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CUCKOO IN BERWICK TOWN. 



hand, it is not improbable that fresh arrivals may have come over 

 June 25th, a pair were seen near the Tees mouth ; 30th, wind N. 

 strong, I found one on the sands near Redcar ; it had been in the 

 water for some considerable time, for the head was gone and the 

 body sodden with water. Same date, a flock of thirteen was flushed 

 near the Tees mouth. July ist, a flock of about a dozen, and an 

 odd bird, were on Coatham sands. 3rd, one on the sands near 

 Redcar ; it remained within a hundred yards of the town, picking 

 amongst the gravel at high-water mark, until disturbed by a passing 

 dog. 4th, eight at the Tees mouth, flying W. 9th, two flew past 

 Redcar at 6.30 a.m., going N.W., and calling loudly. 

 Other instances in Cleveland : — 



About the end of May one was picked up at Battersby, on the 

 railway, killed by flying against the telegraph wires. 



May 23rd, twelve near Whitby, and a male and female shot. 



June I St, a female found below the telegraph wires, between 

 Hinderwell and Kettleness. 



June loth, a flock of twenty near Ormesby. — T. H. Nelson, 

 Redcar, 13th July, 1888. 



Boroughbridge. — Mr. Christopher Clarke, of Minskip, near 

 Boroughbridge, informs me that on the 20th of June he flushed a covey 

 of about twenty Sand-Grouse in a clover field between Minskip and 

 Staveley. The birds alighted again in the same field, and so gave 

 him a further opportunity of identifying them. On the 27th of the 

 same month he saw a single bird near his farm buildings, within a 

 few yards of a spot where some pigeons and poultry were feeding. 

 When this bird rose he called it, whereupon it turned and flew over 

 his head, within easy gunshot. The birds were not to be found 

 yesterday, though a careful search of the field was made. — 

 E. PoNSONBY Knubley, Stavelcy Rectory, July 6th, 1888. 



NOTE—ORNITHOLOG Y. 



Cuckoo in Berwick Town.— It is seldom that dwellers in towns have the 

 pleasure of hearing the unmistakable note of this summer wisiiov [Cticiihcs canorus). 

 This morning about five o'clock I listened to it with pleasure for some time, the 

 bird being in a tree behind my house. I had a similar expeiience three or four 

 years ago at the same season : returning from one of those night expeditions to 

 which country doctors are liable, I heard, on going to my bedroom about four a.m., 

 the note of the Cuckoo from the same trees. Rather apprehensive that I might 

 not be credited if I related this at the breakfast table, I awoke two or three 

 members of my family in order to bear witness to the unusual phenomenon. 

 I suspect that in both cases the birds had just arrived from their continental 

 winter resorts, for my house is within half a mile of the sea, with nothing but 

 green fields intervening, and the trees in the little garden must no doubt be a 

 welcome resting-place after a flight across theNorth Sea. — P. Maclagan, Berwick, 



May 1st, 1888. 



Naturalist, 



