NOTES AND QUERIES. 145 



the under parts and some of the larger quill-feathers of the wings being 

 wholly white, one of the wings, when expanded, having the peculiarity 

 of black and white quills alternately. Its legs were of the usual 

 greenish hue, the red garters appearing very conspicuously, but not 

 more than the well-developed nails, which were quite white, but have 

 since faded to a dull pale green. My experience is that this common 

 bird is not so often seen with white feathers in its plumage as some 

 other species are ; and, having showed my specimen to several men 

 whose life-work has been near the river, and to whom the Moorhen is 

 probably the most familiar bird, I was told that none of them ever 

 saw a specimen anything like it. — G. B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). 



Nesting of the Lapwing (Vanellus vulgaris). — Referring to Mr. 

 Kelso's notes on the nesting of the Lapwing {ante, p. 108), I have 

 turned up his reference in the ' Transactions of the North Staffordshire 

 Field Club,' which is to be found in the volume for 1895, p. 48. 

 Mr. R. H. Read supplied me with notes describing the two Lapwings' 

 nests in question, which were raised "quite ten inches high; ... no 

 doubt" (as Mr. Read said) "the birds were guarding against inunda- 

 tion of the nest if the water in the reservoir rose higher." The ground 

 was not particularly wet, but subject to inundation after storms. The 

 reservoir is one of the Water Company's store reservoirs. — John R. B. 

 Masefield (Rosehill, Cheadle, Staffordshire). 



Curlew-Sandpiper on the Dee Marshes in February. — On Feb. 19th, 

 Mr. C. Oldham and I watched a Curlew- Sandpiper [Tringa subarquata) 

 on these marshes ; it was in very grey and white winter plumage, a 

 conspicuous object on the grass. There was a strong westerly breeze 

 on that day, with a high tide, and the bird was sheltering head to wind 

 in a slight depression in the turf, its dark coloured decurved bill showing 

 plainly as it moved its head continually from side to side watching us. 

 Though not uncommon as a passing visitor in the Dee and Mersey 

 estuaries in autumn, it is, however, very unusual to meet with one in 

 winter in this district, and the occurrence is therefore worth recording. 

 Perhaps in this case the bird had been prevented by injury from 

 leaving at the usual time, or possibly it had been induced to remain on 

 here by the mild weather and a plentiful supply of food. We did not 

 actually see the bird fly, but it could run well, and had no appearance, 

 so far as we could see, of being in the least degree wounded. In ' The 

 Zoologist' (1904, p. 66), Prof. J. H. Salter, in his " Ornithological 

 Notes from Mid- Wales," states that Mr. Fielden saw a flock of about 

 thirty Curlew- Sandpipers on the golf-links at Borth on Feb. 10th, 

 1902. It would be interesting to know what was the plumage of these 



