NOTES. 123 



[This recalls to our mind an observatiou made by Mr. R. H. 

 Eead (cf. Bull. B.O.C., Vol. XTX., p. 22) who counted nine 

 hundred and fifty-two feathers in the nest of a Long-tailed Tit. 

 They were all feathers of the domestic fowl, and must have 

 been procured from the nearest farmyard, which was about a 

 third of a mile distant. Granting that only one feather was 

 carried at a time, and that both birds were occupied in the task, 

 then each bird must have covered some three hundred and 

 twenty miles on its jovirneys to and fro. — Eds.] 



BEAMBLING IN JUNE IN YORKSHIRE. 



Bramblings remained in many places in the spring of 1907 

 beyond the average date of their departure ; in Cheshire, for 

 instance, they Avere with us until the end of April. 



About the middle of June, Mr. S. Ratcliffe, who lives at 

 Luddenden-dene, near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, heard the 

 note of a bird which he could not identify, in a birch wood 

 near his house. He pointed out the bird to Mr. Waterworth, 

 of Halifax, who recognised it as a Brambling, and on the 2ord 

 took a number of Halifax and Hebden Bridge natui'alists to see 

 it. On June 28th, by invitation, I accompanied Messrs. 

 W. Greaves, Greenwood, and W. No well, to the wood, and both 

 saw and heai-d the bird. The bird, a male in full breeding 

 dress, gave us every opportunity for observation, remaining for 

 some hours in one portion of the wood ; indeed, it seldom 

 moved from one particular group of birches. The brown tips 

 and margins of the feathers had been shed, so that the bird's 

 head, neck, and back were glossy black, and the lesser wing- 

 coverts formed a conspicuous chestnut-bu-ffi patch ; the white 

 rump was only noticeable when the bird flew. The blue-black 

 bill, so different from the yellow black-tipped bill of winter, 

 was particularly noticeable. 



From about 2.30 p.m. until 6 p.m., when we left, the bii'd 

 called at intervals of about ten seconds the loud long-drawn 

 " ci-ee " of the breeding season. Every time it uttered this 

 note it raised its head until its beak pointed upwards. This 

 note, so like the monotonous cry of the Greenfinch, was the 

 only sound we heard it make. Once or twice it flew for a short 

 distance through the trees, and there was nothing in its flight 

 to suggest that it had been in any way disabled, and so unable 

 to leave the country with other Bramblings. 



Mr. Ratcliffe saw the bird on June 30th, but after that it was 

 not, to my knowledge, seen nor heard. We failed to find any 

 evidence that a pair had remained to nest. 



T. A. COWAKD. 



