NOTES AND QUERIES. 317 



their return, and then saw they were " Stock-Doves," and were with- 

 out doubt nesting in the crevices. Although I searched carefully, I 

 failed to find a nest. Soon after, near the same place, I saw three 

 more birds, and a day or two later, another flying over an inland rocky 

 mountain slope, where I had been told, when a boy, that Rock-Doves 

 nested. It seems that only one other Stock-Dove has been recorded in 

 the Isle of Man, that one being shot in November, 1900, from a flock 

 near Castletown. — Frank S. Graves (Ballamoar, Alderley Edge). 



The Rock-Dove (Columba livia) in Somerset. — I think the remark 

 quoted by Mr. Stanley Lewis (p. 230) rather tends to prove that the 

 birds in question were not genuine wild Rock-Doves, for these birds do 

 not have "checkered wings," although "blue checker" is a common 

 colour in blue dovecot Pigeons. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



[Probably Mr. Stanley Lewis can procure a skin, and thus settle the 

 question one way or the other. — Ed.] 



Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) in the Isle of Man. — On June 6th, 

 1903, when again searching the Curragh, I flushed a Water Rail from 

 a nest containing eight eggs, and found two other nests empty. On 

 June 21st I found a fourth nest, with six eggs, within about forty yards 

 from the first one with eggs. I have only heard of one nest of this 

 bird having been found in Man before, but each winter a few birds are 

 shot. Possibly this is not an uncommon nesting species in this dis- 

 trict, and other similar places in Man. — Frank S. Graves (Ballamoar, 

 Alderley Edge). 



Breeding of Lesser Black-backed and Herring-Gulls. — Does Mr. 

 Elms, in his "Bird Notes in Sark" {ante, p. 261), mean that he 

 actually saw the Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) and Herring- 

 Gull (L. argentatus) sitting side by side on one nest ?r Otherwise, I 

 fancy it would be difficult to prove the statement of the boatmen that 

 these birds commonly lay in and share the same nest. Fishermen and 

 others will often tell you that they can distinguish at a glance the eggs 

 of these two birds ; if so, they have a keen sense for minute differences, 

 which has been found lacking in many an eminent ornithologist, 

 Seebohm included, who says : " It is very important that eggs of this 

 species (i.e. Larus fuscus) should be carefully identified, as many of 

 them are indistinguishable from those of the Herring-Gull" ('British 

 Birds,' vol. iii. p. 321). On Mullion Island, off the Cornish coast, 

 there is a large colony of Herring-Gulls, which I frequently visit. 

 Amongst the nests of these birds, thickly scattered on the top of the 



* Mr. Elms has some further remarks thereon in this issue {ante, p. 308). — Ed. 



