NOTES AND QUERIES. 4&9 



tops were very small, and the nest could be seen at a good distance. It was 

 placed on the top of a ridge, and well out into the field.— J. Whitaker 

 (Rainworth, Notts). 



Nesting of the Spotted Flycatcher. — One of these birds built her nest 

 last spring in a small piece of gorse by the side of a plantation in the deer 

 park here. It was placed in the centre of the branch, and was a perfect 

 nest in every way. I have never seen one before which has not had one 

 side against a wall or trunk of a tree. Mr. Cordeaux saw this nest, also 

 Mr. Young, both of whom remarked they had never seen a nest of this 

 species in such a position before. In due course eggs were laid and the 

 young hatched. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth, Notts). 



Baillon's Crake near Nottingham. — I saw one of these birds in 

 Stanley's shop in Trent Street, Nottingham, and was informed that it had 

 been picked up by a man near Gedling station. It was then dead and 

 lying on the road under the telegraph-wires, against which it had evidently 

 flown and killed itself. The date was June 22nd. This is only the second 

 known occurrence of this species in Notts, and I was fortunately able to 

 secure it for my collection of local birds. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth, Notts). 



Sabine's Gull on the N.W. Coast of England.— In confirmation of 

 the Rev. H. A. Macpherson's note (p. 4*29), I may state that two specimens 

 of this Gull were shot this autumn in or near Morecambe Bay. On 

 October 11th I received a note from a friend residing near Morecambe to 

 the effect that he had obtained a very small Gull which he believed to 

 be "Sabine's," and asking me if I would tell him the distinguishing 

 characteristics of this species. I supplied him with the required information, 

 and on October 24th he wrote again, saying that he had forwarded a Gull 

 similar to the one he had previously procured to my taxidermist. This 

 bird I have since seen, and it is undoubtedly an immature example of 

 Xema sabinii. — T. H. Nelson (Redcar). 



Night Heron near Belfast.— I have recently had the pleasure of 

 examining, in the flesh, a Night Herou, Nycdcorax griseus, which was 

 shot on the evening of the 26th October, on a piece of waste land just 

 outside Belfast, known as the "People's Park." In the moonlight the 

 gentleman who shot it mistook it for an owl by its flight, which he describes 

 as slow and lazy. It is a young bird in the spotted plumage; sex not 

 ascertained. To Ireland the Night Heron is a very rare visitor, not more 

 than ten or twelve instances of its occurrence being known. — Robert 

 Patterson (Malone Park, Belfast). 



Sabine's Snipe in Co. Donegal.— On Sept. 28th Mr. R. W. Peebles, 

 of Dublin, shot a very dark specimen of this variety on the mountains near 

 Bonny Glen, Moer, Co. Donegal. This is the same specimen that is 



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