320 



Xotes — Fishes and Mammalia. 



Three others who were of my party heard the cries, indepen- 

 dently one of another, and two of them saw the bird ; while 

 each corroborated the account I give, describing" the flight as 

 undulating like that of a Woodpecker, and the notes as being 

 exceedingly harsh and loud. 



So far as I can ascertain the nest of this bird has not 

 hitherto been found in England, though it occurs in various 

 parts of Europe. Possibly it may have been overlooked, but, if 

 not, there is no reason why it should not be met with in this 

 country. Whether, however, the bird I saw in June was a Nut- 

 cracker, and whether the three birds I saw fly out from the larch 

 trees were the young of that species with their parents — and 

 Nutcrackers are in the habit of going in small flocks, parents 

 and young — of one thing there is no doubt, that the bird I met 

 with last August was ' Nucifraga caryocatactes.' 



There is one, and only one, previous record of it in Lincoln- 

 shire, and that occurred near Sleaford, where it was shot in 

 March 1833, and, through the liberality of Colonel Mason, is 

 now in the Lincoln Museum. 



20th September iqoo. 



NOTE-FISHES. 



Sturgeon off the Durham Coast. — On Tuesday, the 17th July 1900, 

 a fine Sturgeon {Acipenser sturio), weighing - 98 lbs., was landed at Hartle- 

 pool, and was sold for the sum of £2 5s. — J. W. Fawcett, Satley, Darling- 

 ton, 19th September 1900. 



m » f 



NO TES— MAMMALIA. 



Pine Marten in Cleveland. — In January of this year (1900) a fine 

 specimen of the Pine Marten (Martes martes) was trapped at Swainby in 

 Cleveland, Yorkshire. — J. \V. Fawcett, Satley, Darlington, 21st Sept. 1900. 



Peggy-hotchen versus Wasp. — The other evening I saw a Hedgehog 

 (Erinaceus europceus) not far from the mouth of a disused rabbit-burrow ; 

 he was apparently eating the young Wasps from a piece of wasp-comb. 

 About fifty of these insects were flying around him, sometimes settling on 

 him, but in no way inconveniencing Peggy. This is the first time I have 

 seen the like. Does the Hedgehog make a practice of scratching out 

 wasp-nests and eating the grubs?— Max Peacock, Bottesford (Div. 2), 

 Lincolnshire, 31st July 1900. 



Deceived Bats. — I have a hammock in my orchard suspended between 

 two apple trees. One moist day, early in June, a shower damped it, and 

 I hung it up in a position to open the meshes as widely as possible to hasten 

 the drying process. The bloom from the trees was falling and many petals 

 became entangled in the net. As the twilight deepened the net became 

 invisible, and the white petals only could be seen, suspended as it were in 

 mid-air. We were much amused at seeing some Bats — species undeter- 

 mined — make repeated dashes at these petals, evidently mistaking them for 

 the white moths which frequent this orchard in numbers. — W. C. Hey, 

 West Ayton, Yorkshire, 2nd August 1900. 



. _ Naturalist,. 



