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OCCASIONAL NOTES. 447 
in Cumberland, and so familiar with its cry that he has got it to reply to his 
good imitation of its hooting; yet, during his long residence in various parts 
of Ireland, has never heard any sound proceeding from White Owls at all 
resembling the well-known and peculiar “hoot” of the Brown Owl. In 
conclusion, I may remark that if White Owls were capable of hooting, such 
a very peculiar cry would at once attract the attention of observers in those 
localities where nothing but the “screech” of the White and the “moan” of 
the Long-eared Owls had previously been known.— Ropert WaRREN 
(Moyview, Ballina). 
Averace Dare or ARRIVAL oF THE Cuckoo In ENGLAND.—In your 
notice of the recent number of Prof. Newton's edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British 
Birds,’ you quote a foot-note, from p- 389, in which Prof. Newton, with his 
usual caution, speaks of the reported early arrivals of the Cuckoo in this 
country as to be received with “suspicion, if not incredulity.” He then 
refers to a communication to ‘ ‘The Zoologist’ (p. 3115), in which Mr. Harper 
says that a Cuckoo’s egg was taken in Norfolk on April 5th, 1851. I have 
not ‘The Zoologist’ at hand, but in a similar communication to Morris’s 
‘Naturalist’ (vol. i., p. 91), Mr. Harper does not claim to have seen the 
egg in question, but merely remarks that “a lad living in the hamlet of 
Lakenham obtained from the nest of a Hedge Accentor the egg of a 
Cuckoo”—a statement which he fails to support by any observation of his 
own, and which, without further particulars, I for one should be inclined to 
accept with “suspicion, if not incredulity.” As Mr. Harper killed the 
Cuckoo with the egg in its mouth on the 14th of this same month and year, 
it may be worth stating that the earliest date under the head “ Cuckoo 
sings” in the “Indications of Spring” kept by the Marsham family at 
Stratton Strawless, also near this city, occurs in the year 1752, viz., 
April 9th; the latest being May 9th, in the years 1767 and 1769; and the 
mean of 112 years, April 23rd. The date for the year in question (1851) is 
April 22nd.—THomas Sourswetu (Norwich). 
SporreD WooppEcKkEeR NEAR Bansury.—I am pleased to say that 
there is very little doubt but that both Picus major and P. minor have bred 
in this district this season. On July 17th an immature specimen of the 
former (a female) was shot at Overthorpe, Northants, and on the 22nd of the 
same month an immature male at Farnborough, Warwickshire. P. minor, 
also a bird of the year, was killed at Bodicote on the 2nd. It is to be 
regretted that these were destroyed, but the rest of the hatches may have 
escaped. One or two of the latter are generally seen in this parish in the 
course of the year.—Oxtver V. Apxin (Bodicote, near Banbury). 
[We do not regard the fact of young birds having been shot towards the 
end of July as affording proof of their having been bred in the neighbourhood 
where they were obtained.—Ep.] 
