MOTES AND QUERIES. 811 



West Meatb. They were distinctly heard as well as seen. The weather 

 was unusually cold at the time. On the 13th three flocks of Starlings were 

 remarked; one flock numbered more than sixty birds, another forty, and 

 another thirty. Surely these Starlings could hardly have been hatched in 

 Ireland this season. — Fkances J. Battersby (Cromlyn, West Meath). 



Eared Grebe in Merionethshire. — As usual during a storm v season, 

 Grebes were numerous along the Merionethshire coast, the Great Crested and 

 Little Grebes being the most frpquent. On Dec. 17th, 1891, I obtained a 

 specimen of the Eared Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis, in full winter plumage. 

 The Sclavonian Grebe was fairly plentiful from November till about 

 Christmas, but disappeared later. — G. H. Caton Haigh (Penrhyndeu- 

 draeth, Merionethshire). 



Ruddy Sheldrake in Co. Donegal. — I have lately received from a 

 correspondent in Donegal a female Ruddy Sheldrake, Tadorna rutila, 

 which he shot out of a flock of twenty of these birds towards the end of 

 June last. He reports that they were very wild, and rose on the wing 

 when he was about sixty yards from them. He fired, and the one he sent 

 me fell winged. It is an unusual time of year to meet with this species. 

 Those which have hitherto been met with have generally occurred in 

 winter, and are supposed to have wandered from some ornamental water on 

 its becoming frozen up. But I know of no place in this county where 

 ornamental waterfowl are kept, or from whence the birds in question are 

 likely to have strayed. It is possible we may hear more of them from some 

 other part of the country. — J. Steele Elliott (Park Road, Sutton 

 Coldfield). 



Birdsnesting iu Suffolk.— On May 28th I found a Snipe's nest, from 

 which I flushed the old bird, containing five eggs. All these appeared to 

 be the produce of one bird, and all were fertile, having been incubated 

 about a week. I found a nest of the Lesser Redpoll, with two eggs, in a 

 roadside hedge, which was only the second nest I have seen in Suffolk. On 

 May 25th and on June 10th we took a clutch of four fresh Hawfinch's eggs 

 from a silver-fir near this house. A friend of mine has taken several nests 

 of the last-named bird this year within a short distance of Bury St. 

 Edmunds.— Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



Shoveller breeding in Co. West Meath.— Our herdsman took us to 

 look at the nest of a Shoveller, Anas clypeata, on June 7th. It was built 

 in a field near our lake (Glen Lough), and in the centre of a tuft of rushes 

 which concealed it from sight. The bird rose when we came close to it, 

 and we had an excellent view of her, and of the male Shoveller, which was 

 flying about the shore of the lake. There were eight eggs iu the nest. 

 This is the second time the Shoveller Duck has nested in the same field.— 

 Frances J. Battersby (Cromlyn, Rathowen, West Meath). 



