3 o8 



Various Short Notes. 



Where, however, the exposure is by a fault scarp the whole 

 of the beds exposed in the scarp will contribute to the first- 

 formed derivative Conglomerates. The absence of detritus of 

 the Basement Carboniferous from the Lower Brockram shows 

 that the Basement Beds were not exposed in early Permian 

 times, but that a movement of the fault exceeding- the thickness 

 of the Penrith Sandstone brought the lowest members of 

 the Carboniferous Series above the surface at the time of the 

 deposition of the Upper Brockram. 



NOTES on YORKSHIRE BIRDS. 

 Little Stint near the Spurn, Yorkshire.— A Little Stint {Limonites 

 minuta) was seen here on the 2nd inst. — Philip W. Loten, Easington, 

 13th September 1902. 



White-headed Variety of Guillemot at Speeton. — A white-headed 

 variety of the Guillemot {Lomvia troile) was seen at Speeton in July. — 

 T. Sheppard, Hull, 31st July 1902. 



Curious Nesting-place of a Wren at Winestead, Holderness.— 



A Wren {Anorthura troglodytes) has recently nested and brought off its 

 brood in the decayed carcass of a Carrion Crow, which was hung-, together 

 with Stoats, Weasels, and other ' vermin,' comprising a gamekeeper's hoard 

 at Winestead, in Holderness. After the Crow had been hung up some time 

 nothing remained but the feathers and bone, inside which a Wren built its 

 nest. — T. Sheppard, Municipal Museum, Hull, 5th July 1902. 



Albino Swallow and Swift near Bradford, Yorkshire.— During 

 the first two weeks in August an albino Swallow (Hirundo rustica) has 

 frequented a place near Bradford, and, from the general appearance and 

 flight, evidently was a young bird. 



It would be interesting to ascertain the cause of this albinism. There is 

 no doubt the present season has been a fatal time for small birds. During 

 the time the Swallows made their appearance frosty mornings were of 

 frequent occurrence, this state having been repeated more or less through- 

 out, and it is quite possible that the absence of pigmented corpuscles may 

 be due to malnutrition caused by the disorganisation of the digestive 

 apparatus, in this or its parents, consequent on the disturbance in the food 

 supply from the cause alluded to. 



In my opinion the albinism was not analogous to an albino Blackbird or 

 the white in a pied Blackbird, because apparently in normal seasons 

 Blackbirds of the pied variety — -or at any rate birds with a sprinkling of 

 white feathers — are by no means rare, and may, for anything we know, be 

 the initial steps for ultimately establishing a new species, similar to what 

 we see in the Ring Ouzel. I should be pleased to learn if any readers of 

 * The Naturalist ' have observed any albino Swallows elsewhere, and, if so, 

 to record them, in order to see if there is any relationship between the 

 present abnormal season and the appearance of albinos. 



In addition to the above I have heard of an albino Swift [GyfiseZus apus) 

 having been seen in the neighbourhood, but I have had no satisfactory con- 

 firmation. — Rosse Butterfield, Wilsden, Bradford, 23rd August 1902. 



NORTHERN NOTES and NEWS. 



On the 4th of August, 1902, the memorial to the late Canon H. E. 

 Maddock, M.A., F. G.S., was dedicated at Patrington. It consisted of 

 a new groining- in the north aisle of the nave. Canon Maddock was known 

 to the readers of this journal, and was deeply interested in the geology and 

 botany of East Yorkshire. 



Naturalist, 



