NOTES AND QUERIES. 257 



with it. I have laid stress on " winter-plumaged " A. cervinus and A. pra- 

 tensis. Some importance attaches to this point, for A. pratensis in winter 

 is a very different-looking bird to A. pratensis in spring or summer; the 

 difference in the plumage of A. cervinus at these two seasons is well known 

 to all. In this district Anthus pratensis occurs only as a winter visitor, 

 and most of the specimens in my collection are in winter plumage. In 

 April last I visited North Wales, and near Cader Idris I procured this bird 

 in full breeding plumage. I was anxious to get one from this district, for 

 I knew that I should not be likely to find clearer-plumaged birds elsewhere. 

 Now comes the important point. Place this sjor^-plumaged A. pratensis 

 by the side of the wwiter-pluraaged A. cervinus, and the resemblance is so 

 striking that I should be sorely puzzled to distinguish between the two 

 birds at a very little distance indeed. In fact, I might not be able to do 

 so unless I had the birds in my hands. And here I venture to think that 

 Mr. Butterfield, and perhaps the authorities quoted by him, may have 

 been led into some confusion with regard to these birds by comparing 

 undated specimens of A. pratensis which may have been in spring plumage, 

 with winter specimens of A. cervinus: this would not be a fair comparison. 

 It must be obvious that when I stated that I could readily distinguish the 

 difference between A. pratensis and A. cervinus in the field, I was referring 

 to both birds in winter plumage, for who would ever expect to see together 

 in the field A. cervinus in winter and A. pratensis in spring dress? The 

 quotation from Mr. Dresser's letter that " the dark tips to the feathers in all 

 stages of A. cervinus are broader than in A. pratensis" surprises me much, 

 for in all specimens of A. pratensis I have the dark tips are broader than 

 in this A. cervinus. It will be noted that I have stated above that one of 

 the characteristics of my A. cervinus is the narrow stripes down the breast. 

 Unfortunately I do not possess a series of skins of A. cervinus for com- 

 parison; indeed, this is the only specimen of the bird I have ever seen. 

 It would perhaps have been better to quote more of Mr. Dresser's letter. 

 I may here state that an important point of distinction between the two 

 birds, apart from plumage, is that the bill of A. cervinus is much smaller 

 and finer than in A. pratensis, and in cabinet specimens the legs of the 

 latter dry much darker in colour than the former. In conclusion, then, so 

 far as my observations go, A. cervinus and A. pratensis, both in winter 

 plumage, may be readily distinguished one from the other, even in the field ; 

 but A. cervinus in winter so closely resembles A. pratensis in spring that it 

 is extremely difficult to distinguish them, so far as plumage is concerned. 

 — F. Coburn (Holloway Head, Birmingham). 



Nesting of the Hawfinch in Lincolnshire. — I think it possible that 

 readers of ' The Zoologist ' may be interested to know that a nest of the 

 Hawfinch, Coccothraustes vulgaris, has been found in the park at Lea Hall, 

 near Gainsborough. It is placed rather more than half- way up a large old 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XX. JULY, 1896. X 



