170 



The Naturalist. 



days after their arrival if the weather is cold and unfavourable. On April 

 the 16th, the willow wren, chiffchaff, and swallow had arrived. April 

 18th, I saw a nest of the carrion crow containing six eggs, at Ryther. 

 April 23rd, magpie had eggs, the wheatear, grasshopper warbler, and 

 sand martin were to be seen and heard at Adel. April 30th, I heard the 

 cuckoo at Roundhay. May 1st, yellow wagtail at Roundhay. May 2nd, 

 my brother saw five black-headed gulls at Fewston Reservoir, and also a 

 pair of common sandpipers at Leathley, The cuckoo had also arrived in 

 Wharf edale. May 7th, one single swift in company with sand-martins at 

 Strensall Common ; also heard the whitethroat and landrail near York. 

 May 8th, heard the landrail near Leeds. May 14th, ring-ouzels were 

 plentiful on Rombalds Moor ; they had not yet begun to nest. Up to the 

 present date I have not seen a single house-martin. They are becoming 

 more scarce every year in this district. — Walter Raine, Leeds, 

 May 17th. 



Jack Snipe's Nest at Barkisland. — A jack snipe's nest was taken 

 on Ringstone Edge, Barkisland, in July, 1879 ; it contained four eggs of 

 the normal type, and two days after the parent bird was shot. The 

 nest, eggs, and bird are now in the possession of Mr. Farrar Lumb, 

 Westgate, Elland. I think the above is proof positive of the nesting of 

 the jack snipe in Britain. — C. C. Hanson. 



The Cuckoo. — I had not intended taking any notice of your Netherton 

 correspondent, with regard to the cuckoo, on March 12th. But one 

 mistake generally leads others astray, for in this month's Naturalist I see 

 that Mr. Bunker gives the 18th of March, at Goole. Now, in all my 

 long experience with the cuckoo, I never saw it before the end of March, 

 in forward springs. It is a soft-billed bird, and feeds on insects and 

 larvae, and could not have subsisted so far north, in a spring like this. 

 It never begins to sing until the leaves of the sycamore and. larch trees 

 begin to expand. 1 have looked in all the likely places which it haunts, 

 and did not see it before the first of May. — James Varley, Almondbury 

 Bank, Huddersfield, May 9th. 



Osprey {Pandion haliceetus) near Huddersfield.— I have had this 

 bird brought in to preserve. It was killed on Goodbent Moors, by 

 Robert Hogg, gamekeeper for Messrs. Seth Senior and Sons, Shepley, 

 on May 8th, at eight o'clock p.m. It measured 21in. from beak to tail- 

 end, and 5ft. expanse of wings; weight, 21bs. ll?,oz. It is a mature 

 male bird, and its crop contained the remains of a fish. — James Varley, 

 May 10th. 



Dunlins, &c., at Strensall Common.— On the 7th of May my 

 brother and I visited Strensall Common, where we came across a small 

 flock of dunlins, which were very tam.e, and allowed us to creep within 

 thirty yards before taking flight, and then only flew to the margin of an 



