NOTES—ORNITHOLOGY. 
Magpies and af weaved Hawks as linet Rie ena 4 Game-Fowl 
ry, this month’s number of ‘The Natura Ny query from— 
r. Oldham, Alderiey Edge, as to whether it was sty a practice of 
Secon of game fowl to place the eggs of eke Meds in the nests of — 
gpies. : 
I have never heard of this in connection with Magpies’ nests, but I know ~ 
that many years ago the pitmen of Northumberland (who were great — 
breeders of game-fowl) used to place the eggs in the n vat af the Sparrow — 
Hawk (Accipiter nisus). They had an impression that by so he the 
young ong would become stronger and fiercer for fighting Mois 
Ther n old dismantled tower (an old pit shaft) at the north-west & 
corner py our ee oor where : 3 hla s done year after year, and where | 
the Agevdiait es ks were allow nest in safety for this med ting ge 
H. T. ARCHER, restore att 6th February 1899. 
Magpies, etc., as Foster-Parents of Game-Fowl.—Referring toe 
Mr. Oldham’s note on this eathect in ‘The Naturalist for February (p. St) ee 
ee oie. is = in E. Rolland’s ‘Faune Populaire dela Fra ce e 
me 2 I 
e Co 0q- pie Your C6é-pie) passe pour eto trés-méchant. On l’obtient en— 
faisant couver des ceufs de por ule uae e pie dont on déménage le nid. — 
ogs qu illeurs.’ Haut-Maine, MONTESSON. ~ 
Ip Potayen en's ‘Skandinaviens ae Vol. 1, pp. 254, 270, the use 
the nests of both Pica pica and Corvus cornice for the hatching of hens 
eggs is described as practised in certain ai s of Scandinavia, OstergG6th- — 
land being — ularly specified The sib are — ran or. 
otherwise colo oo and the c hitkens of” course, removed as soon as 
betrayed by their piping. The au athe says that he can from his own» 
ex _ har vouc oh 4 the perfect success of the plan. 
Mo: on’s account dates 1859, orang i 1866.—P. RALFE, ‘The 
Fevaae, casita iia Isle of Man, 9th February 1899. 
The Kingfisher in the Huddersfield District. en Joseph H. 
eee 9 Skelmanthorpe, near Huddersfield, Davids: seen my note one 
‘ The Kingfisher at Huddersfield’ (« Naturalist,’ Dec mber r 1868), wrote me 
the other day G wes sbicniereh 1899), as iehewasia On January 6th last, — 
I was fishing for roach in the rae ci? at beaks Hall, and observed a 
Kingfisher (Aled “ispida) fly across the moat. Previous to this I had — 
anil oneon n pond at Railay Old “Hall, and this bird is repeatedly ‘ 
observed by me Saabs er, our family on the pond or dow 4 
‘ 
in the above-mentioned moat and pond, and last week, when our pond w 
frozen over except on a few square yards where the water ms it, the 
Kingfisher was seen on successive days early in the morning oh 
tree which Ws up ou the pond at ast ecipaily, I saw 
another Kingfisher several times by the stream just below B 
Skelmanthorpe, and in this stream there erly sticklebacks, but 
they appear to “ok been killed off by eine and mille t 
when I observed the bird last Saturday, the stream 
by dye-water. Before this year I have never seen a Kingfisher in this distri 
only on the Nidd at Knaresboroug! d the Lave ipon ; 
s 
- Hinchliff kindly allows me to send the foregoing interesting notes 
for publication ; and I may add that at the time 1 observed the bird on i 
nds 1 stic 
AS rke t 
ecently on he erase asions seen the Kingfisher at Slaithwaite, 
ere are evidently a several in this district.—Gro. T. PORRI 
Coosa Hall, Huddersfield, 15th schilcriie 1899. 
