FIELD NOTES. 

 BIRDS. 



Corncrake near Workington. — Mr. T. Kendal, game- 

 keeper on the Workington Hall estate, reports that on January 

 3rd he shot a Corncrake on Clifton Moor, near Workington. 

 The bird was in an excellent condition. — Riley Fortune. 



Breeding of the Short -eared Owl near Wilsden. — A 

 few weeks ago I called at the house of the late Arthur Oliver, 

 a local taxidermist, and his widow shewed me a pair of 

 Short -eared Owls and three young — originally there were 

 four — which her husband had shot on Blackmoor, between 

 Denholme and Haworth. Mr. Oliver had seen both young 

 and old flying about the moor for two or three months ; there 

 is every reason to believe they had bred there. The nearest 

 places to Wilsden in North-west Yorkshire where it is reported 

 to have bred are the Otley Moors, near Skipton, and near 

 Malham, but no particulars are given as recorded in ' The 

 Birds of Yorkshire.' A few other places are mentioned of 

 this species breeding in other parts of Yorkshire, but it can 

 only be regarded as a scarce breeding species in Yorkshire. — 



E. P. BUTTERFIELD. 



It is hardly possible to fix the exact date of this interesting 

 occurrence, but it was probably about igi6 or 1917. — Ed. 



Eagle in West Yorkshire. — I read, with interest, Mr. 

 Chislett's note in The Naturalist for February, as I had seen 

 the bird. My first impression, on account of the very dark 

 plumage, was the same as Mr. Chislett's — that it was a Golden 

 Eagle, but a little later we had a much better view, and then 

 decided that it was an immature White-tailed Eagle. There 

 was a little white or very pale grey on the tail, towards the 

 base, but this is quite consistent with a young H. alhicilla, 

 whereas a Golden at the same age should have shown much 

 more white and a distinct dark distal band. Had it been a 

 mature Golden Eagle, or one approaching maturity, with an 

 almost wholly dark tail, it would surely have shown a lighter 

 head and nape, whereas the head and neck of the bird as we saw 

 it at fairly close quarters was as dark as the rest of the plumage. 

 When the bird careened, showing its under parts, Capt. Boyd 

 thought that there was more yellow on the legs than would 

 have been visible on the toes alone of a Golden, and when it 

 was a little further away, and dropped its legs for a moment to 

 threaten an annojdng Hooded Crow, Mr. Hadfield thought 

 that the tarsi were unfeathered. We have examined skins 

 in the Dresser collection, and though there is always some 

 uncertainty about such variable birds as Eagles when only 

 seen on the wing, we are satisfied in our own minds that it was 

 a White -tailed and not a Golden Eagle When the bird passed 

 rather below our level the tail did not show the white basal 



1920 Mar. 1 



