The Zoologist— May, 1866. 215 



S.W., I observed several woodcocks upon the stony hill above 

 Colvidale, where they still remain. The people tell me that a 

 winter seldom passes without a few of these birds being seen 

 there. 



Black Guillemot. — On the 6th of February I first saw black feathers 

 appearing upon the breast of a last year's bird. 



Sky Lark. — The song of the sky lark w4s first heard on the 18th of 

 February — the first fine day this year. 



Heisky L. Saxby. 



Baltasound, Shelland, February 28, 1866. 



Oniithological Notes from North Lincolnshire. 

 By John Cordeaux, Esq. 



(Continued from Zool. S. S. 132.) 



March, 1866. 



Tits. — Five species of these lively little birds are common to North 

 Lincolnshire, namely, the great, blue, cole, marsh and longtailed tit: 

 of these the marsh tit is decidedly the rarest. It is occasionally met 

 with in our larch plantations, in company with the blue and cole tits 

 and goldencrested wrens. All the tits, with the exception of the 

 marsh, remain with us during the year. I am not aware that the marsh 

 lit nests in this neighbourhood. 



Rook. — Rooks commenced building the first week in March ; they 

 are particularly paitial to the use of the long slender twigs of the birch, 

 and in this county, where building materials are somewhat scarce, will 

 do considerable damage to these trees by breaking off the twigs, 

 completely spoiling the beauty of the tree, and giving it a cropped 

 appearance.- They invariably line their nests with wool, short straws, 

 and dried bunches of grass, pulled up during the winter by these indus- 

 trious foragers when searching for grubs, now again to become useful 

 as a lining for their nests. So much has from time to time been 

 written about these birds that it would be diflScult to mention any new 

 fact concerning their habits. In this treeless land they frequently 

 build on willows, and I know of several instances of these trees having 

 been used for this purpose for many years : there is one now near my 

 house containing eight nests, and in our marsh district I lately 

 observed a pair of these birds building on the boughs of a low willow, 

 almost overhanging a public footpath. 



