NOTES AND QUERIES. 429 



(Cotile riparia), from Perthshire ; seven Bearded Tit (Panurits biarmicus), 

 from Norfolk ; six Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), from the Orkney Isles 

 (six eggs seems to be the full complement for any hawk); a clutch of 

 seven Starling (Stumus vulgaris), a nest of seven and another of eight 

 Redstart (Ruticilla phamicurus), all from a district near Bath ; four Common 

 Tern (Sterna fluviatilis), from Dorset. I have also seen the following : — 

 Twelve Marsh Tit, three Great Plover, four Arctic Tern, fourteen Blue Tit, 

 twelve Great Tit ; and six eggs in the following nests : — Rook, Starliug, 

 Jackdaw, Red-backed Shrike, Goldfinch, Dipper, Bearded Tit, Yellow 

 Bunting, Swallow, Sand Martin, and a few of the commoner birds. Six, 

 I think, may be considered to be above the usual number generally laid. I 

 have never found more than five eggs in nests of the Blackbird or Thrush. 

 — C. B. Horsbrugh (4, Richmond Hill, Bath). 



Supposed Occurrence of the Black Stork in Devonshire. — On April 

 3rd, about 2.30 p.m., two large birds were observed standing on a rock 

 about twenty yards from the shore off Salcombe Cove, near Sidmouth. 

 They looked like Herons in size, or a little larger, and on examining them 

 with a binocular, the plumage was black or very dark, the beak red and 

 long, and the legs red and long. My informant, an Eton Master, is no 

 ornithologist ; but on showing him the coloured plate of Ciconia nigra in 

 Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' he without the slightest hesitation recognised 

 it as the species he saw at Salcombe. — Edward Hamilton (16, Cromwell 

 Place, S.W.) 



Birds Nesting near Epsom. — The Stouechat nested this year on the 

 common at Epsom, and several cases of the Hawfinch nesting in Newton 

 Wood and in the neighbourhood were reported, one nest having fully- 

 flodged young on June 3rd. This nest was near Mickleham, and contained 

 three young birds. The Cirl Bunting was observed on May 13th near 

 Mickleham, no doubt breeding, and the Wood Wren was watched in the 

 same place. About four years ago a Bittern was shot, in a fog, on Epsom 

 Common, and as I can find no evidence of its having been recorded before, 

 I mention it now. It is set up, and in the possession of the person who 

 killed it. — J. A. Bucknill (Epsom). 



Great Snipe in Kent. — A Great Snipe (Gallinago major) was shot on 

 Oct. 1st by Capt. Plumbe, Royal Marines, who kindly sent it to me. It 

 was killed in the neighbourhood of Deal. — W. 0. Hammond (St. Albans 

 Court, near Wingham). 



Grey Plover on the Yorkshire Moors in August.— Just after the 

 Grouse-shooting had commenced at Thornton Moor, Wensleydale, a pair of 

 Grey Plovers were most unexpectedly met with, and one of them was shot. 

 This bird, a male, still retained the black breast indicative of the breeding 

 season. The appearance of this species at such an unusual time of year 



