NOTES AND QUERIES. 1538 
and not without reason. I cannot think, however, that the Sparrows are 
Wholly to blame, but that some more subtle influence has been at work. 
None of the Swallow tribe are particularly robust in constitution, and, 
judging from the comparatively later arrival amongst us of the House 
Martin, it is somewhat more delicate than kindred species. Is it possible 
that our cold and often retarded springs, of late years, have killed the old 
birds, and that the early frosts of autumn have caused the destruction of 
the late broods? for it must have been noticed how soon the fledglings 
succumb to the cold, and that late broods of House Martins are more 
frequently found than other allied species. It is a generally received 
opinion, if not an ascertained fact, that “our summer migrants” do not breed 
in their winter retreats. If such is the case, and our changeable climate 
is a fair representation of the reception met with in their breeding quarters, 
it is scarcely to be wondered at that the more delicate birds decrease in 
numbers, or that the migration is more circumscribed in its northern limits. 
I may mention that during last summer there appeared to be no particular 
searcity of Swallows or Swifts, and that Sand Martins were by far the 
commonest of the class, which is usually the case with us; but I noticed 
how unusually early in the year the species congregated in the early 
mornings preparatory to their journey southwards. — G. B. Corsin 
(Ringwood, Hants). 
Pied Variety of the Coot,—In March, 1888, Mr. Johnson shot on his 
mil]-dam, near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, a variety of the Coot, about a 
year old, which was splashed all over with white, and looked as if it had 
been in a snow-storm, the markings being larger and more numerous on the 
back and tail-coverts. Varieties of this species are so very rare, that I was 
much interested with the bird. I only know of two others, one mentioned 
by Morris, and one in the Packington Collection, both of which are white.— 
J. WuiTaker (Rainworth, N otts). 
Curious Variety of the Woodcock.—A very striking variety of the 
Woodcock has been forwarded from Carrick-on-Shannon, having the primaries 
pure white, a white collar round the throat, and white feathers dappled over 
the rest of the plumage, which is rather of a richer colour than the ordinary 
Woodcock. I may also mention having received a second bird marked some- 
what similar, which was shot close to the city, and which the owner believes 
to have been the same bird he had fired at unsuccessfully in the same place 
the previous season.— Epwarp Wittrams (2, Dame Street, Dublin). 
The Nutcracker in Lincolnshire. — A specimen of the Nutcracker, 
Nucifraga caryocatactes, was shot by Mr. Thomas Sargent, at Marsh 
Chapel, a parish on the Lincolnshire coast, on November 6th, 1888. This 
is, I believe, the first example of this bird known to have been found in 
Lincolnshire—G. H. Caron Harau (Grainsby Hall, Great Grimsby). 
ZOOLOGIST.—APRIL, 1889, N 
