January 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



15 



in magnificent plumage, is even larger than the grand 

 male in the beautiful group of seven of these birds in 

 the Norwich Castle Museum ; and from the date of its 

 death is not unlikely to have been the last male of the 

 Swaffham drove, the females of which were not finally 

 exterminated until the year 1838, when the last of the 

 Norfolk-bred Bustards was killed. — Thomas Soi-thwell, 

 Norwich. 



Waxwincs [Am pel i.^ tjarnihis) at Scari!0R0u<;h. — There 

 are quite a lot of Waxwings at the present time (November 

 4th, 1897) in this locality, upwards of half a dozen having 

 been shot and sent to me for preservation. The birds which 

 have been captured were found feeding on the berries of 

 the mountain ash and alder, and were so tame as to allow 

 their executioners to walk beneath the bush whilst they 

 sat on the top of it quite undisturbed. — J. Morlev, King 

 Street, Scarborough. 



Variety of the Common Giillemot at SiARnoRorciii. — 

 A beautiful variety of the common tluillemot was caught 

 on December 4th, 1897, in Scarborough Harbour. Its 

 head and entire under parts are white, whilst its back 

 and wings are of a whitey-brown colour, and its bill, legs, 

 and feet yellowish white. A bird of this description is 

 extremely rare ; a similar one was obtained a few years ago 

 at Filey. The writer has visited Speeton Cliffs for many 

 years during the breeding season, and amongst the 

 hundreds of thousands of birds that annually resort there 

 for breeding purposes, has seen but one creamy coloured 

 Ciuillemot. — -J. Morley, King Street, Scarborough. 



House Sparrows and Pigeons, — That Span-ows should 

 singly pursue Pigeons — white birds for preference — and 

 snatch feathers from the breast and sides, is, I imagine, 

 no news to the majority of your readers, though I have 

 more than once met with doubt when alluding to the 

 practice. Never before, however, have I observed this 

 robbery in mid-air before March ; and it may seem to you 

 a sufficiently interesting sign of the abnormal state of 

 things this year — though to-day is cold enough — that I 

 have this morning seen four feathers taken in this way 

 from the white Pigeons next door. This haste for warm 

 lining for the nest points, without doubt, to very forward 

 domestic arrangements. — F. G. Aflalo, Bournemouth, 

 December 4th, 1897. 



[Sparrows commonly take feathers to their roosting 

 places during the winter. The fact of their carrying 

 feathers about at this time of year does not, therefore, 

 necessarily point to early nesting. — H. F. W.] 



Occurrence ok a Colony or Jackdaws having Domed 

 Nests. — My boys having told me that for several years 

 they had found in the neighbourhood of Moddershall, 

 Stafi'ordshire, -Jackdaws with nests like Magpies, on the 

 14th May Dr. McAldowie (author of " The Birds of Stafford- 

 shire ") and I went to verify this strange occurrence. On 

 our arrival at the spot indicated to us — a group of Scotch 

 firs on a bank rising from a large pool — we found five large 

 nests, and saw flying roimd overhead four old Jackdaws. 

 On a later day, accompanied by one of my sons, I paid 

 another visit to the colony. One nest was placed at a 

 height of fifty-eight feet, in the highest fork of a tree. 

 The nest was a very bulky one, two and a half feet in 

 diameter and of a like depth, constructed of sticks ; the 

 nest cavity, which was ten inches across, being filled with 

 cow hair and wool, of which there was a large quantity, 

 and the whole covered and protected by a strong dome of 

 thorny sticks, which a hedge at the side of the plantation 

 had no doubt supplied, it having been recently cut and 

 the cuttings left on the ground. There was one entrance at 

 the side of the dome. The nest was empty, and from the 

 absence of dirt and castings was evidently one of this year. 



Two other nests were placed in similar positions in other 

 trees ; one contained four young birds about a fortnight old, 

 and the other was an old one. We found some egg shells 

 under another tree, but did not climb it. I have made 

 inquiries, but cannot hear of these trees ever having been 

 occupied by Rooks ; and the absence of earth and clay, with 

 which Magpies invariably line their nests, makes it im- 

 probable that these birds were the builders. I am there- 

 fore compelled to believe that the Jackdaws built these 

 nests. There are two other colonies of Jackdaws in the 

 neighbourhood, both in sandstone cliffs, and a mile or so 

 from the colony I have described. I shall be extremely 

 obliged if any of the readers of Knowxedue who may 

 have met with a similar occuiTence will describe it. — W. 

 Wells Bladen, Stone, Staffs. 



[It seems difficult to prove that these nests were not 

 old Magpies' nests relined and restored by the Jackdaws. 

 The earth and clay of the Magpies' nests would probably 

 wash away in the course of time. It would be very 

 interesting if, during the coming spring, Mr. Bladen should 

 be able to incontestably prove that these Jackdaws do 

 build domed nests.— H. F. W.] 



yofes OH an Expedition to Sockall. By R. Llojd Pracger, B.E. 

 (Irish yaturaUst, December, 1897, pp. 309 to 323.)— This is a brief 

 diarj of ten days spent in twice visiting the oceanic islet of Rockall, 

 and forms the "day-by-day experiences of the party sent out in June, 

 1896, by the Royal Irish Academy, to investigate the natural history 

 of this little knowB and inaccessible rock and of its vicinity." Ln- 

 fortunatcly the expedition was unsuccessful in attaining its main 

 object — that of landing upon the rock. 



All contrihutioiis to the column, either in the icny of notes 

 or photoi/raphs, should be forwarded to Haery F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blackhealh, Kent. 



Note. — The first issue of Knowleiigk containing British Ornitho- 

 logical Nott'i was that for October, 1S97. 



Mr. Walter Siche, the traveller and florist, has returned 

 from an expedition to the Cilician and Cappadocian 

 Taurus with a large number of alpine plants, and ten 

 thousand examples of various species of the asphodel family, 

 with varieties of fritillary, galanthus, colchicum, iris, and 

 many other plants. Mr. Siche has been the means of 

 introducing many new flowers to the domain of English 

 horticulture. 



Lieutenant Peary, of the United States Navy, in his 

 recent address before the Koyal Geographical Society, said 

 that to-day Greenland had no interior — it was simply a 

 great white snow shield. On that frozen surface the 

 traveller sees but three things — an infinite expanse of 

 snow, an infinite expanse of sky, and the stars. One thfng 

 of interest to glacialists which he mentioned was the 

 transportation of snow by the wind, which was almost 

 always blowing there. Referring to his location of the 

 famous iron mountains of Sir John Ross with their 

 nuggets of iron, he intimated that the Eskimo legend in 

 regard to these nuggets was that they were originally an 

 Eskimo woman and her dog, which were thrown out of 

 high heaven and landed in that inhospitable region. A 

 woman six thousand pounds in weight was the source 

 from which the Eskimo obtained their iron supply for 

 generations ! 



Sir John Lubbock, lately lecturing on " Ants," said that 

 the lives of these creatures were much longer than is 

 generally supposed. He had kept many for several years, 

 two queens having reached the age of fifteen years, and 



