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NOTES on LINCOLNSHIRE BIRDS. 



Occurrence of Birds in Lincolnshire.— The following uncommon 

 birds have recently occurred in our county, and are now being- stuffed by 

 Mr. Nash, successor to Mr. A. Fieldsend, at Lincoln : — 



Bohemian Waxwing {Anipelis garrulus). One shot on Lincoln Wesl 

 Common early in February of this year. 



Marsh Harrier {Circus ceruginosus). Now very rare; in the parish of 

 Laneham, near the Trent, a female. 



Great Skua {Stercorarius catarractes). One shot at Gibraltar Point, near 

 Skegness, 3rd January. — J. Conway Walter, Langton Rectory, Horn- 

 castle, 9th March 1901. 



Cuckoo Reared by Wagtails: Kirton-in-Lindsey.— Mr. John 

 Nicholson told me to-day that in 1895 a Cuckoo [Cuculus canorus) was 

 reared by a pair of Wagtails {Motacilla lugubris) at Stannivvells. After the 

 bird left the nest it was most amusing to see the exertions made by the 

 foster-parents to satisfy its voracity. They spent their days in running, 

 skipping into the air, and flying- about to obtain beakfuls of insects for the 

 glutton. At the end of August, though it had the full use of its wings, they 

 were still feeding it. One day it flew fearlessly across the garden when 

 there was a garden-party, and perched on the back of a seat near the 

 summer-house. Between thirty and forty people then watched the efforts 

 made by the Wagtail to satisfy its hunger. ' Gowk ' means a Cuckoo, and 

 also a foolish person, in northern dialect. Has the second use of the word 

 reference to the young Cuckoo's apparent inability to find its own food long 

 after it leaves the nest ? — Mabel Peacock, Dunstan House, Kirton-in- 

 Lindsey, 23rd June 1900. 



Habits of the Blackbird. — Extracts from a Lincolnshire diary, 18th 

 May 1897 :— 



' In the evening, while it was still quite daylight, a confused babbling of 

 bird-voices began outside the west window of the drawing-room. On 

 looking out, I saw a cock Blackbird {Turdus vierula L.) on the border 

 below the window-ledge between the tufts of pinks. With him were four 

 young ones and two inquisitive Sparrows. He seemed to be scolding and 

 fussing to persuade his reluctant family that it was roosting-time, while 

 they were crying out, ' Oh, father, not yet ! ' and the Sparrows were saving, 

 ' Go along to bed, do ! ' I never saw a hen more anxious over her chickens 

 than he was over his birdlings. It was such a quaint sight that I called F. 

 to see it, and we watched him lead the brood round the corner of the house, 

 over the little grass-plot, and into the yew-hedg-e where they were hatched. 

 Presently he came out again to enjoy a little quiet on the lawn alone. The 

 young ones left the nest more than three weeks ago. F. believes it to be 

 quite a month since they quitted it — yet here is the father protecting and 

 ruling them still, though they are almost as big as he is. Last week one 

 of the young- ones got himself lodged in the broken heating-pipe in the 

 greenhouse. The watchful father was sitting near the pipe when I went in 

 to do some potting, and nearly killed himself with dashing- at the glass, he 

 was so scared by my approach. Finally he dropped to the ground quite 

 stunned, and both F. and I thought he would die, but after a while he began 

 to recover, and, while he was still too dazed to be afraid, I drove him 

 gently into the garden. Then the wretched prisoner in the pipe began to 

 lament his late, so he, too, was released, and sent to find his kindred again. 

 The mother must have been occupied with a second set of eggs. I cannot 

 help wondering whether the male Blackbird is usually such a careful 

 protector of the first brood? I wonder, too, where the birds find water? 

 Do they drink morning-dew on the dry days? There are no little runnels 

 here, and they would scarcely fly into our walled-in backyard. 01- creep 

 under the door to sip at the pump-trough, on account of the Cat. (Frog-S 

 and Toads do visit this trough, and sometimes fall through the cellar 

 window near it.) On the top of the cliff there are few natural springs or 

 ditches with a flow of water; how then do birds slake their thirst . J MABEL 

 Peacock, Dunstan House, Kirton-in-Lindsey, 23rd June 1900. 



1901 May i. 



