NOTES AND QUERIES. 31 



a Nightingale there. I asked to see Mr. Vobe, an intelligent Englishman, 

 who informed me that he was very well acquainted with the appearance 

 and notes of the Nightingale in the southern counties of England; that 

 towards the end of last May he saw and heard a Nightingale most distinctly 

 in the Waterford Nursery, and that he watched it for nearly an hour 

 between 8 and 9 p.m., being much interested about it. — R. J. Ussher 

 (Cappagh, Waterford). 



Red-backed Shrike and Manx Shearwater in Nottinghamshire. — 

 I shot a female Red-backed Shrike near the house here : it is the 

 first specimen I have seen in North Notts. A Manx Shearwater was 

 picked up in an exhausted state in the school-yard at Sutton-in-Ashfield, 

 which is about sixty miles from the sea, on September 1st. It only lived 

 a short time after being found. It is a great addition to my collection as a 

 Nottinghamshire bird. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth, Notts). 



Goshawk near Oxford. — On October 19th I heard from a bird-loving 

 cobbler in St. Clement's that a Goshawk, Astur palumbarius, had been 

 taken near Shotover on the 12th. My informant had purchased it from 

 the birdcatcher, who took it in his clap-nets as it pounced on one of his 

 decoy-birds. I found it still in the flesh. Mr. 0. V. Aplin and his brother 

 agree with me that it is probably a young male. We only know of one other 

 occurrence of the species in Oxou. — H. A. Macpherson (Oxford). 



Great Snipe in Lincolnshire. — A male specimen of this bird was 

 shot at Stickney on the 4th October last, and sent to me for preservation. It 

 was exceedingly fat, and weighed very nearly ten ounces. — J. Cullingford 

 (University Museum, Durham). 



Coot and Moorhen laying in the same Nest. — Whilst collecting 

 on Strensall Common in May last I found, in a nest of the Waterhen 

 containing eight eggs, two eggs of the Coot. These were placed in the 

 middle of the nest surrounded by the eggs of the Waterhen. — W. Hewett 

 (York). 



On the Missel Thrush and Chaffinch nesting in proximity. — A few 

 davs since, whilst reading Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' I came upon 

 the lengthy quotation which he makes from the writings of a French author 

 describing the interesting fact that in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Paris the Missel Thrush and the Chaffinch almost invariably nest in 

 » company. This French gentleman had found a considerable number of 

 nests of the Missel Thrush, and on every single occasion there was a 

 Chaffinch's nest within a few yards — generally on the same tree. It seems 

 that the Chaffinch acts as watchman, giving immediate notice to the Missel 

 Thrush of the approach of a Magpie or any bird of egg-thieving habits, 

 whereupon the Missel Thrush immediately sallies out and does battle with 



