2344 The Zoologist — October, 1870. 



ilie 'Zoologist' of the occunence of the grayheaded wagtail: it may interest you to 

 hear of its breeding in this neighbourhood. Two nests were found by a friend of mine 

 last year on some swampy ground near here ; this year, on the 13th of June, I fouud 

 another; and on the 8th of July my friend shot two young birds beginning to assume 

 their mature plumage : one of these birds is in the possession of, and was identified by, 

 Mr. Hancoek, of Newcastle. — J. Watson; Gateshead, September 15, 1870. 



Rose-coloured Pastor near Brighton. — On Saturday last, August 20, a farmer near 

 Brighton observed two pretty birds which, in company with some starlings, perched 

 every now and then on the backs of his sheep. Having fetched a gun he shot both — 

 not, however, without touching up one of his flock. These birds proved to be Pastor 

 Toseus, the rosecoloured pastor, one of which I saw in the hands of Mr. Swaysland, the 

 naturalist, on Monday. — From the ' Field.' 



Cream-coloured Magpie. — A friend has lately told me of a cream-coloured magpie 

 he saw near Manchester. — E. D. Hamel; Bole Hall, Tamworth, September 20, 1870. 



Three Cuckoo's Eggs laid consecutively in the same Nest. — Three cuckoo's eggs 

 were taken this season, at three distinct times, from the same straw-stack and the 

 same nest: I should think that the same water wagtails laid three distinct times, and 

 perhaps the same cuckoo. All three eggs are in my possession, and are all alike; the 

 last was laid as late as the 1st of July. — E. Charles Moor. 



Great Spotted Cuckoo. — I have the honour to forward you the announcement of a 

 very rare bird (the great crested or spotted cuckoo) which was shot in Northumberland 

 some weeks since. As it is the first specimen ever shot in Great Britain, the notice 

 will be interesting to naturalist readers. — Ernest Charlton, in the ' Field ' newspaper. 



[At page 205 of the second volume of his ' British Birds,' Mr. Yarrell gives an 

 excellent figure and some very interesting particulars of the occurrence at Clifden, on 

 the west coast of Ireland, of the specimen from which the figure was taken. To these 

 details Mr. Yarrell appends the following additional information : — " Another speci- 

 men, taken at Llawreniiy is now in the collection of R.J. Auckland, Esq., of Boulston, 

 near Haverfordwest. — Zool. 1851, p. 3046." On referring, however, to p. 301t) of the 

 ' Zoologist,' the only cuckoo 1 find mentioned in addition to the common species is the 

 yellowbilled American cuckoo [Coccyzus americanus), a specimen of which was killed 

 at Staukpole Court by a Mr. Tracy, as communicated to the 'Zoologist' by Lord 

 Emlyn at the very page cited by Mr. Yarrell. It seems to have been a lapsus calami 

 on the part of that truly illustrious naturalist referring to the 'Zoologist' in this place, 

 as the reference occurs also, and correctly, at p. 215 of the same volume under 

 "Coccyzus americanus.'' — Edward Newman."] 



Sand Martin Nesting in a Tree. — The fact of a sand martin (Hirundo riparia) 

 choosing the above site for its nest is sufficiently unusual to deserve recording, even if 

 it has not been altogether unnoticed by ornithologists. Over a tributary of the maia 

 river, near the village of Godstow, in Oxfordshire, is a little old stone bridge, and not 

 only have the sand martins bored several holes in the crumbling mortar between the 

 stones, and there nested, but this year on June 17 I found a nest containing five eggs, 

 about a foot down a bole in the gnarled stem of an elm tree, which itself grows out 

 from between the masonry and overhangs the river. The old bird was on the nest 

 when I first went to it, and returned again directly I left the immediate vicinity. — 

 C. Bi/grave Wharton ; Willesden Lane, Middlesex. 



Alpine Swift at Aldcburgh. — The wind has been blowing very severely from the 



