74 



NOTES Oil BIRDS. 



Buzzard at Askrigg. At our bi-monthly meeting of the York And 

 District Field Naturalists' Society, on Thursday . 13th February, Mr. Lazenby 

 reported thai a specimen of the Common Buzzard [Buteo outto) had been 

 sent to him. It was shot on Askings Moor on 24th August of lasl year, 

 T. Ainsworth Brodb, York, 15111 February iooi. 



Nuthatch in Lower Swaledale. As there has been a question .is to 

 the occurrence of the Nuthatch [Sitia c&sia) in tin* count v of Durham, ami 

 as this place is only about 14 miles south of the bonier of that county, ii 

 may be of interest to note that tin* Nuthatch occurs here but rarely. 



There is one about in the garden this winter, otherwise h is a long time 

 since I have seen tin- bird here. Bi vtrick Carpenter, Kiplin, North- 

 allerton. 13th February iqoi. 



w inter Occurrence of Mouse Martin at Redcar. \ House Martin 



[Chelidon urbica) appeared in trout of The Clitfo on the i |th December, and 



w.is observed, at intervals, Hying backwards and forwards, until the aoth 

 December. On one or two days I saw it as late as 3,4c p.m. The weather 



was fine, with Strong 1 S.W. winds; on the jot h we hail a strong gale, and 

 since that time I have not seen the martin. T. II. N l l. son, The CTille, 



Redcar, ^tst December 1000. 



Tutted Duck near North wlch, Cheshire. I received a male bird 

 of this species [Fuligula fuligula L.), shol on the Mere, Clay Croft, 

 Marbury, Northwich, during the week ending 1 <>t li January, by Mr. John 

 Htndley. The specimen h id been badly d. imaged by a dog, but was in 

 breeding plumag.-. Mr. Hindley said in his letter they had not visited 

 t ho Mere for m any vears, so I think it as well to send t his record. — E. Adrian 

 Woodruffe-Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, 22nd January 1901. 



Birds Breeding in Bottesford Parish in 1887. As «horl notes are 

 wanted, it may perhaps be worth while recording that I find from my note- 

 books, which I am destroying', that the following birds bred in the parish 

 < Div. 2) in 1887 :— 



Sheldduck. Mallard. Woodcock. 



Snipe. Teal. Coot. 



Redshank. Shoveller. Lesser Grebe. 



Max PEACOCK, Ivy House, Bottesford, Doncaster, 1st May 1900. 



Wild Duck at Skipwith. On 25th January, while Mr. Ingham and 

 myself were gathering mosses on the Common, we were astonished at the 

 large number of W ild Duck that were circling overhead. There must have 

 been at least five hundred (Mr. Ingham thought more), and they had 

 apparently risen from the ponds at our approach. Last year we noticed 

 a large number there, and round one pond we found evidences of their 

 presence in the dead and mutilated frogs which strewed the edge, but we 

 never saw such a flight as this year. — T. AlNSWORTH Brode, York, 15th 

 February 1901. 



Nesting of Thrushes and Blackbirds in December. Many years 

 ago as I was passing through the village of Loftus-in-Cleveland, the Rector 

 of that place stopped me in the street and asked me to go with him to see 

 something which I might never see again during my lifetime. I went with 

 him into a shrubbery surrounding the Rectory, and there in a holly bush, 

 much to my surprise, I saw a Blackbird ( Turdus merula)'s nest containing 

 three young ones ; that was I believe on the 24th December about thirty-five 

 years ago. So far I have not seen the same, but something very nearly 

 approaching I came across on Monday, 17th December 1900, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Pannal, viz., a Thrush (T. musi'cus)'s nest containing two eggs. 

 The nest was amongst some briars, but sheltered by a whin bush, which 

 grew behind and partly hung over it. The young Blackbirds before 

 mentioned unfortunately were frozen to death only a few days after I saw 

 them, and, to save the young which might possibly have been hatched from 

 these Thrush's eggs from a similar fate, I thought it advisable to take the 

 eggs. — K. McLean, Harrogate, 26th December 1900. 



Naturalist, 



