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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



AVES. 

 Swallow-tailed Kite in Suffolk. — This British example of Elanoides 

 furcatus, recorded by Mr. Butterfield (ante, p. 270), was restored by Mr. 

 Bristovv, of St. Leonards, some years ago, and the Mr. Travers who shot 

 it told him it was eating a partridge at the time. — G. W. Bhadshaw 

 (Hastings). 



Alleged Nesting of Montagu's Harrier in Kent. — About the last week 

 in June a young lady, a near neighbour, called to tell me that she had 

 found a nest that she was anxious to identify, bringing with her a feather 

 which had fallen from the bird as it left the nest. I at once recognized the 

 feather as one of the outer tail-feathers of a Harrier, but of which par- 

 ticular species I did not feel sure at first. It certainly was not a Marsh 

 Harrier's, and therefore was either from the Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus, or 

 Montagu's, C. cinerascens. The locality, a marsh, did not accord with the 

 usual breeding places of the Hen Harrier, and on my showing a specimen 

 of a female of each of these species, an objection was raised that the Hen 

 Harrier was too large. A further comparison of the tail-feathers of each 

 left no doubt on my mind that the nest was one of C. cinerasceus. The nest 

 was in a dry part of the marsh, and placed in a thick clump of rush and 

 Carex. Some of the material, which was also brought for my inspection, 

 consisted of broken pieces of dry reed. The nest was described as very 

 slight in construction. There was one pale bluish-white egg, aud this was 

 left in hopes that more would be laid. On a second visit the egg was gone, 

 probably abstracted by a Rook, as no footmark or trodden herbage was 

 visible ; nor was the bird seen again. I think there is no doubt whatever 

 that this Harrier (Montagu's) had bred here.— W. Oxenden Hammond 

 (St. Alban's Court, near Wingham, Kent). 



Summer Appearance of Wild Geese in Fifeshire. — On July 1st a 

 small flock — about twenty in number — of Wild Geese flew over the links 

 here, going in an easterly direction. Species undetermined, though pro- 

 bably "Pink-footed," which are common here in winter.— A. H. Meikle- 

 john (St. Andrews, N.B.). 



Strange Occurrence of an Albatross in Cambridgeshire. — Mr. 

 Travis, the birdstuffer at Bury St. Edmunds, has lately received in the 

 flesh a bird which is probably new to the European fauna — one of the 



