IRotes on a few Birt>s of tbe District. 
By D. Munro Smith. 
AN extraordinary irruption of Crossbills ( Loxia Curvirostra) into 
England, took place in the year 1909, flocks being general in 
most of the Southern Counties in September, while there was a 
fair number of records of their breeding in the ensuing spring 
(1910). I noticed a flock first at Kingsweston, in the middle of 
August, and during the winter large flocks were common in the 
neighbourhood. They fed on the seeds of the larch, transferring 
their attention, as spring came on, to those of the Scotch fir. I 
noticed a hen building at Kingsweston, on February 23rd, 1910, in 
the top of a larch, and the nest contained two eggs on March 10th. 
It was made of shreds of clematis on a foundation of larch twigs. 
I subsequently found two other nests, one in a larch, one on the 
bough of a spruce. There was another record of their nesting at 
Long Ashton, in "The Field.' There is a nest very similar in con- 
struction to the one I saw in the Bristol Museum. There was a flock 
at Kingsweston in the spring of this year (191 1), but I am not able 
to say if any nested. The Crossbill is usually an irregular autumn 
and winter visitor to this country, but in periods of from three to 
ten years, large immigrations occur, the birds being almost common 
in coniferous plantations in most parts of the country, and instances 
are recorded of their stopping to breed. The causes of these 
immigrations have still to be discovered. Possibly they are due 
to the failure of the seeds of conifers on the Continent. 
The country of our district is a very varied one, and for this 
reason a fair number of widely different species are to be found 
within a small radius from the city. 
The Lesser Redpoll ( Linota Rufescens) in some seasons nests on 
the Downs and in the g-ardens round Stoke Bishop, in fair numbers, 
but in other seasons its trill is a very unusual sound. In winter 
it is seen in flocks feeding on the seeds of the birch. Last winter 
I saw no lesser redpolls, and at the same time noticed that 
the birches had, mostly, very few seed catkins. 
The Rock Pipit (Anthtis Obscurus) nests on the Sea Walls and 
on St. Vincent's Rock above the Hotwells Station. It is essentially 
a shore-bird, and it is not common to find it nesting away from 
the sea. 
That very handsome bird, the Sheld-duck ( Tadorna Cornuta ), 
can be seen on the ooze of the Channel shore on both sides of the 
Avon. The typical nesting-place is at some depth in an old rabbit 
burrow, but with us their habits are different, and they lay their 
eggs in old hollow pollards in the adjoining marshes. 
