150 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



appeared to come. The sound is undoubtedly ventriloquial (therefore 

 probably not caused by vibration of the beak upou the tree), and it appears 

 to come from any spot to which the eye or attention is called by other 

 circumstances. On one occasion a friend of mine was watching with me, 

 while the noise was going on with great force and distinctness, apparently 

 somewhere in a tree close to us, at one moment in one spot, and then in 

 another ; just then a Tree-creeper caught our eyes, and at once we both 

 exclaimed, " That is the bird!" and it was not until the Creeper had gone 

 quite away, while the noise still continued, that we felt we were mistaken. 

 I would ask whether Mr. Young may not have thus groundlessly credited 

 the Nuthatch with this noise. — 0. P. Cambridge (Bloxworth). 



Abnormally coloured Birds in Nottinghamshire. — I have noticed 

 the following varieties in this neighbourhood : — A cream-coloured Yellow- 

 hammer, with the markings of a sandy red colour, also a light yellow-coloured 

 bird of the same species ; the former is in my possession, but not the latter. 

 There are also in this neighbourhood a white Rook and a white Wood 

 Pigeon ; this bird, which has been about for two years, is marked on the 

 back and wings with a sandy colour. I saw in the summer a white Swallow 

 and a pied Hedgesparrow. A white Tufted Duck was seen twice on a pond 

 here, and there have been several pied Sparrows about. I think it is 

 worthy of note that so many abnormally coloured birds should have been 

 observed in so short a time as six months within a mile of this house. 

 During the last few months I have also been fortunate in obtaining 

 specimens of birds in abnormal plumage, and I think the following are 

 worth mentioning: — Albinos of the Blackbird, Wood Wren, Hedgesparrow, 

 Swallow and Wagtail, pied Whinchat, cream-coloured Yellow Wagtail, one 

 pied and two smoke-coloured Chaffinches, a cream-coloured and a white 

 Thrush, one sandy-coloured and two cream-coloured Larks, two pied Corn 

 Buntings, an albino Flycatcher, an albino Jay -{shot by myself near here), 

 a light brown Blackbird, a Yellowhammer with white bars on wing, a sandy- 

 coloured Waterheu, two pied Swifts, one pied Swallow, one albino and 

 several pied Sparrows, and a sandy-coloured Starling. — J. Whitaker 

 (Rainworth Lodge, near Mansfield). 



Dipper Nesting in North Oxfordshire. — An innkeeper in this town 

 has in his possession a Dipper's nest, together with the old birds and two 

 eggs. The nest was taken on the banks of the Cherwell, near Claydon, in 

 the north of this county, in the month of May, six years ago. He says 

 that the male bird was shot by a man who, not contented with that, after- 

 wards watched the hen to the nest and caught her alive. When brought 

 to him the nest was surrounded and partly covered with growing vegetation — 

 reeds, moss and grass — some of which seemed as though planted on the sides 

 and dome. It contained four eggs, and was built close to the water (the lower 



