds "Little Dutch Owls" — 

 apparently their familiar name thereabouts — and pointed out to us 

 some old and decaying ashes, not far from our path, in which he 

 informed us one or two pairs of the Owls had bred, in holes in the 

 trees, this year, and where we should be almost certain to see some 

 of them, "if we could rouse them." Walking over to these trees 

 we soon found one of the Owls, and again followed it the better 

 to observe its actions in daylight, and should doubtless have seen 

 more of them had our attention not then been drawn away from the 

 Owls by three Sandpipers, which we noticed settling by the side of a 

 stream. There they allowed us to approach them closely, and, 

 although the general resemblance between Green and Wood Sand- 

 pipers is such as to render the positive identity of birds thus casually 

 seen (especially immature examples, as these undoubtedly were) 

 always uncertain, I had so good a view of them as to have but little 

 hesitation in pronouncing them to belong to the latter species {Totanus 

 glareola). — George Bolam. 



Long-tailed Duck breeding in Orkney. — I have received news of 

 the Long-tailed Duck {Harelda glacialis) breeding in Orkney during 

 the summer of 1911. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



