NOTES AND QUERIES. 369 



and all his papers. Cassell's Nat. Hist., quoting some other authority, says, 

 " The mother places it in her pouch," without giving any idea of how that is 

 performed. It is easy to make a statement, but it is not so easily confirmed. 

 One can understand a Cat or a Dog picking up its young in its mouth and 

 carrying it away, but it is too human-like for a Kangaroo to pick up that 

 wretched worm and put it in her pouch. What would happen if it was 

 born in the jungle in the dark? — Edward Bartlett. 



[Lumholtz writes : — " The large Kangaroo bears a young ' no larger 

 than the little finger of a human baby, and not unlike it in form.'- This 

 helpless, naked, blind, and deaf being the mother puts in an almost 

 inexplicable manner into the pouch with her mouth " (' Among Cannibals,' 

 p. 379). iVflalo states that the actual fact of the Kangaroo's birth was 

 observed at the " London Zoo. ... It was there proved that the little 

 'joey ' is brought into the world in the usual way, and forthwith conveyed 

 to the comfortable receptacle, and affixed to a teat by the dam, which held 

 the lifeless-looking little thing tenderly in her cloven lips " (' A Sketch of 

 the Nat. Hist, of Australia,' p. 29). There is evidently much confusion on 

 this interesting question. — Ed.] 



AVES. 



Is the Whinchat a Mimic ? — Referring to Mr. Godfrey's note (ante, 

 p. 267) anent this question, my brother and I had indubitable evidence of 

 the imitative powers of Pratincola rubetra (cf. Zool. 1877, p. 384). Again, 

 I heard one when crossing a meadow in May or June, 1897, near this 

 village, which allowed me to approach within a very few yards whilst 

 singing on the top of a wall ; and, although perhaps not gifted with such 

 a range of mimetic powers as the bird heard in 1877, yet it so closely 

 imitated the song of the Blackcap, in addition to the reproduction of call- 

 notes of various birds, as to fairly astonish me. It may be said in passing 

 that whilst executing its imitative performance its attitude indicated intense 

 passion, and altogether different to its movements and habits when it 

 resumed its ordinary song, at which time it was more active and much 

 wilder, and would not suffer a near approach. — E. P. Butterfield (Wils- 

 den, near Bradford). 



Arrivals of Spotted Flycatcher and Nightjar.— The question whether 

 the Spotted Flycatcher [Muscicapa grisola) is the last to arrive of our 

 summer migrants must, as far as this district is concerned, be answered in 

 the negative, the Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaus) arriving on an average 

 more than a week later. I should like to ascertain from your readers whether 



* This quotation appears to be from Gould's ' Introduction to the Mam- 

 mals of Australia,' p. 10. 



Zool 4th Ser. vol. III., August, 1899 . 2 b 



