300 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



give the inside to four or five of their young ones, which received this 

 tender morsel with soft cries and shivering wings, suggestive of a certain 

 amount of enjoyment. On carefully examining the pods I found that the 

 Hawfinch and Great Tit took out the peas in different ways. The Haw- 

 finches cut the pods as with a pair of scissors ; the Tits punched holes on 

 one side of the pod. I only hope the young birds will not take to this food; 

 if so, we shall have to sow two or three extra rows every year. This is the 

 first time I have noticed the Great Tit take green peas.— J. Whitaker 

 (Rainworth, Mansfield). 



Spotted Flycatcher Nesting directly on Arrival. — This bird, which 

 is nearly always the last spring visitor to arrive, was seen here for the first 

 time on May 13th. They always arrive during the daytime, and not during 

 the night or very early morning, as the greater number of spring birds do. 

 The first pair were seen about 3 p.m. ou the 13th, and on the 14th, at 

 lunch-time, I noticed they were busy building in a box put up for them near 

 the dining-room window here; the nest was finished and one egg in by the 

 18th, and now (July 10th) the birds, having reared their first brood, are 

 again sitting. Two other pairs in the garden are building their second 

 nests. We always have two artificial nesting boxes here for this species, 

 put pretty near each other, for they never or seldom nest a second time 

 in the same place during one season. This bird commences to nest sooner 

 after arrival than any other spring migrant. All the earlier birds, such as 

 Chiffchaffs and Willow Wrens, are about three weeks before starting ; 

 Swallows about a fortnight. We have a greater number of this interesting 

 species than usual ; seven pairs have nested round the house.— J. Whitaker 

 (Rainworth, Notts). 



On Anthus cervinus and A. rupestris.— I have been much interested 

 in Mr. Coburn's remarks upon Anthus cervinus in winter dress (pp. 101, 

 256, 257), but I confess that I cannot follow him when, referring to his 

 specimen shot in November, he writes, " It is much paler in colour than 

 pratensis" (p. 101). And as Mr. Coburn, in his second note (p. 257), tells 

 us that this is the only specimen of the bird he has ever seen, I hope he 

 will pardon me if I suggest the possibility of his having got hold of a 

 rather peculiar specimen. I have only four specimens of A. cervinus in my 

 possession, viz. a male from Egypt, killed in December ; two spring females 

 from Laplaud ; and a male which I shot in Tunis in the early part of April, 

 but cannot be said to have assumed the full summer dress, although it is 

 changing. All these birds are distinctly darker in colour on the upper 

 parts than A. pratensis (of which I have a good series) in winter plumage, 

 which in that stage always shows an oil-green tinge, lost in spring and 

 summer. I have only seen A. cervinus alive in a wild state in April in 

 North Africa, and in June in Arctic Norway ; but it was then so distinctly 



