NOTES AND QUERIES. 315 



and rounded off the edges of the entrance-hole, which was oval in 

 shape, not round. I saw a Pied Woodpecker's nest in Wales last year, 

 which was somewhat similar. It was in a small oak about twelve feet 

 from the ground, in a place where a branch had been torn away from 

 the trunk ; the young birds were very noisy. To return to the former 

 nest : when we were examining it we could hear the alarm-note "gik" 

 or "chick" of one of the old birds, so we retired into the cover on the 

 other side of the ride to watch. In a few minutes the old male came 

 down and settled on the side of the trunk (where the bark was quite 

 worn by the birds' feet), and then sidled round to the hole in front. 

 The cries of the young were vociferous. The male remained at the 

 entrance for a minute or two, popping his head forward into the hole, 

 and, I think, feeding the young ; then he went inside for a few minutes, 

 came out, and flew away. It was now dusk, and we went home. 

 Eeturning to the spot the next morning, we noticed that we could hear 

 the young birds quite plainly when we were sixty yards from the tree. 

 We repeatedly saw both old birds close to the tree, and they even 

 settled on it ; but, though we had hidden ourselves much more care- 

 fully than on the previous evening, and at a greater distance from the 

 tree, they would not feed the young, or go quite to the hole while we 

 remained. While watching them I repeatedly heard one of them 

 (certainly the female in some cases) utter a curious cry, sounding like 

 "trah" or "tray," but the note they used chiefly was the ordinary 

 alarm cry "gik" or "chick." I almost wonder some of the numerous 

 Foxes (one of which crossed the ride in front of us about noon that 

 day) had not tried to get at these young birds, which took such pains 

 to betray their presence. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Honey-Buzzard in Cheshire. — On the evening of June 5th an im- 

 mature Honey-Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) was shot in a ride in one of 

 the woods in Tatton Park. The bird lacks the grey head which 

 characterizes the adult, but resembles in the mottled brown and white 

 of the under parts, and the general character of its upper plumage, an 

 old male from Altenkirche, which is in the Dresser collection in the 

 Manchester Museum, and is figured on the third plate devoted to- this 

 species in the 'Birds of Europe.' — Chas. Oldham (Knutsford). 



British Grey Geese. — I am glad to see this matter cleared up, as I 

 consider it to be, by Mr. H. W. Robinson. I have compared several 

 specimens, supplied to me from the Outer Hebrides and Tiree Point, 

 and a considerable time ago came to the same conclusions as he has 

 done — that differences in coloration are due to age ; that differences 

 in size are due to age ; that the dark-breasted White-fronted Geese 



