NOTES AND QUERIES. 437 



AVES 



Migration in Bedfordshire. — In a recent note to the ' Zoologist ' 

 (p. 314) I wrote of the migrant bird-life frequenting the Bedford 

 Sewerage Farm at Newnham, which is situated in the adjoining parish 

 of Goldington. Eeference was also made to the present existing open 

 sewage conditions that are being replaced by septic tank principles, 

 which changes have been delayed in completion until the war is over. 

 When these are in readiness the present 100 acres or so of attractive 

 feeding-grounds will be no more, and many of the rarer spring and 

 autumn migrants will pass over unheeded and probably hardly 

 credited in years to come. From the latter end of July to the end 

 of September practically hardly a day passes but one can see at least 

 some migrant of interest that may throw a little more light on the 

 subject of this night-line that passes along the Ouse valley. A recent 

 visit to this locality gives a fair indication of what birds may be met 

 with in a county so far remote from the coast-line movements. On 

 September 1st I visited the farm in the evening, but unfortunately not 

 until darkness was coming on, and the failing light prevented my 

 making any prolonged observations. A Curlew was most conspicuous 

 by its noisy callings and wary movements, and a solitary Dunlin, still 

 in the breeding plumage, could be seen with the aid of field-glasses ; 

 but three other smaller waders, although within twenty yards, could 

 not be satisfactorily identified. Several Green Sandpipers were calling 

 frequently, and a large number of Snipe were " scaping " freely around 

 wherever I wandered. Two Tufted Duck were swimming on a pool 

 of drainage water in a disused gravel pit. On September 3rd the 

 following species were observed : 5 immature Sheld-Duck, 1 Tufted 

 Duck, 5 Eing-Plover, 3 Greenshank, 1 Eedshank, 2 Green Sandpipers, 

 4 Common Sandpipers, 1 Dunlin in winter plumage, and, in addition, 

 fully 50 Snipe were observed (one of which was heard " drumming " 

 for a short time), and the usual large number of Lapwings, Moorhens, 

 Eooks, Jackdaws, Starlings, Pied and Yellow Wagtails, and a few 

 Meadow Pipits, with the other more or less general bird-life found 

 there practically throughout the year. — J. Steele Elliott. 



Stonechat near Wilsden, Yorks.— As I was returning home from 

 Bingley Wood on the afternoon of September 30th, I saw at a 

 distance what I took to be a Whinchat ; but on a nearer approach I 

 saw it was a Stonechat, the very first I have ever seen alive in this 

 immediate neighbourhood. It is not often seen here in the autumn, 

 but is sometimes met with on migration on the high ground in early 



