272 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



state of affairs lasted until February 2nd, 1910, when I saw, at 

 Norden, a flock of about ten wood pigeons, and since then 

 these birds have been frequenting their favourite haunts in 

 small numbers. (E. R. B., March 21st, 1910.) 



MOORHEN (Gallinula chloropus, L.). A moorhen had eggs 

 in a nest over a pond at Pulham on April 6th. They dis- 

 appeared on April 12th. Two other settings were taken. On 

 June 8th a fourth batch was in the nest and young ones 

 appeared on July 3rd. The marauders, I believe, were rats ; 

 but the persistency of the mother struck me as very remark- 

 able. (J. R.) 



WHIMBREL (Numenius phceopus, L.). One seen in Poole 

 Harbour, April 27th. (G. R. P.) Mr. W. Parkinson Curtis 

 says the Whimbrel swarms in Poole Harbour on migration. 

 The local men call it the " May bird " and also the " Chikkoo," 

 the latter being the favourite with the old stagers, the former 

 with the present generation. He says that the name 

 " Chikkoo " is a purely phonetic rendering of the alarm note, 

 and is derived entirely from this, and it is therefore improbable 

 that it has any connection with the name of the village 

 of Chickerell (Proc., D.F.C., XXX., 241). He also states 

 that, pronounced as the local men pronounce it, that is, 

 hanging on with the tongue to the last syllable, " Chikkoo " 

 has a pronounced likeness to the unaccustomed ear to 

 " Chickerell," which accounts for the local name given in 

 Mansel-Pleydell's "Birds of Dorsetshire," (p. 101). Mr. 

 Curtis adds " Confer Curlew and their alarm note which 

 our men render as, " Here they do come, here they do come." 

 It is really Coo-cococo, but as pronounced by the Curlew 

 sounds exactly like " Here they do come." The curlew note 

 from which the name is derived might be taken as " Attention, 

 danger is near ;" the " Here they come " note as " Take wing 

 at once," and the last fearful scream of a captured cripple 

 or very badly startled bird as sheer terror. This last note is 

 untranslatable and cannot be imitated. It is wonderfully 



