258 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



On the Xote of the Cuckoo, (Cueulus canorus.)— 8. 30, p.m., May 22n(l., 1854.— I have just 

 been listening to three Cuckoos singing. Two sang in the nsual manner — 'cuc-koo, cuc-koo,' but 

 the third repeated the first syllable twice, thus 'cuc-cuc-koo,' and this many times in succession; 

 occasionally varying it by the ordinary two-syllabled note. This bird was very near to where 

 I was standing, so that it was impossible for any mistake to have been made. May 29th. — 

 Since the above was written, I have had frequent opportunities of hearing the same bird sing 

 its peculiar song. It usually begins by one or two of the ordinary two-syllabled notes, and 

 then follow from eight to a dozen of the three-syllabled notes. The Cuckoo seems to be 

 unusually abundant here, as three or four are commonly to be heard singing at the same 

 time. I heard the Cuckoo for the first time this year on the 4th. of May, at "Walton, 

 near Driffield; and I am informed by my friend, D. Ferguson, Esq., of Redcar, that he 

 first heard it on the same day at that place. June 20th.— I have continued to hear the 

 Cuckoo with the anomalous voice up to this day. — B. R. M., Stoncfall, Harrogate, June 20th., 

 1854. 



Notice of tJie Night Jar, (Caprimulgus Europoeus,) near Barnsley. — While walking on the 

 morning of the 18th. of May, in the meadows on the lower side of the Aqueduct, in quest 

 of a specimen of the Tree Sparrow, to assist some youthful inquirers in discriminating this 

 from the House Sparrow, the dogs disturbed a large bird among the gorse and thorn bushes in 

 the angle between the Aqueduct and its furthest buttress ; it was some time after my companion 

 noticed it in taking wing, and then it clung to the ledges in ascending; when the bushes 

 were cleared, it swept with a light circling flight into the neighbouring copse, something in 

 the manner of the Hawk tribe;— though a white patch on its inner wing feathers distinguished 

 it from that family, or the Cuckoo. "Now," said my companion, "we may secure it, it appears 

 a young bird from its hesitating manner of taking to flight, but I suppose if a Kestrel I am 

 not to kill it." 1 replied that "I was unwilling to aid in the extermination of the doomed 

 race of Hawks, but I could not dictate." Whilst I was examining the thick bushy places 

 where it had apparently been harbouring, I heard the crack of his gun reverberating from 

 the bridge wall, and among the arches. I hastened at his call to secure the dogs; and we 

 picked up a bird, too much shattered from the nearness of the discharge to be fit for preser- 

 vation, which from its peculiar bill, fringed with small bristles — its serrated middle claw, and 

 reversible hind one; together with its finely mottled plumage, delicately pencilled with light 

 gray and yellowish brown tints, was pronounced at once as the Goatsucker, or Fern Owl. I 

 had formerly observed this bird in Sherwood Forest, but never in this part, and was glad to 

 record one mire rare bird for this district; yet with compunction that so innocent and beautiful 

 a creature should be thus profitlessly sacrificed. It was perched along and close to the branch, 

 as described by Yarrell, Morris, and other writers; the locality among stony whin covers and 

 ferny copses; and its hesitating manner when startled by daylight, all accorded with their 

 descriptions. We since learn that it has some years back been heard to utter its jarring note, 

 from which it obtains two of its names— Night Jar, and Dor Ilawk,* about the fern-clad quarries 

 of Dark Cliff, in Worsbro' dale. In addition to the instance of the Night Jar, or Goatsucker 

 observed May 18th., another was brought me to name, shot on the 30th. May, in the woods 

 near Silkstone; another had been procured in the same neigbourhood, and stuflfed without the 

 species being made out. One also was shot near Carlton, about the close of April, date not 

 remembered; this must have been a very early arrival, as the bird is one of our latest summer 

 visitants. The bird-stufFer who preserved this specimen, shot one fifteen years ago in Shaw 

 lane, near this town. The late Dr. Farrar had one in his complete collection of British Birds; 

 my informant cannot tell me where procured— it is supposed to have been shot in the direction 

 of the moors. Specimens have been pro3ured in Wharncliife. — T. Lister, Barnsley, May 29th., 

 1854. 



Thrushes feeding on the backs of Sheep. — As we should not disdain to notice the most trivial 

 facts that may be brought under our eye, I may inform you that on walking in the country 

 to-day, I observed considerable numbers of the Common Thrush alight on the backs of Sheep, 

 chiefly Lambs, and immediately commence picking and eating the parasites contained there. 

 The weather has lately been oppressively warm, and the Lambs appeared to experience relief 



• From an old word sijrnifyin^ buzzing, also applied to the Beetle, which this summer visitant preys 

 upon. This bird is also called Churn Otvl, and JVheel Bird. 



