Field Notes. 189 



'Familiar Wild Birds,' witii coloured plates, is being- published in 6d. 

 instalments bv Messrs. Cassell & Co. 



From the ' Oii.'irterl\- Journals of the Northants Natural Histor\- Societ\- 

 and Field Club ' it would appear that the society is in a flourishintf condition, 

 and blessed with a j^-oodly number of able workers. The journals contain 

 several interesting^ articles, archa;olog-y, jjeolog-y, botany, and meteorolog-y 

 receiving- particular attention. They are also well illustrated, the repro- 

 duction of Mr. Roberts' photogfraph of Maidwell Dale being- a work of art. 

 -Mr. Beeby Thompson contributes several geological papers, and Mr. H. N. 

 Dixon has a good paper on Liverworts. We should hardly accept the 

 Rev. T. W. Freckleton's record of a palseolith 'in the boulder-clay cliffs at 

 Hornsea, near Hull ' (p. 149). If the object is a true implement, which is 

 doubtful, it will surely be of neolithic ag:e, and much later than the boulder- 



FIELD NOTES. 



BIRDS. 



Great Spotted Woodpecker near Spurn. — On loth March 

 a male Great Spotted Woodpecker [Dcudrocopus 77iujor) was seen 

 near here. — P. W. Lotex, Easington, igth March 1903. 



Raven near the Tees Mouth. — On 6th March 1903 a 

 Raven, Corviis corax (male), was shot at Seaton Carew, on the 

 north side of the Tees motith. The bird was first noticed on 

 28th February, the day after the g-reat gale, but is probabh- 

 an escape. It committed considerable havoc amongst the 

 poultry yards of the Seaton inhabitants before it was finallv 

 killed. — T. H. Nelson, Redcar, loth March 1903. 



Grantham Bird Notes. — The neighbourhood of Grantham 

 is fairly good for birds. I have taken three or four cuckoo's 

 eggs from the nests of as many Spotted Flycatchers. About 

 1890 I even found one of the grey variety in a Redstart's nest. 

 The Great Crested Grebe nests in the Denton neighbourhood, 

 and the Turtle Dove at Easton. Kingfishers are plentiful on 

 the Witham and little streams. In 1900 the Spotted Wood- 

 pecker nested in Belton Park. Mr. R. Ringer, taxidermist, oi 

 this town, has also had the following birds to set up during the 

 last eighteen months. A Waxwing from Easton ; two Rufous 

 Moorhens from Grantham ; a Hobby from Boothby ; a Nightjar 

 from Gonerby ; an Osprey from Stoke. A Golden Eagle was 

 also shot some years ago at Stoke. Perhaps m\- own most 

 interesting discovery was in an old tree which was blown down 

 in Belton Park. Under the nest of the Tawnv Owl which 

 I knew was in this tree and had been for years, I foiuui two 



ic,o3 May i. 



