NOTES AND QUERIES. 435 



tion has overcome the otherwise powerful instinct of maternal love — 

 late broods of House-Martins, &c, to wit. — G. B. Coebin (Eingwood). 



How does the Osprey carry its Prey ? — In all the pictures I have 

 seen of the Osprey carrying a fish, the bird has invariably been repre- 

 sented as gripping its prey by the middle in a parallel position. 

 Although my experience of these handsome birds is an extremely 

 limited one, yet I have had the pleasure of watching them bringing 

 food to their young, and on that occasion, at any rate, all the fish they 

 brought were carried by the head or gill-covers, their tails hanging 

 straight down from the bird's talons. As I think this an interesting 

 point, I should like to learn the experiences of some of your readers on 

 the subject. Perhaps those who have had the good fortune of observ- 

 ing the bird in America may be able to say whether my observation is 

 exceptional. It is possible that different Ospreys may carry their prey 

 in different ways, and that is the point on which I should be glad to 

 have some light. — A. H. Meiklejohn (1, Colville Houses, Colville 

 Square. W.). 



Spatula clypeata in Surrey. — The Shoveler is perhaps of sufficiently 

 rare occurrence in Surrey to make it worth while to record that on 

 April 19th last I saw a pair on a large pond in the neighbourhood of 

 Lingfield. By using a little caution I was able to get fairly close to 

 them, and with the aid of a powerful glass could see the details of their 

 plumage very well. I noticed that they sat considerably lower on the 

 water thau some Mallards which joined them, and on being disturbed, 

 after flying round in circles, returned most persistently to the weedy 

 corner of the lake where I first detected them. I have noticed that 

 Mallards, after circling round in a similar manner, usually fly right 

 away, and settle on some distant part of the water. — C. H. Bentham 

 (Oxted, Surrey). 



Grey Phalarope in Cheshire. — For about ten days in September a 

 Grey Phalarope [Phalaropus fulicarias) frequented Bedesmere, a large 

 sheet of water near Chelford, Cheshire. On the evening of Sept. 19th 

 I was told by a farmer that a strange bird of a kind he had never seen 

 before had been swimming near him when he on the previous evening 

 was in a wood which borders the mere. Soon after I entered the wood 

 I saw tbe bird on the water at some distance from the shore, but after 

 I had waited for a few minutes it came nearer, flying and swimming, 

 until it was within a few yards of the bank. The bird was in winter 

 dress ; the forehead, chin, throat, breast, and belly were pure white, 

 the back pearl-grey ; the wings mottled with grey and white. A black 

 or very dark grey streak extended from the black crown down the nape 



