300 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiii. 



americana on Bardowie Loch, Stirlingshire, on December 14th, 

 1919 {antea, p. 244). Miss L. J. Rintoul and Miss E. V. 

 Baxter record {Scot. Nat., 1920, p. 13) that they clearly 

 identified an adult male of this species amongst a flock of 

 Wigeon, which they were able to approach closely, on 

 November 24th, 1919, at the mouth of the River Eden, 

 Fifeshire. These authors remark that the occurrence of 

 these two American Wigeon may have been due to the high 

 north-westerly and westerly winds in the Atlantic earlier 

 in November, but this does not seem to us a very satisfactory 

 explanation in the case of a bird which is not only of strong 

 flight but can also descend safely to the water. 



LETTERS. 



DISASTER TO ROOKS ON MIGRATION. 

 To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — The explanation of birds starting to migrate across a stretch 

 of sea when weather conditions are apparently unfavourable seems to 

 be that they take their migratory flights at great altitudes, where the 

 strength and direction of wind may be quite different from that of the 

 surface current. 



This is what seems to have occurred on the Norfolk coast (vide 

 antea, p. 253), where it is pretty evident from the weather charts given 

 that the strong easterly winds were, as is frequently the case with such 

 winds, only surface currents, the upper regions of the atmosphere being 

 probably relatively calm. The argument, therefore, is that the Rooks, 

 having crossed the North Sea in this calm, descended unexpectedly into 

 a gale and so met with disaster. 



Donald W. Horner. 



STATUS OF GOLDFINCH IN YORKSHIRE. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — With reference to Mr. E. Arnold Wallis's communication 

 to you on the above, will you permit me to say that for some time, 

 practically ever since the publication of Nelson's Birds of Yorkshire, 

 with the preparation of which I had a good deal to do, I have in 

 conjunction with other members of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, 

 been preparing an addition to the work ; to correct some errors which 

 unfortunately crept in, and to add a great deal of additional information 

 which has come to hand. 



As the Birds of Yorkshire formed a part of the Transactions of the 

 Y.N.U., this additional matter will be published either as a separate 

 part of the Transactions or in the pages of The Naturalist, the organ 

 of the Y.N.U. : the former method will be probably adopted. 



The welcome increase of the Goldfinch in the Scarborough neighbour- 

 hood and other parts of the county is well known to us ; but we 

 shall be glad of any information, no matter how little, upon this or 

 any other matters connected with the avifauna of the county. 



R. Fortune. 

 22, RiPON Road, Harrogate, March 1920, 



