NOTES AND QUERIES. 77 



large woodlands in the western half of North Lincolnshire. It appears, 

 therefore, very probable that our local birds were last autumn largely 

 reinforced by immigrants from the Continent. — John Cokdeaux (Great 

 Cotes, Ulceby). 



Migration of the Jay. — I am glad to be able to add my mite of obser- 

 vation to Mr. Cordeaux's interesting article on this subject. After reading 

 his remarks, I have no doubt that this immediate neighbourhood was 

 affected by the migration in question, though not to the extent of a visit 

 from the main body of migrants. About the 11th or 12th of October, 

 having occasion to pass through some fir woods in this immediate locality, 

 I was surprised at the immense number of jays which were to be seen and 

 heard on every hand, and all appeared in a more or less excited state. I 

 do not mean to say that the Jay is at any time at all rare either near here 

 or in the New Forest, but it is well known to be much scarcer generally 

 than it was some years ago, and this is not to be wondered at when a price 

 is put upon its head. So common were they about the middle of October, 

 that even the most casual observer could not but notice them, and several 

 gamekeepers called my attention to it, one of them telling me that he 

 counted thirteen jays in a siugle tree, and another telling me he had never 

 seen them so commonly before. The numbers that were caught or killed, 

 by other people besides gamekeepers, during October is also a further proof 

 that they were unusually abundant, and I am quite sure that not half of 

 those I saw were bred in this neighbourhood. The Jay, unlike its gregarious 

 relations, seems to me naturally unsocial, and, like the Magpie, if two or 

 three are together they are geuerally chasing or fighting each other. Yet 

 there are exceptions even to this rule, but when a certain degree of amity 

 exists between individuals I imagine they are a family party, and members 

 of the same brood, which could not have been the case with the numbers 

 seen congregated together in October last. By the end of the month the 

 numbers to be seen were considerably reduced. These observations were 

 made principally in the fir woods on the western side of the river Avon, 

 but whether the number of jays was increased to any extent in the New 

 Forest I am not in a position to say. A case in point, as to the direction 

 of the flight of migrating birds, may be noticed in the migration of the 

 Skylark, which, as far as I have observed, is never from north to south, but 

 from uorth-east to south-west, or still more from east to west. — G. B. 

 Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). 



o 



"Elder," a Local Name for the Cormorant. — A few years since, when 

 shore-shooting one cold wintry day at Southerness on the Stewartry coast, 

 I had secured a Cormorant. Shortly after I was carrying the bird along by 

 the legs, when meeting an old woman she exclaimed with an air of mock 

 alarm, " Eh ! Ye hae shot ane o' the six Elders ! " I subsequently learned 



