NOTES AND QUERIES. 313 
Ornithological Notes.—I am sending a few notes which may be of 
interest to readers of ‘The Zoologist.’ On Jan. 6th last I saw a 
Goosander (male) fly over Vauxhall Bridge at about four p.m. I was 
watching some Gulls, when, looking up, I suddenly saw this bird 
flying just over me up the river, and not more than about thirty or 
forty feet above the bridge, so that I could see the peculiar bill and the 
colouring perfectly. As it was flying so low, I think it must have 
risen close by, and evidently dropped again the other side, and perhaps 
dived, as on crossing the bridge I could not see it anywhere. I sup- 
pose this is a rare bird in the Metropolis, but the day in question was 
one with a strong south-west wind, immediately succeeding the bitter 
cold at the New Year, which might perhaps account for its appear- 
ance. I see in‘ The Zoologist’ there have been several records lately 
cited of the Chiffchaff singing like a Willow- Wren, or vice versd. On 
April 5th, 1907, I was watching and listening to a Chiffchaff singing 
its usual song within a few feet of me, in a small copse near St. 
Leonards-on-Sea, when I was astonished to hear from (as I then felt 
sure) the same bird a feeble but unmistakable Willow-Wren’s song. 
There were two or three birds about, but they were all Chiffchaffs, 
and I did not hear the Willow-Wren at all in this particular spot till 
some five days later. The bird was singing its usual note close to me 
both before and after, but I only heard the Willow-Wren song once ; 
it was very feebly uttered, and I believe began with the usual “ chiff- 
chaff” repeated once or twice. (I do not know whether a further in- 
stance of this will be of interest, but am mentioning it in case it is.) 
fe this subject, is not the Chiffchaff’s note almost (if not) the same as 
the first note or two of the Willow-Wren’s song ?—H. G. ATTLEE 
(153, Beechcroft Road, Upper Tooting, S.W.). 
Notes on Nest-Boxes.—We have had the Great Tit, Blue Tit, 
Creeper, Nuthatch, Tree-Sparrow, House-Sparrow, Starling, and 
Tawny Owl in our nest-boxes this season, but the Stock-Dove has 
not come to us this year. Three Robins’ nests have been built in old 
kettles, though the birds have not been very successful in rearing 
their broods ; one nice lot were stolen when about half-fledged, pro- 
bably by a rat. One of the Great Tit’s nests might fairly be described 
as “a fine specimen of the red variety,” being made almost entirely 
of material collected from an old rug or carpet. This was spoiled by 
the mice which use the boxes in winter, and sometimes nearly fill 
them with acorns; these marauders had made such a hopeless mess 
of the nest with fragments of eggs and their contents that it was use- 
less for a museum specimen. Two pair of Nuthatches hatched off in 
Gool. tth ser. vol. XII., August, 190s. 2B 
