i?6 



NOTES— ORNITHOLOGY. 



Colour-Variety of Wheatear near Harrogate. — On Easter Monday, 

 16th April, I saw a very beautiful Wheatear {Saxicula ceuanthe) near Spruisty 

 Bridge, Bilton. 



It was almost pure white with the exception of ihe wing- shoulders, which 

 were a bright terra-cotta. 



There were a pair together, and I think the specimen under notice was 

 the male. — Kenneth MacLean, Harrogate, 21st April 1900. 



Pied Rook near Harrogate. — I noticed a very peculiar pied specimen 

 of the Rook (Corvus frugilegus) exhibited in a barber's window at Knares- 

 borough in March. It had been shot in the Crimple Valley, near Pannal. 



The back of the head and neck was quite grey like that of a Jackdaw ; 

 the wings were splashed and speckled all over with white, whilst the base 

 of the beak was covered with feathers as in the Carrion Crow (C. corone) ; 

 indeed, the head was so much like the Crow's that I am inclined to think it 

 was a hybrid. — Kenneth MacLean, Harrogate, 21st April 1900. 



Hooded Crow Nesting near Horncastle. — An unusual occurrence 

 is the following: — The Hooded Crow {Corvus comix) breeds regularly in 

 Iceland and in the North of Scotland, where it is not migratory, but 

 a permanent resident. Mr. Brogden, in his ' Birds of South Lincolnshire ' 

 ('The Naturalist,' January 1900), says it 'occasionally breeds here,' but 

 gives no case of this. Last April (1899) a P a i r were observed to pair and 

 make a nest in the parish of Market Stainton, near Horncastle. One of 

 these was shot by a farmer's son, W. Hyde, jun., and he also secured the 

 eggs. — J. Conway Walter, Langton Rectory, Horncastle, 13th April 1900. 



Cranes in Lincolnshire about 1815. — About the year 1855 I was 

 told by Jonathan Johnson, a cottage farmer at Rigsby, my birthplace, 

 that when he was a young man (about 181 5) the last flight of Cranes 

 (presumably Grus grits) in that part of the county occurred at Gayton-le- 

 Marsh. He used to visit that parish, which is about five miles from Rigsby, 

 courting the girl who was afterwards his wife. It is worth noting that 

 Johnson spoke of the occurrence as 'a flight of Cranes,' which is the true 

 technical term in sporting, as I understand it, although Dame Juliana 

 Berners styles it 'An Herde of Cranys.' Herons he would have called 

 ' Herinsews.' — Jas. Eardley Mason, 27, Cheviot Street, Lincoln, 17th April 

 1 900. 



Feeding Habits of the Greenfinch. — Woodhall Spa, 9th August 1898. 

 This morning I watched from my window a Greenfinch {Ligurimis chloris) 

 feeding on the seeds of Tragopogon pratensis L. var. minor, which grew 

 close to the house and under the window. It worked in the most methodical 

 manner at a head of pappus, picking off each seed, and nibbling it, until the 

 pappus was nipped off. It finished every seed, even to a loose one which 

 had alighted at a little distance, but within reach of its bill. It then turned 

 its attention to the heads of unripe seeds, still enclosed in the green 

 involucre, tearing- a hole in the side, and extracting the seeds one by one.. 

 The bird was a small specimen, perhaps a young one. — A. E. Jarvis, 

 65, Avenue Brugmann, Brussels, April 1900. 



The Cuckoo. — Perhaps I may be allowed to supplement Mr. Peacock's 

 excellent study of the Cuckoo {Cucidus canorus) by mentioning that I have 

 seen a Wagtail standing on the head of a Cuckoo almost full grown, in 

 order to reach its mouth with food, and that the Cuckoo never ceased 

 shrieking all the time the Wagtail ran up and down the lawn in search of 

 food ; sometimes doing so seated on the edge of a sunk fence, at others 

 following the Wagtail with two or three hops and a short flight. On this 

 occasion there were two young Cuckoos, each attended by a Wagtail. 

 These notes were made at Hatton, near Wragby, Lincolnshire, in July 1882. 



A Lincolnshire lady, who had a house in Phillimore Gardens some years 

 ag-o, once enjoyed the interesting sight of a young Cuckoo being fed by 

 a Wagtail. The birds probably came from the garden of Holland House 

 close by. — A. E. Jarvis, 65, Avenue Brugmann, Brussels, April 1900. 



Naturalist,. 



