218 



Various Short Notes, 



This group, with probably many others in the bed of the largest 



of the four or five bocks which run into the Bay. 



Speeton. 



Shap granite, 12 in. x 8 in. x 8 in. 

 Stump Howe. Eight miles west of Whitby. 650 feet O.D. 



Rhomb porphyry, a pebble. 



NOTE on REPTILES. 

 Ringed Snakes in the County of Durham.— In August 4900 three 

 Ringed Snakes ( Tropidonotus iiatrix) were killed in a hayfield near the 

 hamlet of Easl Butsfield, parish of Satley. Specimens of (his reptile are 

 very often seen in this neighbourhood during the summer months. — J. W. 

 Fawcett, Satley, Darlington, 22nd March 1901. 



NOTE on FUNGI. 

 Azcidium berberidis at Gilsland, Cumberland.— Referring- to the 

 Rev. Hilderic Friend's article in ' The Naturalist 1 for June, on 'Some Lake- 

 land Host-Plants and Parasites,' in which he states that he has not observed 

 or heard of the occurrence of ALcidium berberidis in the district, I may say 

 that I have some leaves of the Barberry affected with the parasite which 

 were gathered at Gilsland (18 miles from Carlisle) in June 1892. The hedge 

 in which this Barberrv grew has unfortunately been recently removed and 

 a stone wall put in its place. I have also gathered this year at Dalston, 

 five miles from Carlisle, several Barberry leaves bearing spermogonia. — 

 W. Thomson, ii, Lismore Street, Carlisle, 6th June 1901. 



NOTES on B/RDS. 



Wheatear Seen at Cadney , near Brigg. —This bird {Saxieola aenanthe 

 L.) breeds with us on dry commons in Lincolnshire in a few spots. I was 

 quite surprised to find a pair flitting along the land drain at Cadney, 22nd 

 April 1901, and catching insects on . the wing over the water, and with 

 running and a hopping flight on the road by the bank. I have never seen 

 it here before. — E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock, Cadney, Brigg, 17th June 1901. 



Curious Place for Nest of Waterhen, near Horncastle, Lines. N. 

 — A Water, or Moor, hen [Gallinula chloropus), being disturbed on its nest 

 in a pond, took to the nest of a Wood Pigeon in the garden of Roughton 

 'Hall, Horncastle. The nest is about 20 yards distant from the pond, in 

 a thorn bush, about 8 feet from the ground. Notwithstanding that lawn 

 tennis is played close by, the bird has laid the remainder of her eggs, seven 

 in number, and is sitting on them. The Wood Pigeon (Columba pahimbus) 

 had been previously observed sitting in the bush, and had probably hatched 

 her young. — J. CONWAY Walter, Langton Rectory, Horncastle, 17th 

 June 1901. 



Unusual Nesting-place of Starling at Barrow-in Furness. —In the 



' Barrow Xews ' of 18th May is a paragraph that while several riggers were 

 at work on the foremast of H.M.S. ' Hogue,' a first-class cruiser, the nest 

 of a Starling (Sturnus vidgaris), containing five eggs, was discovered. 

 The nest was built in the swivel which holds the search-light, and a plate 

 had to be removed before the nest could be seen. I may add that at the 

 time the vessel was lying at Ramsden Dock, and that the nest was built 

 about 70 feet above the level of the ship. The vessel has since been 

 removed to the Devonshire Dock, about a mile away, but I have not 

 been able to ascertain whether or not the birds have forsaken the nest or 

 not in consequence. — Harper Gaythorpe, Claverton, Prospect Road, 

 Barrow-in-Furness, 1st June 1901. 



Naturalist, 



