OTE5 



ISABELLINE WHEATEAR IN SUSSEX. 

 The third British example of the Isabelline Wheatear {Saxicola 

 isabellina) was secured at Rye Harbour on March 28th, 1912. 

 I examined it in the flesh the next day and upon dissection 

 it proved to be a male. I agree with Mr. Ticehurst (Vol. V., 

 p. 74) that this species is no doubt overlooked, which fact 

 is substantiated bj^ both this and the specimen recorded by 

 himself being shot by the same man, who was on the look 

 out for this species. H. W. Ford -Lindsay. 



PROBABLE NORTHERN LONG-TAILED TITS IN 



ESSEX. 

 I SAW on March 22nd, 1912, in the parish of Bradfield, Essex, a 

 pair of white-headed Long -tailed Tits. I had them under 

 observation for about ten minutes, sometimes within ten 

 yards of me, using a pair of Voigtlander prism binoculars 

 magnifying twelve diameters. One bird had an absolutely 

 white head, the other I am not quite sure about, but if it had 

 any stripe on the head at all it must have been very faint. 

 The white head of the one I saw best was quite clean-cut 

 from the back — I mean, there were no stripes where the head 

 and neck joined the back and sides. The whole bird seemed 

 lighter and brighter than our English birds in general ; the 

 breast and under-parts much whiter, the red on back and 

 shoulders more vivid. The tail seemed to me longer, but it 

 is very difficult to judge on such a point. 



I have never been in northern Europe, and have no skins 

 to refer to, but the birds were strikingly different from any 

 Long-tailed Tits I have seen before. I may say that what 

 attracted my attention was their note — a harsh " chissick," 

 something like that of a Wagtail. They were flying fairly 

 high when I heard the note first, and dropped down into a 

 stunted oak on the shore of the estuary (Stour). I think there 

 can be little doubt that they were Acredula caiidata caudata. 



Walter B. Nichols. 



BRITISH WILLOW-TITS IN CHESHIRE, LANCASHIRE 



AND WARWICKSHIRE. 

 On April 17th, 1912, I watched a Willow-Tit {Parus atri- 

 capillus kleinschmidti) in an excellent light in a wood at 

 Rostherne. I noticed the cap first ; it was distinctly brown- 

 black and not sooty-black. I then saw the pale edgings to 



