NOTES AND QUERIES. 433 
on several occasions this spring. Eyen in February I once or twice 
came across one, I think a female, in some rushy ground; I have not 
before this year found it in the Park, though it is often plentiful on 
Wimbledon Common in winter. There is also a nice little colony of 
Tree-Sparrows here now ; I often saw four or five together, and there 
are no doubt more. They seemed very fond of the young osiers, &c., 
at the east end, as did other birds; one Sunday afternoon in par- 
ticular, at the beginning of June, this spot- seemed alive with small 
birds of nearly a dozen species. The Wryneck was constantly heard 
here, and the Nuthatch several times. This last seemed to me more 
numerous last summer in the Park, being constantly seen and heard 
all over it in different places. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is 
almost always to be heard here, especially near the west end of the 
ponds, but I have not often noted the Greater species. This year I 
saw it or heard it several times; I suppose it probably breeds, as it is 
a very shy species, and not easily seen. I did not know till this year 
that the Whinchat was a mimic, but on May 31st one by Penn Ponds 
was performing wonderfully in this way; it reproduced the song of 
a Garden-Warbler and previously some notes of a Nightingale in a 
way which quite deceived me for the moment, though it was perched 
at the time in a young tree close by, and some distance from any 
plantation. Afterwards it reverted to its usual strain, which it 
always seems capable of varying a good deal. Another (or possibly 
the same bird), on the other side of the ponds, had shortly before re- 
produced the ordinary call of the Redshank so exactly that, though 
there were people walking about all round the ponds at that time; 
and it seemed very unlikely there could be one of the latter species 
about, it was some time before I could feel sure the note came from the - 
Whinchat. This last bird was singing incessantly, and every now 
and then fluttering up from the bracken and off to some little dis- 
tance, singing the while, rather after the style of the Whitethroat. A 
week later (June 7th) I found its nest under a slight tuft of grass, 
with five or six young a day or two old. This seemed quick work, as 
I saw no Whinchats at all till April 29th, and not till some few days 
later here. A nest of young Wheatears was found down a rabbit- 
burrow near by on May 31st. On May 10th two Wrynecks were seen 
pairing, but the nest was not found,— H. G. ATnEE (Caversham, 
Oxon). 
[Mr. Mouritz recorded the presence of the Dabchick on the larger 
pond (Zool. 1905, p. 350), and also the probability of . the Reed- 
Bunting breeding near the east corner of the smaller pond (loc. cit.. 
p. 349).—Ep.] sc 
Gool 4th ser. vol. XII., November, 1908. 21 
