JuxE 1, 1899.1 



KNOWLEDGE. 



133 



taking part in one or other of these expeditions, should 

 communicate at once with Mr. E. Walter Maunder, 

 director of the European detatchment, or to the Rev. 

 J. M.Bacon, who wUl have charge of the American party. 



Dr. David Gill, her Majesty's distinguished astronomer 

 at the Cape, has been awarded the fifth Watson medal by 

 the American National Academy of Sciences. Rarely 

 indeed has honour been more judiciously bestowed, for 

 Dr. Gill's zeal, assiduity, and the trustworthiness of his 

 work are recognised and appreciated by astronomers 

 the world over. 



Ihe fourth Annual Congress of the South-Eastern Union 

 of Scientific Societies will be held in the Sir -J. Williamson's 

 Mathematical School, Rochester, on May 25th, 26th, and 

 27th ; president, Professor G. S. Boulger, f.l.s., f.g.s. 

 Among many papers that will be read are : " Practical 

 Hints on the Formation and Collection of Coleoptera," by 

 .J. .J. Walker, e..\., f.l.s. : " The Sun and Eclipses 

 thereof," with special reference to the total eclipse of 

 May 28th, 1900, by G. F. Chambers, f.r.a.s. ; and " How 

 to Keep a Botanical Record," by Prof. G. S. Boulger, the 

 president. Various excursions have been arranged, headed 

 by specialists. 



♦ 



Conducted by Habry F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Sandgbouse ijj Lincolnshire. — In the great invasion of 

 Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes parado.rm), in 1888, the first 

 occurrence for Lincolnshire was recorded by me at the 

 time {Xool. 88, p. 420), on May 18th, in a parish on the 

 north wolds. There they appear to have continued for 

 some weeks, and several were shot, one of which I got. It 

 is a very remarkable fact that once again these erratic 

 wanderers from Asian steppes have this year appeared, 

 not only in the same parish, but the same field (twenty- 

 five acres of sandy land, recently laid down to permanent 

 pasture, as being too poor to cultivate). These Sandgrouse, 

 about thirty, were first seen by the rabbiter in the last 

 week of .lanuary, the same man whose son shot five in 

 1888 ; subsequently, by several competent observers in the 

 neighbourhood, some of whom, by previous experience, 

 had become well acquainted with the birds. The locality 

 is lonely and retired, and it says much for those who from 

 time to time saw them that they were never shot at or 

 otherwise disturbed on this or on the adjoining farm. 

 They did not always keep in one liock, but separated into 

 parties, and frequently took a flight of about a mile to 

 two large fields of wheat in the low country, and on being 

 flushed, returned to the same field on the wold. In fact, 

 this locality seems to have offered special attractions, and 

 it was here I got the feathers from one of their dusting- 

 places. During the arctic weather in March they became 

 much tamer ; the shepherd on the next farm told me he 

 got so near them that he could see their '• little woolly feet," 

 — and he knew them well, having had one given him in 

 1888. He also said that they followed each other like 

 partridges, but "wobbled" a good bit when running in the 

 snow. They finally and altogether disappeared about 

 March 2r3rd, at the break up of the storm. 1 have since 

 been informed a supposed flight of Sandgrouse were seen 

 on Flamborough Head in March. — John Cordeaus, Great 

 Cotes House, R.S.O., Lincoln, May 13th, 1899. 



The Rook as an Egi,-Stealer. — The Mistle Thrushes, 

 the operations of which I described in the March, 1893, 

 number of Knowledoe, have buUt in the same spot, within 



a few yards of my window, again this year. For the last 

 week the birds have been sitting, and I have watched with 

 much interest the sitting bird being fed by its mate. This 

 morning, when both birds had left the nest for a few 

 minutes, a Rook happened to settle in the tree. He 

 immediately saw the nest and hopped on to a bough near 

 it. Here he waited for a moment and looked all round 

 him. Seeing nothing to be afraid of, I suppose, he hopped 

 down to the nest, and taking out an egg jumped to another 

 bough and swallowed the egg whole. After another 

 careful look round, the Rook returned to the nest and made 

 a dig into it with his beak, but in his hurry clumsily pulled 

 out some of the lining of the nest instead of an egg. The 

 accident apparently hid the egg3, because he now began to 

 hastily pull the lining out and put it under his foot. From 

 this an egg dropped to the ground. The Rook saw the 

 egg drop, and instead of pulling out more lining, probed 

 about with his beak and eventually found another egg, 

 which was at once swallowed. .Just then, both Mistle 

 Thrushes returned, and seeing the Rook, raised their 

 harsh war cry and flew at him furiously. But before they 

 could reach him, the Rook had left the nest and retired to 

 the thickest part of the tree. The Thrushes continued to 

 swoop at him, and one of them flew so fiercely that it hit 

 a bough and knocked a bunch of feathers out of its own 

 breast. The Rook made no attempt to fight, but gradually 

 edging to the outside of the tree suddenly darted into the 

 open, pursued and tormented by the Mistle Thrushes until 

 out of sight. Half-an-hour afterwards, the Mistle Thrushes 

 were feeding peacefully upon the lawn, but their nest is 

 deserted.— Harry F. Witherby, March 25th, 1899. 



Arrh'al of Swallow. — Last year I was able to report 

 to you that I had seen my first Swallow on March llth, 

 which was the earliest of all in my records, this year I saw 

 my first on March 29th. This is fairly early considering 

 the bitter weather of a week since, when there were fifteen 

 degrees of frost. — E. Sillence, Church Street, Romsey, 

 30th March, 1899. 



Mistle Thrush swallowing Droppings of Young. — I am 

 fortunate in being able to confirm Mr. Witherby's most 

 interesting account of the extraordinary sanitation of the 

 Mistle Thrush's nest, given in the March (1898) number, 

 so far as a very brief observation goes. Yesterday (May 6th), 

 the last young Mistle Thrush left a nest which is built in 

 the fork of a beech tree five feet from the ground, and twelve 

 paces from my study window ; with a pair of field glasses 

 I have an excellent view down into the nest. Unfortu- 

 nately, I only discovered the nest one day before the last 

 bird left, but what I saw corresponds exactly with Mr. 

 Witherby's account. The parent bird came to the edge of 

 the nest, fed the two young ones, waited a moment, then 

 one of the two nestlings raised the hinder part of the body 

 towards the parent who stood above it, and, leaning over 

 it, when the dropping was extruded the parent bird seized 

 it in situ, and promptly swallowed it ; that the dropping 

 was large may be inferred from the fact that the birds were 

 just leaving the nest. The young birds were too well 

 feathered to require covering for a quarter of an hour, as 

 in Mr. Witherby's observation, and the parent bird flew 

 aWay almost at once, but there was no possibility of mis- 

 taking that the fa?s was reaUy swallowed down, nor did I 

 see any sign of disgorging. Whilst two birds were in the 

 nest a dropping was swallowed at every visit ; when only 

 one was left I saw the parent bird leave the nest on two 

 occasions without one, but that, of course, is easily accounted 

 for. Every time I saw a dropping taken it was swallowed, 

 not the largest even were taken in the beak only and 

 dropped away from the nest. — Arthur East, Southleigh 

 Vicarage, Witney. Oxon. 



