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a ae ee ee 
( 817 ) 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
MAMMALIA. 
CHIROPTERA. 
Daubenton’s Bat in the Conway Valley.— When staying at Bettws-y- 
Coed last May, I used to see this Bat (Myotis daubentont) every evening, 
skimming in its characteristic and unmistakable fashion over a quiet reach 
of the Lingwy. I also saw it at Llyn-yr-Afange, a beautiful pool on the 
Conway, whose name is said to recall the fact that the Beaver once 
inhabited the streem.— Cuas. OLDHAM (Alderley Edge). 
AVES. 
Nightingale Nesting at Wells, Somerset.—I am pleased to report 
that a pair of these beautiful songsters (Daulias luscinia) have again nested 
in a wood just outside the town known as Park Wood. The nest, composed 
of dried grasses and last year’s oak leaves for the exterior, with finer 
grasses and the skeletons of old oak leaves for the interior, is placed in the 
centre of a tall grass-stalk, supported on one side by the low hanging 
_ branch of the wild sloe, and contains five eggs, all of a uniform olive-brown 
colour; the nest is uncommonly deep and cup-shaped. On leaving the 
nest the female flew a few yards through the undergrowth, keeping close to 
the ground, the reddish tint of the tail-feathers being very noticeable. It 
is worthy of note that five young ones were hatched here in safety last 
year.— StanLey Lewis (89, High Street, Wells, Somerset). 
When does the House Martin arrive >—Having noted the arrival of 
8pring visitants for thirty-nine years, I should say that Messrs. Fowler and 
Aplin’s records show very well the average time of arrival of this species 
(Chelidon urbica). In the following thirty-seven records (those for years 
1863 and 1864 unfortunately lost) by my brothers and myself, there is a 
considerable gap between the earliest and latest notes, wz. April 13th and 
May 12th; but we early became accustomed to expect the bird considerably 
later than the Swallow, and not so very much before the Swift. It will be 
noted that this year (1898) gives the only record of arrival so early as 
second week in April. 
