34Q 



NOTES— ORNITHOLOGY. 

 Cream-coloured Skylark in Nidderdale. — A friend of mine has 



sent me a cream-coloured Skylark (Alauda arvcusis), which he caught on Hay- 

 shaw Moor, near Pateley, September ioth, 1886.- — Wm. Storey, Pateley Bridge, 

 October nth, 1886. 



Albino Blackbird in Nidderdale.— I have obtained a perfect white 

 example of the Blackbird ( Turdtcs meriila), which was found badly injured by 

 flying against the telegraph wires at Pateley, by Mr. Thos. Milner, on October 

 2nd, 1886. — Wm. Storey, Pateley Bridge, October nth, 1886. 



Pochard and Hooded Crow in Durham.— A Pochard (Fuligula 



ferina) and a very dark specimen of the Hooded Crow ( Corvus comix) were shot 

 by a local gunner on 7th October, 1886. — J. T. T. Reed, Ryhope, Durham,, 

 nth October, 1886. 



Duck Decoys. — Dr. Parsons is quite correct about there being a Decoy 

 near Crowland, but it is in Northamptonshire, not Lincolnshire, it is situated. 

 It is one of the best in England, has eight pipes, and is rented by Mr. Williams,, 

 whose family have been its lessees for over 200 years. The pool lies between the 

 rivers Nene and Wei land, in the N.E. corner of the county, between Peakirk and 

 Crowland, two miles N.E. of the former town. — R. P. Gallwey, Thirkleby Park,, 

 Thirsk, Oct. 4th, 1886. 



Flamborough Bird-notes. — On October 5th Woodcocks arrived on the 

 headland, along with several Crested Wrens and Hooded Crows. Since October 

 2nd more sea-birds have frequented our coast than I ever remember, and such a 

 variety too. Manx Shearwaters (Puffinus anglorum), Cineraus Shearwaters 

 \Puffinus griseus), and hundreds of Skuas and Gannets {Sula bassand) ; also 

 Guillemots {Lomvia troile) and Razorbills (Alcd tarda) in their winter plumage, 

 Little Gulls {Lams minutus), Terns, one Black Guillemot {Uria grylle), immature, 

 and thousands of Kittiwakes {Rissa tridactyla) feeding in the early morning, 

 several I saw having herrings' tails hanging out of their bills. The birds covered 

 a large area north and south of the headland. — Matthew Bailey, Flamborough,, 

 October 13th, 1886. 



A Suggested Explanation of the Occurrence of the Sar- 

 dinian Starling in England. — Mr. Backhouse's record of the Sardinian 

 Starling {Sturmis unicolor Marm.) in Yorkshire is very interesting. It seems very 

 likely that this species has once occurred in the New Forest, for Mr. G. B. Corbin 

 writes in the Zoologist ( 1877 , p. 22) of a black Starling killed there, and which, 

 like the Yorkshire bird, was supposed to be a variety of the common species. 

 There is, however, an undoubted tendency in species to vary occasionally in 

 plumage, so as to resemble other closely-allied species, and cases like the present 

 may sometimes be accounted for in this way. If it be so, the two black Starlings 

 now recorded are not emigrants from Spain, but the progeny of common English 

 Starlings {Sturmis vulgaris), and probably were bred in this country. I merely 

 throw out this suggestion for what it is worth. — J. H. Gurney, jun. , Northrepps, 

 Norwich, Oct. 4th. 



Greenshank in Nidderdale.— On Saturday last a Greenshank ( Totanus 

 canescens) was brought me, which had been shot three days previously on the 

 margin of a small stream, near Pateley; there is no record of a similar instance 

 happening near Pateley Bridge, or in Nidderdale. — -Wm. Storey, Pateley Bridge, 

 October nth, 1886. 



[On the 26th and 27th of September we observed no less than five Green- 

 shanks in the Washburn Valley, where they frequented the muddy fiats around 

 the reservoirs, which were very low. It was amusing to observe the brisk manner 

 in which they searched for food in the shallows, running too and fro in an almost 

 excited state. Occasionally they would swim quite unconcerned across deep 

 channels to neighbouring shallows. We also saw this bird here at the same date 

 last year ; it is no doubt of annual occurrence in suitable inland as well as coast 

 localities, when on its autumn migration. — W.E.C.] ' Naturalist,. 



