NOTES AND QUERIES. isS 



first edition ; Dressor, ' Manual,' etc.) mentions the nesting of Yellow- 

 hammers in a rick ; it is tliercforo probal)ly worth putting on record 

 that this unusual site was adopted in the rickyard hero in July, 1910. 



Someone, economically minded, has twisted a wisp of straw into 

 a knot and pushed it into the side of a rick of oat-straw, forming a 

 slight bulge that may be described architecturally as a bracket; the 

 nest is countersunk in its surface, which is about 3 ft. 7 in. from the 

 ground, on the south-west face, and begins about 2 ft. 3 in. behind 

 the cut front of the rick. It is lined with beards of barley from a 

 neighbouring rick, together with some long hairs from a Cow's tail. 

 The oaves of the thatch are little more than a foot above the nest, 

 and, numerous straws having slipped, form a fringe helping to screen 

 it. The four eggs therein wore safely hatched by July 29th ; and the 

 young birds flourished, but on the afternoon of August 8th the nest 

 was empty, a Eat being the most likely culprit. 



The unusual site seems to have been adopted in consequence of an 

 inspiration approaching reason, because the hedge-banks are rat- 

 haunted, so it was doubly unlucky that the catastrophe should 

 nevertheless have been caused by one of these pariahs. — Alfred H 

 Cocks (Poynetts, Skirmett, near Henley-on-Thames). 



Gannet's Method of Diving. — In Prof. Newton's article on 

 Gannet, in the ' Dictionary of Birds,' he describes it as closing its 

 wings and dashing perpendicularly into the water. I do not know 

 if attention has ever been called to this statement. As a matter of 

 fact, the Gannet dives with its wings open, and obviously its eyes 

 also, till immediately before striking the water. Neither does it 

 always dive perpendicularly. I have often seen it diving at an angle 

 very distinctly removed from the perpendicular, and once or twice I 

 have seen it fly almost to the surface of the water at quite an acute 

 angle. During its descent to the water it frequently alters its 

 direction, sometimes using two or three strokes of its wings for that 

 purpose, so it clearly keeps its eyes on the fish till the very end. 



In the same article Prof. Newton refers to the large proportion 

 of immature Gannets which he observed near the Stack in June, 1890. 

 Up fll now, August 8th, the proportion of immature birds off Bute 

 has been surprisingly small ; I doubt if one bird in fifty has any trace 

 of immature plumage. 



It has often been remarked how unwilling the Gannet is to fly 



over the land. On this shore it often flies within five or ten yards 



of land, but I have never yet seen one which I thought was 



' actually over the dividing line. — J. M, McWilliam (Craigmore, Bute). 



Zool. 4th ser., vol. XX., Se^ptember, 1916. ee 



