180 : THE ZOOLOGIST. 
amongst the roots of the yew-trees overhanging the tops of the rocks, and 
are thus comparatively secure. I saw several yesterday, and also heard 
their grunting notes in different places, but not a Wood Pigeon was to be 
seen. Perhaps I ought also to have added that there were more Sparrow- 
hawks found nesting in this locality last year than I have ever known; 
they may have scared the Wood Pigeons away, but they certainly killed but 
few; when they do kill them the act is easily traceable—Jonn ScLaTER 
(Castle Eden, Durham). 
[The circumstance of Stock Dove frequenting and even breeding 
amongst rocks is, we believe, unusual, although not unnoticed. Some 
years ago the fact that the Stock Dove occasionally breeds in the rocks 
on the Dorsetshire coast was recorded in ‘ The Field,’ 14th April, 1866, 
and quite recently a correspondent writing in the Natural History columns 
of that journal (3rd March, 1877), stated that he had observed Stock 
Doves congregating amongst rocks at Merthyr Tidfil. He shot two of 
them in order to identify the species.—Eb. } 
PassENGER Pickon 1N YorKsHtrE.—In the last published part of the 
Nat. Hist. Transactions of Northumberland and Durham (vol. v., part iii.) 
Mr. John Hancock records the capture of a Passenger Pigeon in Yorkshire. 
At p. 387 he says :—‘ On the 13th October, 1876, I received a specimen 
of this North-American bird from the Dowager Marchioness of Normanby, 
who stated in her letter which accompanied the bird that ‘it was shot here 
today by Lord Harry Phipps.’ The bird must therefore have been killed 
on the 12th, and as her ladyship’s letter is headed ‘ Mulgrave Castle,’ it is 
clear also that the bird was obtained at Mulgrave, the seat of the Marquis 
of Normanby.” Mr. Hancock adds that “the quill-feathers in the wings 
are much worn and broken, and on the forehead above the bill they are 
apparently worn off to the skull, as though the bird had been trying to get 
out of a cage or some other enclosure; therefore I cannot come to any other 
conclusion than that this specimen, a female, had made its escape from 
confinement.” It may be observed that the Passenger Pigeon has been 
previously recorded to have been met with in the British Islands on five 
different occasions as follows:—One, Monymeal, Fifeshire, December, 
1825 (Fleming, Hist. Brit. An. p. 145); one near Royston, Hertfordshire, 
July, 1844 (Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. ii., p- 317); one near Tring, 
Hertfordshire (Yarrell, op. cit.); one near Tralee, 1848 (Thompson, Nat. 
Hist. Ireland, Birds, iii., p. 443); and one near Mellerstain, Berwickshire 
(Turnbull, Birds of East Lothian, p. 41). With regard to this last, how- 
ever, it is stated that a gentleman in Berwickshire had turned out several 
Passenger Pigeons shortly before it was shot.—Ev. 
Brack Stork iN OxForpsurre.—A gentleman residing at Bicester has 
an immature example of this rare bird, and has very kindly collected for me 
a few particulars concerning its capture. It was shot on the 5th August, 
