VOL. IX.] NOTES. 185 



attracted my attention Awhile flying about the church walls, 

 taking an occasional exciu'sion among the tombstones after 

 the manner of the SjDotted Flycatcher. A few days later 

 the female (easily distinguished by her duller garb) arrived 

 and remained in company Avith her mate until the end of 

 Xovember, Avhen they both left (the diminishing supply of 

 insects j^robably causing them to seek a living elsewhere), to 

 reappear for a short stay the following February and early 

 ]March. 



The same movements have taken place each following year 

 A^ith remarkable regularity, almost to a da}', and it is 

 interesting to note that the male bird arrives several days 

 before the female. 



One warm sunny day in the latter part of February, 1 914, 

 I had the pleasiu'e, and perhaps rare experience in this 

 country, of listening to the male uttering a faint but pleasing 

 warble, which reminded one of the song of the Robin, inter- 

 mingled with a suggestion of the Hedge-Sparrow"s joyous 

 notes, onh' in altogether more muffled tones, but distinctly 

 audible at a distance of twentv vards. W. J. Ashford. 



BLACK REDSTAFvT IN HERTFORDSHIRE. 



A Black Redstart [Phoenicurus o. gihraltnriensis), a female 

 or a male of the year, was feeding on the embankment of 

 one of the reservoirs at Tring, on Noveml)cr 6th, 1915. At 

 times the bird sought for food like a Robin on the sward 

 which tops the embankment, but it fed mostly among the 

 stones and made frequent little sallies into the air to snatch 

 insects, rising sometimes five or six feet above the ground. 

 Twice whilst I watched it, visits were paid to an adjacent 

 orchard, but the bird was back again in a minute or two on 

 the embankment. Avhere it seemed to find the best hunting. 



Chas. Oldham. 



CUCKOO'S METHOD OF OVIPOSITION. 



Ox June 26th, 1915, while out with a friend in a moorland 

 valley near Delph, Yorkshire, Ave noticed a Cuckoo {Cuculns 

 €. canorus) behaAang in an vmusual Avay. From time to time 

 it Avould leaA'e its perch on a tall tree and flajD along towards 

 a sloping bank about 80 yards away, where it attempted to 

 alight. A pair of MeadoAv-Pipits [Anthus pratensis) mobbed 

 it persistently on the groimd, on one occasion striking it 

 A\ ith such force as to make feathers flA'. Tavo SwalloAvs also 



