( 37 ) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



AVES. 



Black Redstart at Brighton.— On Dec. 11th I noticed a Black Red- 

 start \Ruticilla titys) clinging to the wall behind our hospital. It remained 

 about Kemp Town the next few days, as I saw it several times before being 

 shot and preserved to establish the fact of its occurrence. It is a nice bird, 

 with good feathers, very little worn. — Charles H. Bryant (Sussex County 

 Hospital, Brighton). 



P.S. — I have seen this morning (Dec. 18th) another Black Redstart, 

 probably a companion of the one I secured.— C. H. B. 



" Chiffchaff building on the top of small Yew and Box Trees." 

 Correction. — In my note on the nesting of the Chiffchaff and Willow-Wren 

 in * The Zoologist,' December, 1899, p. 556, please read "the Chiffchaff 

 with us always breeds off the ground" instead of "on the ground." — 

 H. Noble (Temple Combe, Henley-on-Thames). 



Rose-coloured Starling in Co. Mayo. — On the 5th of last November 

 a fine specimen of this rare visitor (Pastor roseus) to Ireland was shot by 

 Mr. James A. Knox, at Belgariff House, near Foxford, as it was feeding by 

 itself on the lawn. It was not in very good plumage, for some feathers on 

 the back of its neck were not fully grown, nor had the long tail-feathers 

 attained their full length. This is the third specimen obtained in Ireland 

 this year. Mr. D. C. Campbell, of Londonderry, noticing, in the August 

 number of the ' Irish Naturalist,' 1898, a specimen having been procured on 

 June 9th by Mr. John Hunter near Inch in that county, and Mr. Williams, 

 of Dublin, in the 'Irish Naturalist ' for October, 1898, records the capture 

 of a specimen on July 20th by Mr. A. Brooke in his garden near Killy- 

 begs, Co. Donegal. — Robert Warren (Moyview, Ballina). 



The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) in Scotland.— It is well known that 

 this species has been prominently under notice for some time, and it is 

 believed that the birds have increased greatly within the last few years, and 

 as a consequence that much mischief was being done to crops by them. By 

 some at least the fact of their great economic value in eating up many pests 

 seemed to be practically lost sight of. An article appeared in the ■ Trans- 

 actions ' of the Highland Agricultural Society, by which it was demon- 



