NOTES AND QUEBIES. 323 



assimilated. In the course of a recent conversation with a friend, he in- 

 formed me that some time ago he shot at a Cuckoo, flying over a disused 

 quarry, in the very act of singing, wounding it in its wing, thus rendering 

 it unable to continue its flight, though otherwise apparently uninjured. To 

 his astonishment, whilst killing it, an egg was deposited in his hand. If 

 this statement be true — and I have no reason to dispute it, as I have 

 in the past ever found his statements unimpeachable — then the position 

 of those who assert that it is the male bird only that sings is untenable. 

 I pointed out to him that perhaps after all the song might have proceeded 

 from a male bird in the immediate neighbourhood. He, however, denied 

 that he could possibly be mistaken under the circumstances. — E. P. 

 Butteefield (Wilsden, near Bradford). 



Cuckoo's Egg in Nest of Red-backed Shrike.— As I called attention 

 to the extreme rarity of the Cuckoo's egg in the Shrike's nest (ante, p. 223), 

 I ought to mention that on June 15th I had one brought to me in East 

 Suffolk with three eggs of the Red-backed Shrike. A few days previously I 

 saw a Nightingale's nest in situ, with three eggs of the foster-parent and 

 one Cuckoo's egg, which, by the kindness of the owner of the property, I 

 was allowed to acquire. A neighbour was recently watching a Hedge- 

 Sparrow's nest which he thought might produce an egg of the Cuckoo, and 

 visited it one day, when it contained four eggs of the owner ; next day one 

 of the eggs was gone, and a Cuckoo's egg was left in its place. This 

 Cuckoo's egg, to my friend's utter astonishment, was well advanced in in- 

 cubation, while the eggs of the foster-parent were almost fresh. Where and 

 how had the incubation of the Cuckoo's egg taken place ? — Julian G. Tuck 

 (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



Arrival of Spring Migrants in Yorkshire. — I herewith send a list of 

 spring migrants, as observed by myself and son, with dates of first appear- 

 ance for the current year : — 



Wheatear, April 2nd Wilsden. 



Chiffchafif, April 3rd Bingley . 



Ring-Ouzel, April 6th Wilsden. 



Willow- Warbler, April 16th Bingley. 



Tree-Pipit, April 18th Bingley. 



Swallow, April 19th Bingley. 



House-Martin, April 19th (one), 



early Bingley. 



Cuckoo, April 20th Shipley. 



Redstart, April 21st Bingley. 



Sand-Martin, April 21st (late) ... Bingley. 



Ray's Wagtail, April 23rd Bingley. 



Blackcap and Garden Warbler, 



April 30th Cartmel, near Grange-over-Sands. 



Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, and 



^Corncrake, May 1st Walney Island. 



y2 



