notes And queries. 333 



singing in a part of the osier-bed about 150 yards from where I stood. 

 Unfortunately a heavy luggage-train soon came by and silenced my bird, 

 which did not resume its song whilst I was within earshot. The Sedge and 

 Reed Warblers, however, scorned to be interrupted. I was unable to 

 revisit the spot lor more than ten days, and so did not hear the warble 

 again. In the two following years the osiers were cut in the spring, 

 so that there has been no cover for the bird, even if it has returned to its 

 previous haunt. In his recently published notes (p. 303), Mr. Fowler speaks 

 of the Reed Warbler as "lethargic." I can hardly agree with him there. 

 I consider it very animated, and even pugnacious at pairing time. When 

 singing, too, the Reed Warbler, like the Marsh Warbler, shows the bright 

 yellow interior of the bill "as he stretches it wide, with head erect." He is 

 a mimic also, and on hearing a Reed Warbler singing so much like a Sedge 

 Warbler, I shot it, thinking I had found the true Marsh Warbler at last. 

 I had been reading Bree's article a day or two before. I have noted the 

 " utic-utic " notes of the Whinchat in the song of both the Sedge and Reed 

 Warblers; indeed, the former bird frequently uses them as a sort of 

 prelude. Writing on the Sedge Warbler, Mr. Fowler remarks that on one 

 occasion he saw one " dance up into the air like a Whitethroat, and descend 

 something after the manner of a Tree Pipit." I have frequently witnessed 

 this, especially just after the birds have arrived; sometimes they sway 

 themselves about in the air rather like a Greenfinch does. — F. B. Whit- 

 lock (Beeston, Notts). 



Grasshopper Warbler in S.W. Scotland.— This is a shy, retiring little 

 bird, which, though not really rare in S.W. Scotland, is very seldom heard 

 and still more seldom seen, and the finding of its nest by any except those 

 who possess the key to its habits a rare accident. This season some of the 

 birdnesting boys seem to have stumbled on the bird somehow, and no less 

 than three different juveniles brought me eggs of this bird for identification. 

 These had all been taken within a short distance of Dumfries. — Robert 

 Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). 



Late Nesting of the Lapwing. — The breeding time of these birds last 

 spring was brought to a rather abrupt conclusion, owing to the dryness and 

 coldness that prevailed then. In June they seemed to have actually 

 commenced to nest again, and during the last week of July it was no 

 uncommon thing to find young birds newly emerged from the shell running 

 about in the soft downy plumage. In ordinary seasons, of course, Lapwings 

 in the youngest stages are regularly found so late in the season as this in 

 places where the eggs have been taken early in the spring. But this year, 

 in the cases I am referring to, the birds seem to have been undisturbed by 

 anything, except the unfavourable weather. In this connection I may be 

 allowed to mention an interesting fact that can be vouched for. No less 



