23° 



NOTES on YORKSHIRE BIRDS. 



Holderness Bird-Notes, Easter 1901. — Up to the end of March the 

 only migrant noted at Aldborough was the Pied Wag-tail (Motacilla higubris). 

 At Saltend, on the H umber Bank, two Wheatears [Saxicola wnanthe) were 

 seen 5th April ; and one Yellow Wag-tail {Motacilla rati) 15th April. This 

 Wagtail was still the only representative of the usual flock, on 20th April, 

 my last visit. Two Swallows (Hirundo rustica) were observed travelling- 

 north over Saltend on this date. Of winter migrants, flocks of Golden 

 Plover 1 Charadritis pluvialis) were seen at Cherry Cob Sands, 9th April, and 

 Flinton, 15th April; Fieldfares (Tardus pilaris), Rose Hill, 9th April; 

 Selley, 17th April; Curlew {Xu men i us arquaia\ Saltend, 15th April (over 

 1001 ; 18th April ; large dock of Stint (Tringa alpina), Saltend, 7th-2oth April. 



Ring Plover (sEgiali/is hiaticula) were still in flock 20th April. 



The stoppage ot" the East Hull shipbuilding' yards has been disastrous 

 to the Lapwing (Vaucllus vanellus) and Redshank (Totanus calidris) on 

 Saltend Common. Six egg-hunters at once was a frequent occurrence. — 

 T. Petch, Hedon, Hull, 18th May 1901. 



Cuckoo and Meadow-Pipit, Halifax. — I found a Meadow Pipit 

 (Anthus pratensts)'s nest in a depression shaded by bilberry stalks in 

 a bank by the side of the road on Saltonstall Moor. There were four eggs 

 in it, three Meadow Pipit's and one Cuckoo's. The Cuckoo was hatched on 

 6th July, and by the day following the other three eggs had been thrown 

 out of the nest and broken. Whether this was the work of the young 

 Cuckoo, the Meadow Pipits, or the old Cuckoo I cannot say. I visited the 

 nest yesterday (14th July) and the young Cuckoo is now, as the country 

 people say, in 'blue pane,' i.e., its feathers are mostly in the quill stage. 

 Already the young bird completely fills the nest and is almost twice the 

 size of its foster parents. In colour it is black, and does not yet appear to 

 have an}- voice, for it never utters a sound, not even when being fed. The 

 old Cuckoo still keeps to the district and can frequently be seen flying 

 about, the hen always followed by a train of eight or ten small birds. 

 I visited the Meadow Pipit's nest again on 23rd July, but found it empty and 

 the old birds gone. A farmer's boy informed me that some boys found it 

 on Monday, the day after I last visited it, and killed the young Cuckoo. 

 I was so sorry for I wanted to see it through. — Harold Pickles, 137, Hyde 

 Park Road, Halifax, 27th July 190 1. 



Habits of Bearded Reedling at Hornsea.— On the 28th of June, 

 when amongst the reeds and rushes by the side of Hornsea Mere, my 

 attention was arrested by a soft musical tweet, which was new to me ; 

 I pushed through the rank vegetation, which was several feet higher than 

 myself, getting my feet unpleasantly saturated with the black-green ooze 

 which rushed over my boot tops at every step, but was unable to get more 

 than a passing glance of some small birds which were flitting amongst the 

 tall reeds, etc. Eventually I climbed into a stunted, lichen-clad tree, and, 

 after remaining perfectly still for some time, I was rewarded by seeing 

 a pair of old Bearded Reedlings (Panurus biarmicus) or Bearded Tits, as 

 they are still generally called, and at least three young ones. As the 

 young were strong on the wing and had evidently been flying for some 

 time, it is possible they may have come some distance, but I think it is more 

 probable they had been bred in the immediate neighbourhood. I watched 

 them for ten minutes or more, the soft rich colouring, especially of the old 

 male, blending beautifully with the light green of the reeds and grasses by 

 which they were surrounded. They were shy, retiring quickly down 

 amongst the plants when alarmed, but still they did not seem to be particu- 

 larly wild, as they came quite near to me. 



I should have watched them longer, but, unfortunately, my perch broke 

 and I went plump down amongst the slime. When I strug-gled out my 

 person was anything but pleasant to look upon and very offensive to the 

 olfactory organs. — K. McLean, Harrogate, 20th July 1901. 



Naturalist, 



