72 THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



OBSERVATIONS AND QUERIES. 



Kites in Wales. — In the catalogue of Mr. Stevens' sale of natural 

 history specimens, on April 13th, 1896, lot 315 is "A superb nest and two 

 eggs of Kite, with photo of nest in situ, taken last April in mid- Wales, data 

 given." If " whole clutch "egg collectors are allowed to have a free hand 

 much longer, this nest is worth putting on record in the Ornithologist, for 

 in a very short time there will be no more Welsh Kites for mercenary 

 collectors to rob. — O. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Abundance of Little Auks in January, 1895. — The occurrence of 

 Little Auks in Oxon and Northants is mentioned on p. 19. Since writing 

 the note on the subject I have read my copy of ' ' The Transactions of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society " (vol. vi., part 1), to which Mr. J. 

 H. Gurney has contributed a valuable paper on the abundance of this bird in 

 the northern parts of Norfolk during the prevalence of strong northerly and 

 north easterly gales, straight off the sea in January, 1895. No less than 285 

 Little Auks were actually received by the Norfolk taxidermists, the greatest 

 number being picked up between the 10th and the 27th of January. About 

 the same time great numbers were seen on the Yorkshire coast; one observer 

 writes that he must have seen considerably over 1,000 swimming, flying or 

 lying dead on the sands. — O. V. A.plin (Bloxham, Oxon.). 



Eggs of the Redstart. — In corroboration of Mr. Shelley's note on this 

 subject in the May issue of the Ornithologist, it may be of interest to 

 observe that, though I have kept no actual statistics, a quarter of a century's 

 assiduous birds'-nesting has left me with the impression that Redstarts' eggs 

 spotted with faint brown are not to be looked upon as altogether unusual 

 varieties. Speaking generally, I should say that in my experience spotted 

 eggs have occurred in the proportion of one nest to perhaps half-a-score 

 containing the normal type. At the moment of writing 1 am located in 

 the heart of North Wales, and labour under the disadvantage of being far 

 away from all books of reference ; nevertheless, I think that I recognise the 

 source from which your correspondent has extracted an opinion bearing on 

 the question, and commendable though the object be to popularise natural 

 history, quotations from works which sacrifice scientific accuracy on sundry 

 points to what I can best designate as an ad captandum vulgus sort of style, 

 are of little value. Much less, if there is any warrant for my conjecture, 

 can a writer be regarded as an authority on matters pertaining to the ornitho- 

 logy and oology of these islands, who indulges in such flights of fancy as 

 that the Pied AVagtail is essentially terrestrial in its nesting habits ; that the 

 Carrion-crow wings its way at early dawn to distant feeding grounds ; that 



