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NOTES on BIRDS. 



Return of the Martin, Halifax. I saw the first Martin {Chelidon 

 urbica) of the season on Wadsworth Moor, near Halifax, 8th April. — 

 Harold Pickles, 137, Hyde Park Road, Halifax, 13th April 1901. 



Arrival of Ring-Ouzel in Teesdale.— I saw the Ring-Ouzel (Turdus 

 torquatus) on Cronkley Sear, Teesdale, Yorkshire, on the 7th April. The 

 same day I saw a Peregrine (Falco percgrinus) and on the moors above the 

 Merlin [F. cesalon). — J. F. Pickard, Leeds, 12th April 1901. 



Chaffinches in Flocks near Halifax. — At the beginning of the present 

 month (April) Chaffinches [Fringilla ccelebs) came into the district in large 

 flocks. On 7th April I saw a flock of 17, and on the 8th two flocks of over 

 30 each. — Harold Pickles, 137, Hyde Park Road, Halifax, 13th April 1901. 



Uncommon Birds near Halifax.— During the last few weeks the 

 following birds have been shot or trapped in the district: — Moorhen {Galli- 

 nula chloropus), Coot {Fulica atra), and Jack Snipe {Limnocryptes gallinida), 

 near Hebden Bridge ; Barn Owl [Strix Jiammea) and Kingfisher {Alcedo 

 ispida) at Cragg Vale.— Harold Pickles, 137, Hyde Park Road, Halifax, 

 13th April 1 90 1. 



Kingfishers near Huddersfield.— I have much pleasure in again 

 recording- the appearance of the Kingfisher {Alcedo ispida) in this district. 

 During the last two or three weeks isolated specimens have been reported 

 to me several times, and last Tuesday a pair of them were seen in company 

 in private grounds, where the conditions for their nesting are all that can 

 be desired. This bird was reported in our Meltham and Netherton district 

 last season by Mr. Porritt, and has not been a visitor for some years 

 previous to last season. — Wilmot Tunstall, Brook House, Meltham, near 

 Huddersfield, nth March 1901. 



Bird-Notes, Lea near Gainsborough, Line. N.— On the 16th of 

 February last, Mr. F. M. Burton, of Highfield, Gainsborough, kindly 

 identified some Dunlins (Tringa alpina) for me, which had been shot, a day 

 or two previously, in Lea Marshes, by our butler, who secured seven out of 

 a flock of about thirty. 



The first nests of Thrush {Turdus musicus) and Blackbird (T. merula) in 

 Lea Hall garden, found on the nth of March, the Thrush with five eggs 

 and the Blackbird with two ; both, oddly enough, in the same yew tree. — 

 MARGARET L. Anderson, Lea Hall, Gainsborough, 18th March 1901. 



Glossy Ibis in Co. Durham. — An example of the Glossy Vo\s{Plegadis 

 falcinellus) was shot by a farm servant at Billingham Bottoms, near 

 Stockton-on-Tees, on the 25th November 1900. I am informed by Mr. C. 

 Milburn, of Middlesbrough, who has examined the specimen, that 'it is 

 apparently an adult, having the beautiful shot reflections on the back ; 

 unfortunately the sex was not noted.' 



Other recorded specimens in the north-eastern counties are : — Three, 

 mentioned in Clarke and Roebuck's ' Handbook of Yorkshire Vertebrata," 

 and one, noted in Hancock's ' List of the Birds of Northumberland and 

 Durham,' killed on the Coquet in Northumberland. — T. H. Nelson, The 

 Cliffe, Redcar, 12th April 1901. 



Pied Wagtails in Flocks at Louth, Line. N. At a recent meeting 

 of the Louth Antiquarian and Naturalists' Society I read this note : — 



' There appears to be just lately a great immigration of Pied Wagtails 

 {Moiacilla lugubris). For the past three days my garden at the Sycamores, 

 Louth, has been alive with them, and their numbers have increased each day. 

 This evening (2nd March), at 5.30, 1 counted no less than 41 in a small 

 space on the gravel walk and the grass mound in front of the house, and 

 there were not less than 25 or 30 flitting about the trees and shrubs. 1 have 

 been a close observer of birds all my life, but have never seen Wagtails 

 here in flocks like this before." Charles Mason, Louth. 2nd March 1901. 



1901 May a. 



