NOTES AND QUERIES. 463 



" died," and has kindly furnished me with a remarkably good photo- 

 graph of them. In every instance that I know the Cats' hind feet 

 contain the normal number of toes. As will be seen, on the left foot 

 are seven digits, and on the right six. — A. H. Patterson (Ibis House, 

 Great Yarmouth). 



AVES. 



Nesting of the Dipper in Renfrewshire. — I found a nest of the 

 Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus) in May of this year, containing four eggs. 

 One of these I accidentally chipped, so I lifted it out with care. In- 

 cubation had been going on for about a week. I went off for a holiday, 

 and returned a month later with my camera to photograph the nest. 

 What was my surprise to find two addled eggs (which I took home and 

 blew), and one dead young one. The mother had evidently been dis- 

 appointed with the result of her labours, and left the whole thing in 

 disgust. As the nest was by the side of a little waterfall built into the 

 grassy bank in a lonely moorland, and could only be reached by walking 

 up the bed of the stream, I do not think the bird would be disturbed.— 

 T. Thornton Mackeith (The Hall, Caldwell, Renfrewshire). 



White Wagtail in Northamptonshire. — When visiting Byfield 

 Reservoir with my brother on July 19th last, I saw on the dry mud 

 left bare by the falling water (the reservoir being nearly empty) an 

 adult female White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), and three or four young 

 ones still in the peculiarly delicate grey dress worn by them when they 

 leave the nest. I have little doubt that these White Wagtails had been 

 reared at the reservoir, the nest probably being built in a hole in the 

 rough stonework which protects the banks from being injured by the 

 wash of the water, and had this year been high and dry for months. 

 The old female had, as far as I could see with the glass, no black on 

 the top of the head, merely a dusky appearance. — 0. V. Aplin (Blox- 

 ham, Oxon). 



Increase of Goldfinches in Bedfordshire. — I notice (ante, p. 431) a 

 note by Mr. Lodge on the increase of the Goldfinch in Middlesex and 

 Herts. In this county (Bedfordshire) this increase is most remarkable. 

 The bird has been scheduled for several years, and for every one that 

 used to be seen there are now a dozen or twenty. Only this week I saw 

 a flock of nearly thirty in the north of the county, and not far from the 

 same place last spring I saw a flock that must have contained nearly 

 fifty. I have also seen it in gardens well in the town ; in fact, it 

 breeds every year within the town boundary, in some elms on the path 

 of one of the main roads. Whether it is also the result of the protection 



