Birds. 9573 



amused by such an encounter the other day ; one pair had taken 

 possession of a hole, where they were besieged, or rather blockaded, 

 by another couple ; every now and then a black head would appear 

 at the entrance, — " kieugh, kieugh !" the attacking party were at it 

 directly, — but the first pair had the best position, and were finally left 

 in peace. 



Wood Pigeon or Ring Dove. — These birds are also now sitting; 

 the great warmth of their eggs when fresh from the nest must be 

 familiar to your egg-collecting readers; probably this unusual amount 

 of animal heat in the parent bird may be the reason why it builds so 

 slight and cold a nest. Large flocks of wood pigeons arrive here 

 about the middle of July to feed on the ripe blae-berries, on which 

 they grow very fat : where these numbers come from I cannot tell. 

 The Scotch name of " cushie," or " cushie-doo," is evidently a form 

 of the old Saxon " cushat." 



Curlews and Peewits. — Curlews and peewits arrive here to breed 

 about the beginning of March, from the sea-coast and lower country. 

 Both species are very noisy about nightfall, and even long after dark. 

 The cry of the latter by night seems to me to sound quite differently 

 from that uttered by day, being much more sharply and harshly 

 intoned. The Scotch name of the curlew is the " whaup," which is 

 doubtless derived from its low inward cry of " whau, whau, whau-u," 

 seemingly a call to its mate, and very different from its loud and 

 peculiar whistle. 



Woodcock. — Like the fieldfares and other winter visitors, the wood- 

 cocks arrived this winter in considerable numbers, nor have they left 

 us yet. Occasionally a pair remain to breed in this neighbourhood, 

 but I have never yet been fortunate enough to find a nest. I noticed 

 a remarkably pale variety of this bird lately in a shop in Glasgow ; it 

 was light brown above, with hardly any dark markings, lower parts 

 almost white. 



Edward R. Alston. 



Siockbriggs, Lesmabagow, N.B., 

 April 11, 1865. 



Ornithological Notes from Lincolnshire. By John Cordeadx, Esq. 



(Continued from page 9538.) 



Green Sandpiper. — This beautifully marked bird, the most inte- 

 resting of the Tringae, is by no means uncommon in North Lincoln- 



