278 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



AVES. 



Occurrence of the Water-Pipit (Anthus spipoletta) in Sussex.— 

 On Feb. 27th last I received for identification a Pipit from Mr. G. Bristow, 

 of St. Leonards. The letter accompanying the specimen stated that it had 

 been shot on Feb. 19th at Hollington, near St. Leonards, by a boy named 

 Peacham. On comparing the bird with the descriptions in Dresser's 

 ' Birds of Europe,' I came to the conclusion that it must be a specimen of 

 Anthus spipoletta. This identification was afterwards verified by Mr. 

 Howard Saunders. The bird was a hen by dissection. — N. F. Ticehuest 

 (Winstowe, St. Leonards-on-Sea). 



Flycatcher feeding on Worms.— On May 12th I noticed a Flycatcher 

 (Muscicapa atricapilla), which had only arrived that morning, feeding on 

 worms. The day was cold and wet, and probably flies were scarce, and the 

 bird weary. Is this unusual? I do not remember a similar case coming 

 under my observation. — R. H. Ramsbotham (Meole Brace, Shrewsbury). 



Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major). — On Tuesday, 

 May 15th last, about 7 p.m., I was in my garden on Greenhill, Evesham, 

 and, hearing the peculiar rattling noise attributed to these birds in common 

 with the smaller Spotted Woodpecker, I followed the sound which pro- 

 ceeded from the plantation adjoining the garden. I found it very difficult 

 to determine the exact spot the noise came from ; for one moment it 

 appeared close at hand, and the next some considerable distance away. In 

 the plantation there are a quantity of dead or dying beech trees, and, 

 thinking it probable the noise proceeded from one of them about fifteen 

 yards or more beyond me, I stood behind the trunk of a tree and waited. 

 Fancying I saw a slight movement in a Scotch fir tree nearer to me than 

 this beech tree, I watched carefully, and soon discovered a Woodpecker 

 perching close against the trunk of the fir, its breast only being visible to 

 me, its head and beak then being hidden by the trunk of the tree. All at 

 once the bird began hammering with its beak at a dead branch which joined 

 the'tree-trunk where it sat, and the strange ringing rattle was produced. 

 With the aid of a powerful glass I was able to observe the action of the 

 bird carefully, and found myself scarcely able to believe that such a sound 

 could be thus made. The branch was sharply hit or pecked by the bird 



