NOTES. 25 



lately received from, and set up for, some local gentleman, a 

 statement which their condition seemed quite to bear out. 

 The Two-barred Crossbill was in full red plumage, and very 

 bright, but I did not, unfortunately, make any further note 

 of it, but my recollection is that I was told that the birds 

 came from the Rothiemurchus district. George Bolam. 



GREEN WOODPECKER IN WESTMORLAND. 

 As the Green Woodpecker {Gecinus viridis) is a rare bird in 

 Westmorland, it may be of interest to record that I saw and 

 heard one on several occasions during April, 1911, in a wood 

 near Kirkby Lonsdale. My keeper tells me that he has heard 

 the bird at this time of yesiY for the last three years, but I 

 cannot find any old nesting-holes, nor does the bird seem to 

 have a mate. Hulme Wilson. 



PROBABLE SNOW-GEESE IN ESSEX. 

 I HAVE received a communication from Major J. Thornhill, 

 Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, to the effect that while he was searching 

 the marshes in the neighbourhood of that place on April 13th, 

 1911, he observed two pairs of birds Avhich he identified, with 

 all the certainty possible under the circumstances, as Snow- 

 Geese {Chen hyperboreus, Pall). The birds were very wild, 

 but it could be seen that " they were quite white, except the 

 flight-feathers, which were black." At first he wondered if 

 they could be Gannets, but " was quickly undeceived by their 

 manner of flight." He saw the birds for a second time on the 

 18th of the same month, but they were not seen again. While 

 recognizing that records of rare birds, unaccompanied by 

 specimxcns, must always be received with caution and reserve, 

 I venture to hold that the exceptional clearness and unmistak- 

 ableness of the identification characters of this species, give 

 this record a much greater value than is usual in such cases. 

 Many of the records of Snow-Geese accepted by Saunders 

 {III Man. B. B., 2nd ed., 1899, pp. 405-406) refer to birds 

 " recognized on the wing." 



A. Landsborough Thomson. 



COMMON SCOTER IN WEST YORKSHIRE. 

 On May 7th, 1911, I saw a Common Scoter {CEdemia nigra) on 

 Hemsworth Dam, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, about 

 fifty miles from the sea-coast at its nearest point. The bird 

 was apparently a male, and was in company with four Tufted 

 Ducks {FuUgula cristata). Although the Common Scoter is 

 reported as common on the coast of the county and in the 



