366 Field Notes. 



times, but each time a Starling came and went off with the 

 materials to its own nesting site, This continued until the 

 Blackbird became discouraged and sought a fresh nesting 

 place. — R. Fortune. 



Varieties of the Starling. — An albino starling, a bird of 

 the year, was knocked down with a walking stick at Birstwith 

 in June. The plumage was cream coloured, some of the 

 feathers being edged with faint buff, the eyes being pink. A 

 very noticeable bird is flying about our neighbourhood at the 

 time of writing (October). His plumage is normal with the 

 exception of the tail, which is quite white, making him very 

 conspicuous, especially when flying. — R. Fortune. 



Blackbird Singing in Severe Winter Weather. — Fast 

 spring when the conditions in Harrogate were almost Arctic, 

 a blackbird which had frequented my garden all winter (he 

 was without a tail, so easily recognised) sang daily before my 

 window just before going to roost, which he regularly did in 

 some ivy growing on the house side. He generally perched in 

 a small chestnut tree. In early April when the weather was 

 particularly severe, his song was rather half-hearted, but 

 nevertheless he persisted. Afterwards, when the weather 

 improved somewhat, he betook himself to a large elm, and the 

 first sound I heard every morning was his song, for he had a 

 particularly fine voice. Song Thrushes and many other 

 birds suffered severely during last winter and spring, the 

 mortality being very great, but strange to relate, Blackbirds 

 did not suffer very much. — R. Fortune. 



Notes on the Pied Wagtail— The autumn of 1916 was 

 remarkable for the great number of Pied Wagtails frequenting 

 the neighbourhood of my house. I first noticed them particu- 

 larly on August 31st, when a large flock of at least 200 birds 

 was hawking about for insects, in quite a swallow-like manner. 

 They were there for some time. After that date until Sep- 

 tember 15th, numbers passed over every evening from 7 to 

 7-30, flying in a direct line from north to south, and during the 

 day they were to be seen in the roadways and on the lawns in 

 every garden in the neighbourhood. I frequently had a 

 dozen or more at one time in my garden. On September 7th, 

 I was in the centre of the town when a large flock passed over, 

 flying high, from the N.W. to the S.E. This movement con- 

 tinued throughout September. On Oct. 3rd the numbers about 

 during the day had greatly diminished, and on the 7th I saw 

 only five during the whole of the day, and after that they dis- 

 appeared. I did not see any more until April 6th of this year, 

 when to my surprise I saw a big flock of two to three hundred 

 birds at the junction of Ripon Road and Swan Road ; this was 

 in the early evening. They were scattered about on the roofs of 



Naturalist, 



