OCCASIONAL NOTES. 73 



Small Birds carried by Cranes in their Migrations. — At page 

 260 of ' The Zoologist' for 1881 there is an extract from ' Bible Customs 

 in Bible Lands,' referring to an alleged custom of large birds carrying small 

 ones on their backs during migration ; and you, Sir, ask if any of your 

 correspondents can furnish confirmatory evidence of this. The following 

 fact was related to me by Mr. Wilson, the foreman on the South Gare 

 Breakwater at the mouth of the Tees ; it bears directly on the subject 

 named, and I will give the story in my informant's own words, as nearly as 

 possible. Wilson said : — " I was at the end of the Gare on the morning of 

 the 16th of October — [the day named, the 16th October, 1879, was fine and 

 cold, wind northerly; two days before, the 14th, was the last of the N.E. 

 storm which brought the remarkable flight of SkuasJ — and saw a ' Wood- 

 cock' Owl (Short-eared Owl) come flopping across the sea. As it got nearer 

 I saw something sitting between its shoulders, and wondered what it could 

 be. The Owl came and lit on the gearing within ten yards of where I was 

 standing, and, directly it came down, a little bird dropped off its back and 

 flew along the Gare. I signalled for a gun, but the Owl saw me move and 

 flew off across the river. We followed the little bird and caught it, and 

 and I sent it to Mussell to be made into a feather for my daughter's hat." 

 The little bird was a Golden-crested Wren. I have asked Mussell about 

 this affair, and he tells me Wilson gave him exactly the same version as 

 above, and that he has heard him tell the story several times since without 

 the least variation. Wilson could have had no inducement in telling me 

 other than the truth, and I have every reason to believe that what I have 

 written is correct. It does not necessarily follow that the Goldcrest came 

 the whole way across the North Sea on the back of the Owl ; but I think it 

 is quite possible that, feeling tired on the way, it might have availed itself 

 of the assistance of its compagnon de voyage, and so be carried to shore. 

 Wilson further told me he had seen another Wren on an Owl's back about 

 a fortnight after he saw the first one. — T. H. Nelson (Redcar). 



Leach's Petrel in Oxfordshire. — A specimen of Leach's Petrel, 

 Procellaria Leachii, was picked up dead, in a very emaciated condition, at 

 Lower Heyford, in this county, early in December. — Oliver V. Aplin 

 (Banbury, Oxon). 



Red-necked Phalarope and Little Gull on the Lincolnshire 

 Coast. — On September 26th I received an immature specimen of the 

 Red-necked Phalarope, which was procured near Boston ; and on October 

 25th a Little Gull, also a young bird, obtained on the same part of the 

 coast. Amongst other more or less uncommon birds procured in the 

 county and forwarded to me last autumn, I may mention a Great Grey 

 Shrike on October 7th, a male Grey Phalarope on October 18th, and a 

 Peregrine Falcon on November 4th. On Oct. 7th another Grey Phalarope 



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