204 CORDEAUX: STRAY NOTES FROM THE YORKSHIRE COAST. 
summer plumage, sitting in the short herbage at the very edge of 
the cliff; we both observed it through binoculars for some little time, 
till it flew down the face of the cliff amongst the Guillemot and other 
rock birds, and did not appear again. The intense velvety black of 
the dark parts particularly struck the eye as contrasting with the 
yellow bill, broad white streak above the eye, and chestnut collar. 
The ordinary rock birds on the cliffs are in great force, and now 
occupy places on the lower cliffs south of the north landing, which 
were not tenanted some years since. When I first knew Flamborough, 
_ only a few pair of Stock-Doves (Columba enas) bred there—now there 
are hundreds. In the spring of 1892, a pair of Green Cormorant 
(Phalacrocorax graculus) were often seen about the cliffs, and showed 
every disposition to remain and nest; I fear, however, from what 
I heard, those were shot by the fishermen, who are not proof against 
the bribes offered by greedy collectors and mercenary dealers, who 
more than any others are mainly responsible for the continued 
destruction and extermination of our rarer bird visitors. 
one season by these most persistent and cunning pilferers must be 
very great indeed, and they abound in every part of the cliffs. 
Fishermen say that the Daws do not always plunder with impunity, 
for the outraged Guillemot has been seen to seize the thief by the 
neck and carry him down to the water, thus miserably to perish. 
As far as I can judge, this species seems everywhere to be decidedly 
on the increase, accommodating themselves to any holes they can 
appropriate, whether it be the cliffs of Flamborough, the ancient 
oaks of Sherwood and Birklands, a church tower or unuse 
chimney ; and are equally at home amongst the burrows of a rabbit- 
warren. Rock Pipits seem very numerous along the cliff, and in one 
place I saw half-a-dozen Tree Sparrows (fasser montanus) on the 
guard-fence, and from their actions concluded that they were probably 
nesting somewhere just below the summit. The grassy slopes along 
the crest of the Flamborough cliffs, having a northern aspect, ar€ 
now thickly sprinkled with pale primroses, which I always think are 
the smallest blooms and latest in flowering I ever see in England. 
The Golden-crested Wren, so abundant on migration in the 
autumn, is known at Flamborough as the ‘woodcock pilot’; but at 
Filey the fishermen call it the ‘herring-spink.’ This name is, I aiso 
————— 
Naturalist, 
