Welsh Journals

This year (1955) she built as usual but did not lay. She kept the nest decorated with green leaves and small branches until the end of July, and she kept up her aggressive attacks on intruders even though the nest was empty. 1956. There was some limited breeding. Most nests contained 1 or 2 eggs, but I know of two nests where the young were found dead soon after they had left the nest. 1957. This year the buzzard is doing well. I have found two nests with four eggs, and most have three. There has been, and still is, a plague of small rodents (mice and voles-species unknown) -botb in the valley fields and the mountain and moorlands, and all the nests I have inspected contained the remains of mice, and no evidence of any other food. On 25/5/57 I found three buzzards' nests on the moorlands between the Irfon and the Towy valleys. One contained three young and three dead mice the second had two young and thirteen dead mice the third contained three young and two dead mice. The aggressive buzzard has reared a family in a tall tree, so I cannot say how many eggs she has laid. She is more aggressive than ever, and has taken to attacking the postman when he ap- proaches the near-by farm. I thought the plague of small rodents might lead to the appear- ance of a large number of short-eared owls, but I have only heard of two pairs-both in the Abergwesyn valley. C. M. FENN. SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE BEST, P. B. (1957). Homing in Water Voles. Mammal Soc. Brit. Isles Bull. 8 II. Results of marking water voles showed some found their way home through unknown area within three hundred and fifty yards each way on water and two hundred yards on land. The actual mechanism is unknown previous experience of the ground is unlikely, and reorientation from the direction and distance the trap is carried improbable. (R.M.L.) DAVIS, R. A. (1957). Observations on outdoor-living House Mice (Mus musculus L.). Mammal Soc. Brit. Isles Bull. 8 10. On Skokholm large numbers are present all over the island, even down the rocky cliffs, and completely independent of man. Over 150 were trapped and marked and some moved up to a quarter of a mile in five nights, but most were comparatively sedentary. Stomach contents and droppings were examined and show a diet of plant, insect and arthropod materials. Ectoparasites were recorded (see Nature in Wales, page 405). (R.M.L.)