224 



NOTES— ORNITHOLOGY. 



Little Auk at Barton-on-iiumber.— I recently saw in the collection 

 of Mr. Chas. Could well, Hull, a specimen of the Little Auk {Mergulns aHe), 

 which was caught at Barton-on-Humber, on 22nd March 1900, by Mr. R. 

 Stamp.— J. W. Stather, 16, Louis Street, Hull, 28th May 1900. 



Nidification of Wheatear at Eccup.— I have lately been fortunate in 

 finding- a nest of the Wheatear [Saxicola cejuuithe), a bird which on only 

 one other occasion have I known to nest in this locality, and that nearly 

 twenty years back. Taking- a stroll after tea on 21st May 1900, my 

 peregrinations led me along- King Lane, Eccup, until overlooking- the 

 Wharfedale Valley. In a rough field, the home of Rabbits, I had the g-ood 

 fortune of an acquaintance with this bird by its leaving a burrow, and on 

 inserting- my hand about a foot down there was its nest, made of dried 

 grass roots and lined with a little rabbit fur, and containing six eg"g'S ; five 

 were of a pale old milk blue, while the sixth was almost white. These 

 birds are to be seen passing along- the lanes, flitting from wall to wall, 

 regularly in the spring-, but they do not stay. 



I have an egg- in my collection which was taken from, a sandpit near the 

 Bleach Works at Adel, a short distance from the Seven Arches, about 

 twentv years ago. — Thos. RAINE, 4. Woodland View, Woodland Lane, 

 Chapel Allerton, Leeds, 24th June 1900.' 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker in the North of England.- The 



Great Spotted Woodpecker [Dendrocopus major) seems to be the most 

 common of the three species of Woodpeckers found in this part of Britain. 

 It is a resident in the county of Durham, althoug-h numbers come as autumn 

 and winter visitants. These birds arrive in September and October. The 

 following are the records for this county from my ' Birds of Durham ' 

 (1890); — 'One killed in Brancepeth Park in 1844 — W. Procter; one seen in 

 Auckland Park in 18S3 ; one shot at Biddick Hall Farm, Tyne Dock, 

 November 1886; one shot at Harton, November 1886; one shot at Bank 

 House, near the Lawe, South Shields, 7th November 1886. [This bird was 

 very common as an autumn and winter visitant in 1886.] Has nested in 

 Gibside Park — T. Grundy.' Since then I have to make the following 

 additions : — Some [number not stated] were seen on this coast in November 

 1890; a pair nested within a mile of Bishop Auckland in .1891. It has also 

 bred in Auckland Park, and has been found near Byers Green. One was 

 shot in South Durham in October 1898. [The late] Mr. Hancock in his 

 ' Birds of Northumberland and Durham' (1874), states that there are eight 

 entries of the capture of this species in his journal* between the years 1830 

 and 1868, but unfortunately he does not give them. He then states that 

 a nest was taken at Swallowship, near Hexham, in June 1868, and speaks 

 of it as the only instance with which he was acquainted of its breeding in 

 the north of England. To this, however, I can add that between the years 

 1882 and 1889 ten different pairs of these birds reared their young- in the 

 neig-hbourhood of Hexham, of which three pairs nested in May and June 

 of the latter year. Since then it has bred reg-ularly in that district. From 

 my Naturalists' Note-book I g-ather the following- additional records lor 

 Northumberland : — A female was shot at Long-benton, near Newcastle, in 

 1886, and another female on 1st November of the same year at Felton, 

 north of Morpeth. One captured near Newcastle-on-Tyne in October 

 1889, and another seen near Gosforth in December of the same year. 

 From the same book I find that the Great Spotted Woodpecker bred in 

 the north of Yorkshire (Cleveland) in 1888, and one was shot near Richmond 

 in December 1889. It also bred near Yarm in 1893 and 1894. 



* Is this journal extant? Can any reader say? Mr Hancock often 

 refers to his journal and its entries, but does not give details. I, for one, 

 would like to see this journal printed, or, at least, the records it contains. 

 To north of England naturalists they cannot fail to be valuable. — J. W. 

 Fawcett, Satley, 1st June 1900. 



Naturalist, 



7 JUL 1900 



