192 



NOTE— FLOWERING PLANTS. 



Cerastium quarternellum CMoenchia erecta) at Doncaster. — 



This afternoon I gathered the above-named plant on the Doncaster Race- 

 course. I noticed it there last spring, but did not recognise the species. 

 During the winter I thought from memory that the little plant I had seen 

 must be C. quarternellum , and to-day I verified my supposition. The plant 

 grows on the most elevated and dry part of the course, and in a very 

 limited area is abundant. The specimens are of a small type, averaging 

 1% in. in height. — H. H. Corbett, 9, Priory Place, Doncaster, 7th May 

 1900. 



NO TE— ORNITHOLOGY. 



The Cuckoo : its Notes. — The paper on the Cuckoo [Cuculus canorus) 

 in the April number of 'The Naturalist,' by the Rev., Edward Adrian 

 Woodruffe-Peacock, is an exceedingly interesting one to students of bird- 

 life. 



Mr. Woodruffe-Peacock says : — ' They also used other strange notes of 

 anger, surprise, pleasure, or endearment — call them what you will — which 

 are many of them quite unknown even to the majority of bird lovers.' 



This is quite true, and in this connection my friend Mr. Thos. Thompson, 

 of Winlaton, count}- Durham, a most careful and observant life-long 

 naturalist, writes : — 



' On the 29th May 1856 I shot my first Cuckoo, a male (and took my first 

 Grasshopper Warbler's nest with six eggs, the first I ever saw, and all of 

 which are still in my possession). 



' On that day I saw about one dozen Cuckoos flying and chasing each 

 other. Ultimately they all settled on a large tree, and the variety of notes 

 thev uttered was most astonishing, and is correctly described by Mr. 

 Woodruffe-Peacock. I have only seen young Cuckoos fed by Titlarks and 

 Tree Pipits. Old birds which I have shot were, on several occasions, 

 gorged with field black spiders.' 



There was a discussion in 'The Field' last year as to whether the 

 Cuckoo ever called when on the wing-, and, from the number of letters 

 which appeared, this question was satisfactorily disposed of in the 

 affirmative. , 



Once in the woods at Riding Mill we heard one calling 'Cuckoo, cuckoo, 

 cook' — 'Cuckoo, cuckoo, cook.' — H. T. Archer, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 1st May 1900. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



We have been much interested in looking over a series of programmes 

 of the Croft Winter Lectures for six sessions, 1894 to 1900, with which we 

 have been favoured by Mr. Robert Byers, of that place. There have been 

 ■delivered six lectures each session of really intellectual and edifying quality, 

 and we are glad to learn that they are appreciated by good audiences. 

 Among the scientific addresses that have been given we notice that 

 Mr. Frank Comyns, M.A., of Durham, lectured on 'Water,' the late 

 Mr. James I'Anson, of Darlington, on ' Some Phenomena of Light and 

 Colour,' Mr. W. H. Shrubsole, F.G.S., of London, on 'Curious Dwellers on 

 our Shores,' Mr. W. R. Rae, of Sunderland, on ' Other. Worlds than Ours,' 

 Mr. J. T. Proud, of Bishop Auckland, on 'The Migratory Birds of Britain,' 

 Mr. F. Enock, F.L.S., on 'Wonders and Romance of Insect Life,' and 

 Mr. A. F. Hogg, M.A., of Darlington, on 'Flame and Combustion.' This 

 record speaks well for the village, which is classic in the eyes of Yorkshire 

 naturalists by its association with one of the pioneers of Yorkshire botany — 

 the Rev. James Dalton — and the prosperity of these lectures has our every 

 sympathy and best wishes. 



Naturalist, 



8JUN.1900 



