NOTES AND QUERIES. 81 



county in the middle of August last, either at Hayliug Island, the Isle of 

 Wight, or flying across the sea from one to the other ; and that the drum- 

 major at Eastney Barracks told me that they could always be seen all the 

 year round. When I pointed one out to him, not twenty yards distant, 

 he remarked, "We call those Isle of Wight Parsons"; and others con- 

 firmed this statement. I am a young ornithologist, and only too pleased to 

 be corrected in any statements I may make, and I am much indebted to 

 Mr. Headley for pointing out the error I made in regard to the Scoter's 

 flight. Those I saw did fly rapidly, and it was a grave slip on my part to 

 say they lazily winged their way. The word regularly should have been 

 substituted for lazily. — W. Pekcival- Westell (5, Glenferrie Eoad, 

 St. Albans). 



Late Stay of Land-Rail. — On Dec. 3rd I had a freshly-killed specimen 

 of the Land-Rail {Crex pratensis) brought to me. On dissection it proved to 

 be a female, and showed no signs of having suffered any injury which 

 might have prevented it migrating at the usual time. — W. J. Clarke 

 (44, Huntriss Row, Scarborough). 



Nesting Habits of the Moorhen (Zool. Dec. 1898, p. 506 ; ante, p. 30). 

 — We are well aware that birds differ somewhat in their habits in different 

 localities, but this is often an adaptation to surroundings. My experience 

 with regard to the species in question (Gallinula chloropus) is that it 

 seldom, if ever, covers its eggs on leaving the nest, at least in this neigh- 

 bourhood. In my birdsnesting days I have seen many nests and eggs of 

 the bird, as I sometimes had the privilege of boating upon some three or 

 four miles of the river Avon, which, being strictly " preserved," was a fine 

 nursery for the reed-loving species, and I do not recollect ever finding a 

 nest in which the eggs were even partially covered, except perhaps where 

 the parent bird, alarmed at my near approach, had scuttled off, aud in her 

 haste had drawn a promiscuous reed across her eggs, with no attempt at 

 concealment ; indeed, the number of eggs in the nest was often discovered 

 before a very near approach, and this notwithstanding the approximate hue 

 of the ground colour of the eggs and the reeds of which the nest was made ; it 

 often seemed to me the similarity in colour of nest and eggs were protective 

 items not to be overlooked. On one occasion, in particular, I remember 

 finding a large branch of a tree which, during the winter flood, had been 

 washed down and stranded in the very midst of a shallow and lagoon-like 

 part of the river ; on a projecting portion of this branch, standing up some 

 two feet out of the water, the decaying reeds, &c, had accumulated, and on 

 the top of it was a Moorhen's nest quite exposed, and the eggs were easily 

 detected at a distance, as on account of the shallowness of the water at the 

 time it was with difficulty the punt could be got to the spot ; and I may 

 Zool. Mh aer. vol. III., February, 1899. o 



