ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM BEVERLEY. 157 
The Red-backed Shrike is a very rare bird here, and I cannot 
‘ hear that one has been seen for fifteen years. On May 27th a hen 
bird of this species was shot, and the following day a pair were 
obtained. A circumstance occurred in connection with the capture 
of these birds that is perhaps worth mentioning. It appears the 
male and female were both silting on a dead branch near each 
other when the female was shot. The person who shot it repaired 
to the same place early the following day to shoot the male, when 
he found a second female: this he shot, and later in the day he 
shot the male. Is it possible that the male had two wives? It 
is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he could have picked up 
another mate in so short a time in a part of the country where these 
birds are so rare. JI ought to mention that the first female was 
laying, and had an egg fully developed in the ovary. A search 
was afterwards made, and the old nest containing one egg found 
near the spot where all the three birds were shot. The second 
female was a younger bird, and showed no signs of breeding, the 
eggs in the ovary being very small. The stomachs of these birds 
contained nothing but humble-bees, the largest and commonest 
kind, with the yellow bands on the abdomen. [What a thousand 
pities that these inoffensive birds should have been shot, especially 
since they are stated to be so rare in the neighbourhood. Ep. ] 
T think I may safely say that the Spotted Crake nested on the 
margin of our river in May, 1876. I have never before heard them 
in the summer, though we generally have plenty in the autumn. 
The males begin to call at dusk, like Corn Crakes or Quails, only 
the note is very different, and may be imitated by pronouncing 
quickly the words “gluck, gluck” every three or four seconds. 
They were calling loudly on May 27th, and continued to do so for 
some weeks, almost always in the same places. I sought diligently 
for a nest, but from the large amount of shelter afforded by the 
sedges at this time of year, I was not able to find it. 
On June Sth a Nightjar was sitting on two eggs. I have seen 
several of these birds sitting on their eggs here in the open moory 
ground, and it is by no means a fact that they always turn their 
heads away from the sun. [From onr own observations we can 
confirm this. No bird is fonder of basking in the warm sunshine 
than the Nightjar. We have found it sitting on the shingle at the 
seaside, where the stones were so hot with the noonday sun that 
the hand could scarcely bear the contact.—Eb. | 
