24 BRITISH BIRDS. 



in 1907 (c/. antea, Vol. I., p. 185), and this was identified as 

 an example of the west European form X. c. caryocatactes, 

 not X. c. macrorhyncJius, as printed, this being the name of 

 the slender-billed form (c/. Hartert, Vug. pal. F., 26). A 

 bird shot on November 17th, 1885, at Strode Park, Heme, 

 Kent (c/. N. F. Ticehurst, Birds of Kent, p. 193), is now in 

 my jsossession, and I find that its bill is nearly a quarter of an 

 inch longer and is rather more slender than that of the bu-d 

 shot on March 4th, 1909. The Strode Park bird therefore 

 appears to be an examjsle of the slender-billed Siberian form 

 X. c. macrorhynchus, Brehm. 



J. B. Nichols. 



HOOPOE IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 



On May 20th a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) settled on the lawn 

 at Chilwell House, Notts., Avhile Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Pearson 

 were at breakfast. As the bird was only three or four yards 

 from the window they had a very good view of it, with its 

 crest erected, during the one or two minutes it was on the 

 ground. It was then disturbed by a cat, and disappeared over 

 the house. 



As this species has been very rarely recorded in Nottingham- 

 shire, the above occurrence seems worth noting. 



Henry J. Pearson. 



UNUSUAL NESTING-SITE OF THE TA\VNY OWL. 



An unusual nesting-site for a Tawny Owl {Syrnmm aluco) 

 was brought to my notice recently. Just before Easter I 

 was told of an Owl's nest in a rabbit-hole some twelve miles 

 from Scarborough, and on April 3rd, 1910, I went out to 

 photograjDh it. On reaching the place we found that someone 

 had taken the eggs in the meantime, but the farmer who had 

 originally found the nest knew the Ta\\'ny Owl well and showed 

 us the place. It was not a rabbit-hole as at first reported, 

 but a slight scraping about three inches deep on the ground 

 in a small pine- wood. There was no protection for tlie eggs or 

 bird of any sort, the nest being quite as open and conspicuous 

 as a Woodcock's, and placed near the foot of a Scotch pine. 

 There Avere a few bits of bark and pine-needles in the nest, and 

 several pellets and feathers on the ground round about. The 

 position was the more remarkable because the district affords 

 any number of normal nesting-sites, and there were several 

 old nests of Crows or squirrels in the wood. 



A fortnight later I found a fresh Tawny Owl's egg and the 

 broken shells of two others on the ground in the same wood, 



