100 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



May 1865. Cream coloured specimens are noted at Scar- 

 borough [op. cit. 1883, p. 79), and Selby, on 30th January 1897 ; 

 and white ones at Selby, 1890, and Beverley, 1900. 



The Hedge Accentor is one of the best known foster 

 parents of the Cuckoo, the colour of whose eggs is occasionally 

 assimilated to that of the fosterer ; and Mr. T. Stephenson, 

 of Whitby, informed me that he once found a Hedge Sparrow's 

 nest containing four of her own eggs and a cuckoo's, which 

 latter was a little larger and nearly the same colour as the 

 fosterer's. 



I have observed that this bird will occasionally eat 

 grain scattered in a garden for the feeding of poultry, 

 and on these occasions is inclined to be very pugnacious, 

 sometimes driving away a bantam which disputed its right 

 to a meal. 



Local names : Hedge Sparrow ; Dunnock ; Dicky 

 Dunnock, general ; Cuddy, general among schoolboys ; Billy 

 or Billy Hedge Sparrow, Doncaster ; Hedge Creeper, Thirsk 

 and Cleveland ; Shuffle Wings, Cleveland and Craven ; it 

 is also locally termed Hedge Warbler or Hedge Chanter ; 

 Cuddy Whooper is a name I have heard near Redcar, and 

 Hempie is a term mentioned by Swainson as used in Yorkshire. 



ALPINE ACCENTOR. 



Accentor collaris [Scopoli). 



Accidental visitant from Central or Southern Europe. 



Like the Rock Thrush, this bird affects the mountainous 

 districts of central and southern Europe, where it is, however, 

 a resident and only to be considered migratory in so far 

 as it passes the summer at considerable elevations and 

 descends into the valleys for the winter. From some cause 

 or another the Alpine Accentor occasionally finds its way 

 into Western Europe, and has on several occasions occurred 

 in the British Isles, and once in Yorkshire. 



