4872 THE ZooLocist—APRIL, 1876. 
slower and flow generally through a flat chalky country. Iam not aware 
of any locality for the dipper in East Yorkshire, though it is not uncommon 
in the West and North Ridings, where the country is much more hilly, and 
where our chalk is replaced by hard rocks. I shall be glad to be corrected on 
this point. The Rev. G. H. Tuck, in the ‘ Field,’ mentions the occurrence 
of C. melanogaster at Filey, and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., also possesses a 
Yorkshire specimen of this type—’. Boyes ; Beverley. 
Addenda.—It will be noticed that I am not quite certain in the identity 
of the above bird, because I have not seen the Scandinavian variety. 
I only know the bird has no chestnut on the breast; but then, again, I do 
not know the autumn plumage of the young common dipper. A fine old 
bird in my collection I shot last June on a mountain stream in Sutherland- 
shire, near Inchnadamff, where they were common. I saw both old and 
young flying about. I also saw a nest—empty, of course, so late as 
June.—I’. B. 
Fieldfares, Sky Larks and Lapwings on Salisbury Plain.—Now that the 
bustard has virtually disappeared from its ancient habitation, we of the 
“living present” must be content to admire smaller but perhaps no less 
interesting game. During a drive in the neighbourhood last autumn the 
immense numbers of lapwings and sky larks were very noticeable, especially 
on or near the cultivated tracts, and a ramble in the same locality during 
the Christmas holidays revealed the fact that these two particular species 
had almost entirely disappeared, but were replaced by equal numbers of 
rooks and starlings, whose habit of congregating together is well known, 
together with vast flocks of fieldfares, which, although not congregating 
with the other two species, were often flying about in the air with them. 
I have seen almost incredible numbers of fieldfares in the New Forest in 
winter feeding upon the numerous berries which that locality affords, but 
I should think that the supply of berries on the Salisbury Downs must be 
very scanty.—G. BL. Corbin. 
[With respect to the association of rooks and starlings, it is impossible for 
any naturalist resident in the country not to have observed it. The cause 
of the association is not quite so manifest. May it not be that the starling 
acts as a guide or indicator, and has a more delicate perception of the 
presence of larvee at the roots of grass than is possessed by the rook? The 
favourite species with both birds are these:—Tipula oleracea (Diptera, 
Tipulide), Chareas Graminis (Lepidoptera, Noctuids), Amphimalla solsti- 
tialis, Melolontha vulgaris, Serica brunnea, and several species of Elaterids 
(Coleoptera): the service these birds thus render the farmer is incalculable. 
I have used the word “association”: the phenomena can scarcely be so 
called with rigid propriety: the starlings arrive at their feeding-ground in 
a compact phalanx, seemingly moved by a common impulse; the rooks in 
a straggling file; first a single rook espies the well-disciplined and silent 
— ee es 
