NOTES AND QUERIES. 313 



Grasshopper-Warbler (Locustella nsevia) in the Isle of Man. — 

 When visiting the Curragh (an imperfectly drained depression of con- 

 siderable extent at the foot of the Northern Hills, between Ballaugh 

 and Sulby), with P. G. Ralfe and T. H. Graves, on May 30th last, 

 we had the good fortune to hear the strange song of this Warbler. 

 Although we had spent many hours in the Curragh, it was not until 

 we were returning at about 9 p.m. that we heard the first song. Soon 

 after we heard another, and altogether in a walk of half a mile in one 

 of the lanes crossing the swamp we heard at least six birds singing ; 

 sometimes two could be heard together. This bird has not been 

 noticed in Man before, but, judging by the number we heard in only a 

 small part of this area, there must be a considerable number in the 

 district. We stalked, and saw one of the singing birds at night, but 

 the next day, after a prolonged search, we failed to see the bird or hear 

 its song. [Ralfe heard another bird singing in the swamp near Balla- 

 craine on June 7th.] — Frank S. Graves (Ballamoar, Alderley Edge). 



Nesting of the Pied Wagtail (Motacilla lugubris). — I believe, as a 

 rule, this species only nests twice in the season, but this year the pair 

 that are in my garden have nested three times, and the hen bird is- at 

 present (July 27th) sitting on the third clutch of eggs close to the 

 window of the room in which I am writing. There are only one pair 

 of birds, and they arrive annually about the middle of March. I did 

 not examine the first nest, but I saw four or five young birds running 

 about on the lawn with the old birds at the end of April and beginning 

 of May, and early in June a second nest was built in a hole in the wall, 

 about three feet from the ground, just outside the window of my sitting 

 room. A Long-tailed Field-Mouse (Mus sylvaticus) disturbed the nest 

 one night, and carried off an egg, but the remaining four were hatched, 

 and the young birds reared, and these also, like the first brood, fre- 

 quented the lawn for several days with their parents. About July 

 20th I found the hen bird sitting on another clutch of eggs in a nest 

 about ten yards from the site of the second nest, and on the same wall, 

 about eight feet from the ground, but as it is in a creeper behind some 

 trellis, and in rather a difficult place to approach without disturbing 

 the sitting bird, I have decided not to examine it. Probably, however, 

 it contains four or five more eggs. — E. A. Butler (Plumpton House, 

 Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). 



Tree-Sparrow (Passer montanus) in the Isle of Man. — On July 



5th, 1902, I saw a pair of these birds in the trees bordering the high 



road at Kirby, near Douglas. These are the first birds of this species 



I have seen in Man ; they probably had a nest close to where I saw 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. VII.. August, 1903. 2 b 



