NOTES AND QUERIES. 27 



Kingfisher near Aberdeen. — The most interesting ornithological 

 event here is the recent acquisition of a Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida) on 

 the Don, a few miles inland from Aberdeen. A second specimen was 

 picked up in a starving condition about twenty-five miles inland, at 

 the watercourse of Moutgarrie grain-mills, Alford, Aberdeenshire. — 

 W. Wilson (Alford, Aberdeen, N.B.). 



Shoveler in Herts. — A female specimen of the Shoveler [Spatula 

 clypeata) was shot on a pond near here, in company with some ordinary 

 ducks, on Dec. 2nd last ; it was in splendid condition. As far as I can 

 gather, this is the first time the species has been recorded from Herts. 

 The bird was given to me, and sent t,o Messrs. Watkins and Doneaster 

 for preservation. — Heney Jennings (42, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, 

 Herts). 



King-Eider in Fifeshire. — A male King-Eider (Somateria spectabilis) 

 was shot on a moor in Fifeshire on June 15th, 1899. It was in com- 

 pany with Common Eiders, which breed on the moor in considerable 

 numbers. I saw the bird the day after it was shot. — Beenabd B. 

 Bivieee (82, Finchley Eoad, N.W.). 



Red Grouse in Surrey. — Can any reader tell me whether Ked 

 Grouse have ever been turned down in Surrey besides those mentioned 

 in Bucknill's ' Birds of Surrey,' viz. by the Duke of Gloucester in 

 1829, and by Colonel Chaloner at the beginning of last century ? 

 The reason I ask, is that an old inhabitant of Chobham, in Surrey, 

 told me, with many particulars, that he had once seen some on Chob- 

 ham Common some thirty years ago. If none have been turned down 

 since 1829, he must surely have made a mistake, as otherwise they 

 would have been noticed by other people between 1829 and 1870. He 

 knows the difference between Ked Grouse and Black Grouse, which 

 he has also seen on Chobham Common, but which, I think, are now 

 extinct. — S. H. le Maechant (44, Pont Street, S.W.). 



Nesting of the Moor-hen (Gallinula chloropus). — In ' The Zoolo- 

 gist' (1901, p. 17) there appeared a very interesting article on the 

 nesting of the Moor-hen by Mr. Oliver G. Pike, in which the writer 

 points out a curious fact concerning the extra nests built by these 

 birds. In a pond near here a pair of Moor-hens build every year, and 

 on one occasion I noticed two other nests built in the reeds at the side 

 of the pond, one at about fifty yards and the other about one hundred 

 yards from where they had constructed their proper nest, which is 

 usually on a small island in an overhanging rhododendron-bush, about 

 six inches from the water. This nest was neatly built of small twigs, 

 and lined with grass and leaves in the usual way ; the other two nests 



