348 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



nowhere very well established in the North of England, the following 

 may be worth putting upon record : — On August 26th of the present 

 year I saw a single bird on the wing by the side of the Eden, near 

 Langwathby, but was not near enough to it to be able to say 

 whether it was adult or immature. Three days later an adult flew 

 past a friend and myself close to Birdoswald, on the Irthing, while 

 we were engaged in an examination of the Eoman wall and its station 

 there. The river here forms the boundary between Northumberland 

 and Cumberland ; Langwathby, it need hardly be added, is well 

 within the latter county. On August 16th I saw a Turtle- Dove near 

 Egglestone, in Teesdale, Co. Durham; and on July 13th, Mr. Abel 

 Chapman told me that during the previous week an immature 

 example had visited his garden at Houxty, on the North Tyne, 

 Northumberland, the first he had seen there. — George Bolam. 



Notes on the Dabchick (Podicipes fluviatilis). — One of my 

 daughters lives within a walk of this house, and has the rather 

 unusual opportunity of watching Dabchicks from the windows which 

 overlook the moat. This moat is a " protected area " for all wild 

 life, with the one exception of the Brown Bat. A pair of Dabchicks 

 have nested there twice this season, each brood consisting of two 

 only. When watching the second brood I noticed that each parent 

 took a chick in charge, and the two old birds kept some distance 

 apart, continually diving and bringing up food for the young. One 

 day I had a good view of a Dabchick walking on the soft ground close 

 to the moat ; the attitude was almost upright, and the bird seemed 

 to walk without any difficulty. A Duck which visits the moat 

 frequently was seen on one occasion to be fiercely pursued by one 

 of the Dabchicks. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Bectory, Bury St. 

 Edmunds). 



Notes on Nest-Boxes. — There is nothing new to record in our 

 nest-boxes this year, as they only attracted the usual tenants. Our 

 list is : — Great Tit, Blue Tit (several of each), Coal Tit (one), Nut- 

 hatch (one brood of six hatched out), Tree-Sparrow (many), Starling, 

 Tawny Owl, and Stock-Dove. I did not go up to the Tawny Owl's 

 nest till the young were hatched ; there were only two, which got off 

 safely. The birds used the same box which they occupied two years 

 ago, in a yew tree near the house. On March 8th a Stock-Dove had 

 two eggs in a box, and in this three pairs of young have since been 

 reared, probably by the same parents. Bedstarts and Wrynecks 

 seem almost extinct here ; I have not seen a nest of either for several 

 years, though our garden-boy assures me that he heard the " Cuckoo- 



