310 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



plantation close by. It flew into a larch-tree some fifty yards distant, 

 and thirty feet upwards, and not until I had thrown at it three times 

 would it let fall its prey. It had been killed, as seems usual, by the 

 back of the skull being crushed in. The following evening it captured 

 the young of another bird, but I was unable to find it after being 

 dropped into the undergrowth. Immediately afterwards I prevented a 

 young Yellowhammer being killed, which it had buffeted to the ground 

 a short distance from where I was working. Again, a young Pied 

 Wagtail that had evidently left its nest but a short time previously 

 and had flown on to the lawn was swooped upon immediately my back 

 was turned and killed. The cries of the parent birds, joined by a pair 

 of Flycatchers and a Grey Wagtail, attracted my attention to the 

 Shrike and its victim, and, replacing the Wagtail, the Shrike immedi- 

 ately returned, and succeeded in flying with its proportionately very 

 heavy load some short distance away, and over a hedge several feet 

 high ; and, although still mobbed by the various birds, devoured the 

 greater part of the Wagtail's head before I again disturbed it for 

 further examination ; replacing it, the Shrike evidently again returned 

 in my absence, and removed its prey away from further observation. 

 In a previous year I found an adult Goldcrest impaled on a hedge 

 near by, but this is the only instance I can recall where I have known 

 any bird so treated. An instance was reported to me this year, in Bed- 

 fordshire, of a Shrike swooping upon a young Pheasant poult close to 

 the coops. I have never witnessed any bird being attacked except 

 by the male Butcher-Bird. — J. Steele-Elliott (Dowles Manor, Shrop- 

 shire). 



Albino Starling in Suffolk. — On June 12th a perfectly white Starling 

 was shot in the adjoining parish of Beyton, and brought to me on the 

 following day. It was a young bird, which had been out of the nest 

 for perhaps a week, and a genuine albino with pink eyes. — Julian G. 

 Tuck (Tostock Kectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



Egg-depositing by the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) : an Explanation. 

 I have to explain, in reference to my notes on this subject, that the 

 bird which we call here the "Heather Linnet" is supposed to be the 

 Meadow-Pipit (Anthus pratensis) of Macgillivray ; subject, of course, to 

 further inquiry. The local name is perfectly appropriate, as the bird 

 is practically confined to the moors ; and the question now turns upon 

 which is the most common bird which the Cuckoo depends upon for 

 the rearing of its young. There are many birds here in the nests of 

 which the Cuckoo elsewhere is known to deposit its eggs. This Pipit 

 apparently varies a good deal over the area of its distribution. It is 



