Biro motes for 1912. 
D. Munro Smith. 
fHHE Curlew (Nnmenius arquata) breeds in our district, as I 
L found a nest in a certain boggy spot on the Mendip Hills 
on May 18th, 191 2. I believe this is the first notice of their 
nesting in our district. 
Immature birds, I know, are found along the shore of the 
Channel in summer, but I do not know of any place nearer than 
the Mendip Hills affording situations suited to the tastes of the 
old birds in the breeding season As Seebohm says, the breeding 
range of this bird in Britain is similar to that of the Ring Ouzel 
and Red Grouse. 
This bird flies very swiftly away from the nest on the appear- 
ance of a human being, and I should never have found the nest 
but for the near neighbourhood of a bank and a clump of furze- 
bushes, which afforded me concealment. 
While searching for this nest, a snipe ( Scolopax gallinago) rose, 
and I found the nest with four eggs. There is no notice of this 
bird's nesting in our local " Bird List." Towards evening I had 
many opportunities of hearing snipes " drumming " — a performance 
peculiar to the breeding season. The birds keep on the wing for 
a considerable time at a good height, alternately rising a little 
way, and then dropping with quivering wings, when the peculiar 
drumming is produced. It is supposed that the noise is made with 
the wings. The noise might be mistaken for the bleating of a goat. 
I have good evidence that snipe nest much nearer the city than 
the Mendip Hills— near Walton-in-Gordano for instance — and it is 
very likely that Bristol naturalists have found nests without 
informing the Society. 
The Redshank (Totanus calidris) was found nesting in our 
district last year by a keeper, and I saw a pair in the same spot 
this year in mid-May. This last was also a record for Somerset. 
