£28 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Harrier, Circus arugitiosus, which he himself took near Oxford in July, 1890. 

 The interest attaching to such a specimen induced me to write Mr. Buttress 

 for further particulars concerning the egg, and in reply he stated that so far 

 as he could remember the nest was situated on the ground, and composed 

 of a quantity of dry vegetation, which he thinks was chiefly reeds. I do 

 not think any other instance of the Marsh Harrier breeding in the above- 

 mentioned district has been recorded for a number of years, or, perhaps, if 

 we except Norfolk, from any other locality in the British Islands, so that 

 the present instance is of more than ordinary interest. The egg itself is 

 now in the British Collection in the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington. — H. K. Swank (Forest Grove, Colville Street, Nottingham). 



Notes from Hastings. — On February 4th I picked up an immature 

 Puffin at Pett Level, near Hastings. It had been thrown up by the tide. 

 Also a Gannet in the same way, on February 19th. The weather had 

 been very stormy. On March 21st I had sent me an adult male 

 Brambling, shot near Fairlight while feeding with sparrows near a rick 

 On April 1st a friend and I saw a Hoopoe in the marshes at Iden, near Rye, 

 Sussex, and I have since heard of one being shot at Lydd, Kent, which is 

 only a few miles away. On April 10th I saw, in the flesh, a male Black 

 Redstart, shot at Ninfield, near Bexhill ; it was a bird of last year I should 

 think, as the white bar on the wing was not strongly marked. It is now 

 in my possession. On April 23rd a friend of mine at Ore, near Hastings, 

 took a Hawfinch's nest containing four eggs ; and a Goldcrest's nest, with 

 ten eggs, was taken at Battle. — G. W. Bradshaw (Hastings). 



Lesser Redpoll breeding in Somerset. — On the 15th inst. I saw some 

 eggs of the Lesser Redpoll, Linota rufescens, Vieillot, taken at Kilve, near 

 Bridgewater. Two eggs were shown to me by the finder, who did not know 

 what they were ; there were four eggs in the nest, and I immediately went 

 to get the other two, but found unfortunately that they had been taken and 

 part of the nest pulled out. — H. St. B. Goldsmith (Bridgewater). 



[The late Mr. Cecil Smith thought the Lesser Redpoll did not breed in 

 Somersetshire. He regarded it as a winter visitor, appearing in October 

 and staying until about the middle of March. — Ed.] 



Eggs of the Tree Sparrow*— Several years ago Mr. CM. Prior called 

 attention to the fact that the Tree Sparrow always lays one egg very much 

 lighter in colour than the rest of the clutch. The other day a Tree Sparrow's 

 nest, with five eggs, which I found in this parish in a hole in an ancient 

 crab-apple tree, recalled the matter to my mind, and the light-coloured egg 

 in the first Tree Sparrow's nest I ever found, just twenty years ago. Four 

 of the eggs found this month were olive-brown, with suffused markings, 

 and darkest on a zone round the biggest part of the egg; these had a 

 resemblance to some dark eggs of the Sky Lark. The filth egg had the 



