I 9 I 



NOTES on BIRDS. 



Abundance of Nightingales near Doncaster. — I have never known 

 Nig-hting'ales {Dairtias luscinia) to be more abundant here than they are 

 this spring". I first heard one at Edlington, 21st April 1901, and since then 

 they have come in numbers. Usually one notes isolated spots where the 

 Nightingale may be heard and makes special journeys to hear him, but this 

 year wherever one g-oes the song is heard. — H. H. Corbett, Doncaster, 

 6th May 1901. 



Unusual Nidification of Wren at Silverdale, West Lanes.— 



I found the nest of a Wren {Troglodytes troglodytes) in a crevice of a rocky 

 cave on the shore at Silverdale, on the 1 ith inst., which contained six eg-gs. 

 The rock was absolutely bare of vegetation, and there was not the slightest 

 attempt at concealment. The withered stems and leaves of Sesleria ccerulea 

 entered largely into the composition of the outer frame of the nest, inter- 

 woven with a little moss. — J. A. Wheldon, Liverpool, 14th May 1901. 



Arrivals of Migrants near Spurn. — I first heard the Cuckoo (Cuculus 

 canorus) here on 19th April ; an odd Swallow {Hiriuido rustica) the same 

 day. A few more Swallows about yesterday, the 12th of May ; only a very 

 few about to-day, the 13th inst. A pair of House Martins {Chelidon urbica) 

 about here on the 8th of May ; a few Pied Wagtails {Motacilla higubris) 

 same day. A Pied Flycatcher {Muscicapa atricapilla) in garden here on 

 the 10th inst. A male Pied Flycatcher found dead here on the 20th of April; 

 it had died for want of food, the weather being' very cold and wet at that 

 time. — Philip W. Loten, Easington, near Spurn, 13th May 1901. 



Virginian Nightingale on the Yorkshire Wolds.— I was travelling 

 with a gentleman on the 17th Jul}- near File}', on the railway, when 

 he told me he had lately got a specimen of this American bird, which 

 he had had stuffed at Filey. It was shot on the East Riding Wolds, 

 I think near Hunmanby. There were two of these migrants, but the other 

 one escaped. The taxidermist who set it up informed me that the specimen 

 was not a cag'ed one, but apparently wild and healthy. 



It is, I believe, the fact that these American migrants are usually seen 

 on, or near, the east coast of England, arriving here, in all probability, by 

 Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, and so as it were back again to 

 England. Herr Gatke does not mention in his work on Heligoland that 

 this species has been observed in that well-known 'Ornithological 

 Observatory.'— B. B. Haworth-Booth, Hullbank Hall, Hull, 9th Aug-. 1900. 



Variety of the Coal Tit at Gainsborough.— A strange-looking Tit 

 came frequently, during the winter of 1899 and 1900, for outdoor-relief to the 

 bones hanging- near my dining-room window, and for some time I was 

 puzzled to make it out. It resembled the Coal Tit (Pams ater) but, instead 

 of the usual small white patch at the back of the head, a straight, narrow, 

 grey-white band extended up from the nape to about the middle of the head. 



On the 7th of February this year the bird appeared again, and this time, 

 strange to say, accompanied by another like it. For some time it was 

 difficult to make out whether there were really two, or whether one, feed- 

 ing on the bone, returned quickly after leaving it — as birds often will do. 

 Several members of my household affirmed they had seen two together, 

 and, at last, I got a view myself of both feeding at the same time, which 

 settled the question. 



That a similar variation should appear in two birds at the same time is 

 extraordinary, and I can only suppose that the variation in question is not 

 a mere chance sport, but one which, if not common, is a known character 

 with the Coal Tit ; and this supposition is borne out by my having seen 

 another (unnamed), like these two, in the museum of the Rev. Walter Earle's 

 school, at Bilton Grange, near Rugby. This, to me at all events, seems 

 the only explanation of the occurrence, and I hope some of your readers 

 will throw further light on the matter. — F. M. Burton, Highfield, Gains- 

 borough, 3rd May 1 90 1. 



1901 June 1 



