io6 Field Notes. 



were the two oldest members of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union. 



During his life Mr. Carter amassed a large collection of 

 objects of Natural History, and it is to be hoped that his 

 collection will find a permanent home in the City of his 

 adoption. He possessed also a choice library of Natural 

 History books, especially those relating to Entomology. 



He leaves a son and three daughters, and a host of friends 

 to mourn his loss. His remains are interred in Heaton 

 Cemetery. — R. B. 



: o : 



Little Auk near Silsden, Yorkshire. — A Little Auk 

 was picked up on the farm of Mr. Jonas Clarkson, Crossmoor, 

 near Silsden, on January 19th, 1921, in a very exhausted 

 condition. It died before night. On the two preceding 

 days there had been a strong westerly (W.N.W., I think) 

 gale blowing. — M. Longbottom, Silsden, ist February, 1921. 



Grouse in Harrogate. — During periods of exceptionally 

 severe weather we have frequently had parties of grouse in 

 and around Harrogate, sometimes in big numbers. This 

 winter has been exceptionally mild, and one does not expect 

 to find grouse away from the moors. Two birds, however, 

 were in a little valley behind my house on January 30th, 

 the nearest nesting ground is about three miles away west, 

 and it is difficult to imagine what can have caused them to 

 wander from their usual haunts in such mild weather. A 

 strong westerly wind had been blowing for a day or two. — 

 R. Fortune. 



Feeding Habit of the Great Spotted Woodpecker. — 

 I have observed, during the last few days, an interesting 

 feeding habit of the Great Spotted Woodpecker. I heard 

 a hammering noise, and saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker 

 (male) very busy on a beech tree near, pecking a fir cone, 

 going systematically between each scale. To find a fir cone 

 fixed apparently firmly in a beech tree excited my curiosity 

 (the bird did not hold the cone in any way, but climbed round 

 it on the branch), and on closer investigation I found the base 

 of the cone was hrmly jammed into a crack on the tree with 

 the point of cone projecting outwards. The cone had evidently 

 been fixed by the bird. On the first day I saw the Wood- 

 pecker, one cone was fixed in place, but on the next day two 

 cones were in place, and later the first cone was thrown down. 

 At the base of the beech tree I found six or eight cones, the 

 scales of which were pecked apart and the seeds extracted. 

 The nearest fir tree bearing cones was at a distance of fourteen 

 yards, the height above ground where the cone was fixed in 

 the tree was fifteen feet. — Bernard Stracev, M.B.. Sim- 

 menthal, Switzerland, 27th January, 1921. 



N'aturaii^t 



