NOTES AND QUERIES 107 



one only there were a few hairs." The second figure on plate xxxii., which 

 Hewitson put forth at the time as representing an egg of the Reed-Warbler, 

 is a fairly good representation of a Marsh- Warbler's egg. Hewitson was of 

 course unaware of this at the time, and merely remarks that it is a good 

 deal like some of the eggs of Sylvia orphea. But at the end of his intro- 

 duction he adds the following paragraph: — "The egg which is drawn at 

 fig. ii. plate xxxii. is not that of the Reed- Warbler, but of Salicaria palus- 

 tris, a continental species. It was sent me by mistake, but will not inaptly 

 represent some varieties which I have seen of eggs of our own British 

 species.'" These italics are mine. It seems to me very likely that the eggs 

 referred to in the italicized passage came out of the nests procured at Bath, 

 which Hewitson regarded as aberrant Reed-Warblers' nests, but which, 

 from the description given of them, more nearly resembled nests of the 

 Marsh- Warbler. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Nutcracker in Sussex.— On Dec. 21st, 1900, a Nutcracker {ISucifraga 

 caryocatactes) was shot at Chilgrove, nearly seven miles to the north 

 of Chichester, by J. Woods, Esq. The last recorded specimen in Sussex 

 was obtained on Nov. 3rd, 1893, in Stockbridge fields, near Chichester 

 (Zool. 1895, p. 310), where it is also stated that Mr. Borrer, in his ' Birds 

 of Sussex,' mentions but a single example of this bird obtained in Sussex, 

 namely, one shot at Littlington in September, 1844. — H. Marmaduke 

 Langdale (Compton, Petersfield). 



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus minor).— At 9 a.m. on 

 Feb. Ist, 1901, I heard this bird repeatedly tapping in a chestnut-tree at 

 some little distance from where I stood. The bird afterwards flew into a 

 tree close to me, and uttered its curious Wryneck-like cry several times. 

 Is it usual for this tapping sound to be heard during the winter ? I see 

 that the text-books state it is heard in the spring. — Oliver H. New 

 (Evesham). 



British-killed Egrets (Ardea garzetta).— In Loudon's ' Magazine of 

 Natural History ' for 1836, p. 599, Mr. J. C. Dale, of Glanvilles Wootton, 

 in Dorsetshire, mentions that " at a sale of birds, &c., I attended in March, 

 1826, at Southampton, was an Egret (a fine specimen), lot 38, sold for 

 £5 Ss., probably shot near that place." Possibly this is the same speci- 

 men alluded to by Mr. Newstead (ante, p. 70), as the date is exactly the 

 same, and the locality in Yorkshire may have been subsequently added to 

 the label under the impression that it had been killed in that county. In 

 the same year also a Great White Heron {Ardea alba) is said to have been 

 shot at Hornsea, in Yorkshire (' Magazine of Natural History,' 1839, p. 31). 

 J. H. Gdrney (Keswick Hall, Norwich). 



