OCCASIONAL NOTES. 515 
Rooxenizs 1x Lonpon.—All the trees on which the Rooks built their 
nests in Kensington Gardens have been cut down. It will be interesting 
to notice if the birds will still keep to the locality, or build on the trees 
which are left. The rookery in the plane trees of Wharncliffe House, 
Curzon Street, is deserted. — Epwarp Hami.ron (9, Portugal Street, 
Grosvenor Square). 
Grey PHatarope near Kinessriver, Devon.—lIt may be of interest 
to readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ to hear of the occurrence, on September 18th, 
of a couple of Grey Phalaropes on the Devonshire coast near Thurlstone, 
Kingsbridge. When first noticed they were running on the mud and 
feeding in the manner of Moorhens, but on my approach they took to the 
water and swam with much lightness and grace. They were very fearless, 
and I secured both birds with a walking-stick gun. Their plumage is in 
the transition state between summer and winter.—Bryan Hoox (Silver- 
beck, Churt, Farnham). 
Supcurangous Worms IN PrrEcrine Fatcon.—Last spring I obtained 
the body of a Peregrine Falcon from a birdstuffer in York for dissection. 
I had almost finished, when I noticed several white worms under the skin 
of the back of the abdomen. They were about two inches and a half long, 
white, hard, round, and tapering at head and tail; in fact, exactly corre- 
sponding to Lieut. Becher's description of those he found in the Red-backed 
Shrike (p. 487). I think the fact of similar worms being found in two 
rapacious birds is decidedly significant. I thought nothing of them at the 
time, and threw them with the remains into the ashpit; but about a 
month afterwards, on reading a book on parasitic worms, my curiosity was 
awakened.—A. Bevineron (20, Bootham, York). 
CROsSSBILLS BREEDING NEAR YorK.—In ‘ The Zovlogist’ for September 
Mr. Walter Raine has a note under this title. I wish he had stated the 
facts correctly. The nest of four eggs which I took out of a fir tree in a 
large wood at the place mentioned was about an arm’s length from the top 
of the tree, and not half-way up as described, and it was the bird leaving 
the tree that made me think of going up. I find, on referring to a note 
made at the time, that the only description is that the nest was similar to 
that of a Greenfinch, but larger and flatter; the four eggs were larger and 
rounder than Greenfinch’s. I had the eggs named by others, not feeling 
myself competent to identify them for certain, though I have been now 
thirteen years collecting —Grorcr A. Wippas (Leeds). 
Ksquiwaux CurLew In KrxcarpixesHire.— At p. 485 Mr. Harvie 
Brown has referred to the capture of a specimen of this bird on a hill in 
the Forest of Birse, on September 21st. As the specimen was forwarded 
to me for preservation, it may be interesting to some of your readers 
