NOTES. 23 



I do not believe that any birds except Crossbills can extract 

 seeds from fir-cones before they begin to ripen and split 

 during April, then many seed-eating bu'ds will be found 

 feeding on them, especially Marsh-Tits ; whereas the seeds 

 of larch-cones form the principal food of Tits, Crossbills and 

 some of the finches all the winter. E. L. Turner. 



On p. 411 (Vol. III.) there are two notes recording the fact 

 that Chaffinches, Goldfinches and other birds feed on the seeds 

 of fir-cones, and suggesting that this habit is new or at any 

 rate unusual. Many years ago I watched Chaffinches extract- 

 ing the seeds from the cones of the Scotch fir, and shortly 

 afterwards in another locality from those of the Austrian pine 

 or some allied conifer. I have also on two occasions seen a 

 Song-Thrush pecking at a fir-cone, presumably for the sake of 

 the seeds. I drew attention to these facts in two papers 

 published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society in 

 1892 and 1894, and also mentioned that the Goldfinch behaves 

 in the same manner as the Chaffinch, though I have never 

 observed it myself. Charles F. Archibald. 



MOUTH-COLORATION OF THE NESTLING YELLOW 

 BUNTING. 



With reference to Mr. A. G. Leigh's correction of the mouth- 

 coloration of the nestling Yellow Bunting (Vol. III., p. 417), 

 it may be noted that at birth the inside of the mouth is not 

 always of a pink colour. In one brood which I had under 

 observation the colour was yellowish, and this was associated, 

 as a coincidence or otherwise, with absence of the usual 

 dusky tinge on tlie tip of the bill. Within twenty-four hours 

 the duskiness appeared, as well as a number of j»ink spots, 

 over the inside of the mouth. These gradually spread and 

 had coalesced by the second day. As a general rule, the 

 pink colour fades from the sixth day onwards ; on or about 

 the ninth day it lingers as a number of spots, which soon dis- 

 appear completely. . J. M. Dewar. 



NUTCRACKER IN SUSSEX. 



A female example of the Nutcracker was shot at Three Oaks, 

 Guestling, near Hastings, Sussex, on March 4tli, 1909. The 

 bird was examined in the flesh by Mr. L. Curtis Edwards, 

 and is now in my possession. This bird's bill appears to be 

 exactly the same as that of the male obtained at Brede, Sussex, 



