NOTES AND QUERIES. 433 



Linota cannabina. Linnet. — Much lesss common than formerly, but 

 the partial disappearance of whin-covers may to some extent account for 

 their comparative scarcity. 



L. flavirostris. Twite. — Even more striking in its scarcity as compared 

 with former years, and more unaccountably so than the last species. 



Loxia curvirostra. Crossbill. — A pair were seen last May or June 

 (1899) in Upper Wharfedale, but I cannot ascertain that any nest was 

 actually found, although it is probable it may have occurred in the beautiful 

 pine-woods which abound there. 



Sturnus vulgaris. Starling. — A few more appear to winter with us 

 than formerly, although much more abundant both in winter and summer 

 in some years than others. It often leaves its breeding haunts where 

 it can be observed in colonies without any apparent reason. Mr. Forrest, 

 in ' The Zoologist ' (ante, p. 140), remarks : — " Careful observation has 

 convinced me that a very large proportion of Starlings, perhaps one-half, 

 rear only one brood in the year." In this district it is practically single- 

 brooded. A few may not improbably have two broods in one season, but 

 such instances are rare. A good many are sometimes seen in flocks when 

 others are breeding, and have been for some time, but, as the season 

 advances, gradually disappear, perhaps to breed in higher latitudes ; and it 

 may be more apparent than real that a good many " never breed at all." I 

 have been asked if three Starlings occasionally feed the young belonging to 

 one nest ; one person here stoutly maintains he has repeatedly had ocular 

 demonstration of the fact. Although it is not at all an uncommon thing to 

 see three birds about one nest, I have never once been satisfied that more 

 than two ever engaged in feeding the young. 



Dendrocopus major. Great Spotted Woodpecker. — Has been more 

 than usually common of late years; whilst the Green Woodpecker, on the 

 other hand, has become much scarcer — indeed, I have not observed a single 

 specimen for some years. 



D. minor. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. — A very rare visitant. One, 

 however, was seen in Biugley Wood last May, and the keeper thinks 

 it may be breeding, as he saw it again only the other day. It is about 

 twenty years since last record for this district. 



Cuculus canorus. Cuckoo. — During the past year (1899), and up to the 

 present, the only species of birds which have come to my knowledge in the 

 nests of which the Cuckoo has deposited its eggs are the Meadow-Pipit and 

 Whinchat. It seldom lays its egg or eggs in any other species except these 

 two in this district. I recently found a young Cuckoo nearly fully fledged 

 in the nest of a Titlark. One of my sons observed that the foster-parents 

 were feeding it chiefly upon the heath-moth. A good many years ago, on 

 a heathy waste near here, I watched a Cuckoo come repeatedly to the uest 



