240 



NOTES— ORNITHOLOGY. 



Stone Curlew in South Durham. — A pair of Stone Curlews (CEdic- 

 nemus cedicnemus) were shot on the north side of the mouth of the Tees in 

 August 1897. This bird is only a casual visitant to the county of Durham. 

 — J. W. Fawcett, Satley, Darling-ton, 1st June 1900. 



Pied Bunting and Sparrow near Horncastle. — We have recently 

 caught near here a pied Bunting - (Emberiza miliaria) and a white House 

 Sparrow (Passer domesticus), with bars across each wing as black as the 

 feathers of a blackbird. -^J. Conway Walter, Langton Rectory, Horn- 

 castle, 23rd July 1900. 



Quails Nesting at Bottesford. — A pair of Quails (Coturnix coturnix) 

 have nested on some light sand land in the Bottesford district (Div. 2). 

 I am sorry to say the mowing- operations now in full swing have destroyed 

 the nest. — Max Peacock, The Manor, Bottesford, Lincolnshire, 2nd July 

 1900. 



Strange Place for a Stock-Dove's Nest. — Last Monday (12th June), 

 while looking for plants in an old disused quarry at Pickburn, I was passing 

 by a small shed, built up against the face of the rock, when a Stock-Dove 

 {Columba cenas) flew out of the doorway. On looking inside the shed, 

 I found on the top of the shed wall, immediately below the roof-tiles, and 

 hidden by an old iron stove-pipe, a nest with two eggs. — H. H. Corbett, 

 Doncaster, 15th June 1900. 



Untidy Nest of Song-Thrush. — Some readers may have noticed 

 how untidily the Missel-Thrush sometimes builds her nest. This evening 



1 went up to one built in the wide fork of two nearly horizontal branches of 

 an Austrian pine, away from the trunk, but found it was a Song-Thrush's 

 nest, with two feathered young and an addled egg. The centre of the nest 

 having no support, the materials there were hanging untidily down some 

 four or five inches below the bottom. It was the most untidy nest of Turdus 

 musicus that I have seen. — John P. Thomasson, Woodside, Bolton, 

 10th July 1900. 



The Nesting Gull Of Foulshaw MOSS. — During my recent visit to 

 Kendal my sister-in-law, Mrs. Long-mire, with whom I stayed, had brought 

 to her a clutch — indeed more than one, subsequently — of what were called 

 Curlew's eggs by the farmer who got them. They were large (3 inches by 



2 inches averaged) and olive, spotted and streaked with two shades of 

 blackish and green brown, but not pyriform. Is it the Herring Gull or the 

 Lesser Black-backed? The clutch was always two, as brought away for 

 table use, but possibly more would have been laid if the reavers — one 

 cannot call them farmers — of the gullery had risked them being- quite fresh. 

 The Curlew mostly breeds on the inland moors, I believe. — F. A. Lees, 

 Leeds, nth June 1900. 



'Curious Site for a Blackbird's Nest.' — I regret that in this account 

 (Naturalist, June 1900, p. 164) the owners of the nest were given as Black- 

 birds, whereas they were Song Thrushes [Turdus musicus). It seemed to 

 be so generally understood by the 'natives' the birds were Blackbirds, that 

 although at the time I wrote I had seen the head and tail of the bird as she 

 sat on the nest, over and over again from the railway carriage windows, it 

 had never occurred to me that it might be a Thrush. One day, however, 

 as the train stood opposite, the bird happened to raise herself in the nest, 

 when I at once saw the- mistake which had been made. The bird was 

 unmistakably a Song Thrush. I am told the station master was heavily 

 ' bribed ' to part with the nest of young- birds, but am glad to say he firmly 

 refused, and they got safely away. The parent Thrushes were perfectly 

 fearless, feeding the young ones constantly even when a train was standing 

 immediately opposite the nest. The site was, if anything, even more 

 remarkable for a Thrush than it would have been for a Blackbird. — Geo. T. 

 Porritt, Crosland Hall, Huddersfield, 3rd July 1900. 



Naturalist, 



