NOTES AND QUERIES. 351 



on the 18th of the same month. It was a bird of fully a year old. — 

 Howard Saunders (7, Radnor Place, W.). 



Bee-eater in Co. Cork. — Several gentlemen having expressed doubts 

 as to the origin of the Bee-eater which I referred to in the June number of 

 « The Zoologist' (p. 226), I should like to state that the bird was offered to 

 me in the flesh from Cork, and I received it in a perfectly fresh condition. 

 I have no doubt as to its having been really shot in Co. Cork, as mentioned 

 in my previous note.— Robert F. Scharff (Nat. Hist. Museum, Dublin). 



Attacks by Owls. — Stories of Owls attacking persons passing their 

 haunts at night are occasionally current in districts where these birds are 

 common: but as such occurrences are probably not very frequent, the 

 following may be worth notice : — On the night of May 31st last, my brother, 

 Mr. H. W. L. Haigh, was walking along a road leading through a narrow 

 rocky gorge iu a neighbouring parish, when he was surprised by something 

 striking him on the head and knocking off his cap. This was repeated two 

 or three times before he became aware that his assailant was an Owl. On 

 the following night I accompanied him to the same spot, and on my passing 

 the rock indicated, the bird immediately came down, striking my hand, which 

 I put up to ward off the blow, and inflicting several deep scratches. It did 

 not, however, attack me again, although I repassed the place several times. 

 A man whose cottage was situated immediately under the rock told us that 

 for some time past this Owl had been the terror of his family, attacking the 

 children, the cat, and even the fowls if they ventured out of doors after 

 dark. We also learned from him that the nest was in a cleft of rock just 

 over the house and contained two young birds, one of which had that 

 morning fallen down into his garden. He showed us this bird, which was 

 a Brown Owl, Syrnium aluco, fully fledged, and almost ready to fly. I had 

 it replaced in the rock at once, and shortly after was pleased to hear that 

 they had left the nest in safety, and that the old bird had discontinued its 

 pugnacious habits. — G. H. Caton Haigh (Aber-ia, Penrhyndeudraeth, 

 Merionethshire, North Wales]. 



Fulmar Petrel and Gull-billed Tern at Hunstanton.— I have lately 

 seen a fine adult Fulmar Petrel, Fulmarus glacialis, which was shot at 

 Hunstanton in January last, and is now in the collection of Dr. Whitty. 

 This gentleman's interesting collection of local birds also contains a Gull- 

 billed Tern, Sterna anglica, shot in July, 1878, not far from Hunstanton 

 Station, and taken to its present possessor in the flesh. I do not think 

 this bird has been recorded. — Julian G. Tuck (Hunstanton). 



Dipper nesting in Trees. — Mr. Rooper has done good service iu 

 reporting the nest of the Dipper, Cinclus aquaticus, which he found built 

 in a tree ; but this situation, while very unusual, is by no means unprece- 

 dented. In 1885 my friend Mr. W. Duckworth found two nests of the 



