110 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



cause. I heard of a pure white one being seen a few days ago. — 

 W. J. Clarke (33, Nelson Street, Scarborough). 



Brambling in Surrey. — Although the Brambling (Frlngilla monti- 

 fringilla) cannot be called a common bird in Surrey, there can be little 

 doubt that some probably visit the county every winter. But one may 

 spend a good many years observing birds without noting one. This 

 winter, however, they are extraordinarily abundant in this neighbour- 

 hood, especially on the North Downs between Guildford, Dorking, and 

 Leatherhead. Mr. Bucknill, in his ' Birds of Surrey,' records certain 

 winters as "Brambling years" in Surrey, and it may therefore be 

 worth noting that this winter appears to be one of these, as was 

 1835-6, 1863-4, and 1892-3. It would be interesting to know whether 

 unusual numbers have visited the whole country. They are almost 

 always in company with flocks of Chaffinches under beech trees, but 

 their light rumps render them conspicuous at a great distance. There 

 are unverified reports of this species having nested in Surrey, and so 

 the date of their departure and the fact of any remaining through the 

 summer would be of interest. — Harold Kussell (Shere, Surrey). 



Cuckoo's Egg in Nest of Twite. — My thanks are due to your 

 many correspondents who have not allowed my note on the Cuckoo's 

 egg found by one of my sons in the nest of a Twite (cf. ' Zoologist,' 

 1904, p. 315) to pass without comment, and I quite reciprocate their 

 spirit in so far as it is their wish to canvass facts and sift evidence. 

 Especially is this the case in the present instance, where there appears 

 to have been such prima facie evidence in support of your correspon- 

 dent's position. For forty years and upwards I have been acquainted, 

 and intimately acquainted, with the habits of this interesting bird, as 

 the high moors (1000 ft.) almost girdle this place, and, being within 

 easy access, I have spent much of my leisure hours in the haunts of 

 the Twite. It nests occasionally at lower altitudes near this village, 

 but perhaps more rarely than formerly ; indeed, on the high ground it 

 is not so numerous during the breeding season as in former years, but 

 I had attributed this to the opening out of some quarries. But Mr. 

 Ellison, of Steeton, informs me it is much less common than in former 

 years in his district, where the conditions have not changed, and it 

 would be interesting to know whether this relative scarcity is of local 

 application, or applies to a wider area in its distribution in the nesting 

 season. There is no falling off in its numbers, however, in its visit to 

 this district after the breeding season — immigrants I take them — where 

 they may be seen in immense flocks on the roadside and waste places 



