NOTES AND QUERIES. 389 



on the subject we find it stated that both the Shag and Cormorant lay from 

 three to five or six eggs. In the Shetlands I have examined about 1000 nests 

 of the former bird, and never saw a nest containing more than three eggs. 

 Others whose experience has been as extensive as my own confirm this. 

 The nests which I examined of the Cormorant also (a much scarcer bird 

 than the Shag in Shetland) all contained three eggs or less. — Harold 

 Raeburn (Romford, Essex). 



[On the Dorsetshire coast, where the Shag is much commoner than 

 the Cormorant, the usual number of eggs laid is three. See Mausel- 

 Pleydell's ■ Birds of Dorsetshire,' p. 126.— Ed.] 



Varieties in Wild Pigeons, — A curious variety of the Wood Pigeon 

 was shot in North Notts last year. It is marked all over with large blotches 

 of white ; these are so numerous and large that the greater part of the bird 

 is white. A pure white Rock Dove was shot in Shetland last spring, and 

 has been kindly given to me by Mr. John Young. During May last an 

 albino Turtle Dove was shot out of a flock near Horsham, Sussex, in which 

 county this bird abounds. This is the only albino of this species I have 

 ever heard of, though two pied ones have occurred. I have bought the 

 bird, and with the Rock Dove it makes a great addition to my lot of 

 varieties. I have now varieties of all the pigeons found in Great 

 Britain. — J. Whitaker (Rainsworth, Notts). 



Stock Dove using the old nest of a Thrush.— On May 3rd, seeing a 

 Stock Dove fly out of a spruce-fir, I climbed up to the only nest in the 

 tree, and found it to be an old nest of a Thrush which had been repaired, 

 or rather added to, by a layer of sticks, which partly filled the cavity. In 

 the hollow were two eggs of the Stock Dove, one of which fell out a few 

 days afterwards, the other proved to be partly incubated. In this neigh- 

 bourhood there is a lack of old trees suitable to the Stock Dove, which 

 accounts probably for the choice of situation above mentioned. — J. S. 

 Elliott (Park Road, Sutton Coldfield). 



Some Birds-nesting Curiosities. — On May 11th a Wild Duck, 

 Anas boschas, was seen at Riddagshausen sitting on eighteen eggs. In the 

 case of so jealous a bird, it is hardly to be supposed that two females had 

 laid in the same nest. Of three eggs of the Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps 

 cristatus, two appeared to have been sat upon two or three days, while the 

 third contained a young one within a few days of being hatched ; and of 

 four eggs of the Red-necked Grebe, P. rubricollis, three contained young 

 ones nearly hatched, while the fourth appeared fresh. Had these eggs been 

 laid in regular order the unincubated ones must already have been rotten 

 and have smelt badly, which was not the case. With a Marsh Harrier, 

 Circus mrugbiosus, two young ones were hatched a week before the third. 

 Judging from experiments made with the Blackbird, Black Redstart, and 



