354 



NO TBS on YORKSHIRE BIRDS. 



Honey Buzzards near Driffield. — A fine Honey Kite (Pernis 

 apivorus L.) was shot about five weeks ag-o at Elmswell, near Driffield. 

 It is a female, in splendid condition and plumage, the violet sheen on the 

 plumage being - very marked. The wing's are 4 feet 2 inches from tip to tip. 

 It has been stuffed, and is in one of the shops in Driffield on exhibition. Last 

 week what was supposed to be its mate was shot either at Ruston Parva or 

 Rudstone, both in the neighbourhood of Driffield. — E. Percy Blackburn, 

 Driffield, 8th August 1902. 



Autumn Bird-notes from Spurn. — An old male Snow Bunting (Plectro- 

 phenax nivalis) was seen here 12th September. This is an early date. 



A Curlew Sandpiper {Ancylochilus subarquatus) killed by flying' against 

 the telegraph w T ire at Spurn, 28th September. 



A female Fulmar {Fulmarus glacialis) was caught by some lads here on 

 29th September, near the fishing' boats. 



On 6th October a good many Goldcrests (Regichis regulus) about here 

 and since. A g'ood many Ring Ouzels {Merula torquata) were about last 

 week and a Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola). — Philip W. Loten, Easington, 

 Spurn, 14th October 1902. 



Abundance of Magpies in the Huddersfield District. — I shall be 

 interested to know if any of our ornithological readers experienced a large 

 increase in the number of Magpies {Pica pica) in their districts during the 

 past season. Here I never knew them so much in evidence, and we have 

 seldom been without them in the garden — in the summer often four or five 

 at a time — all through the year. None actually nested in the g'arden, but 

 one pair built in a tree just outside. A little further on were two other 

 nests, and altogether I think there were quite ten nests within several 

 hundred yards on different sides of this house and grounds. The effect on 

 the smaller birds breeding in the g'arden was disastrous, for many which 

 built even but a short distance from the house had their eggs promptly 

 eaten by the beautiful but ravenous Magpies, which even sucked the ducks' 

 eggs on the pond sides. An unusual number of the smaller birds, however, 

 doubtless directly from the self-preservation instinct, did build near the 

 house, and four or five pairs of Thrushes and Blackbirds in the ivy actually 

 growing on it ; one pair of Thrushes close to one of the doors where people 

 were constantly g'oing in and out. Another pair built, and got their young' 

 safely away, inside the greenhouse. The birds went in and out through 

 a broken pane of glass, the orifice of which was so small and narrow 

 I often wondered they were not injured by the sharp edges ; whilst still 

 another pair for safety built under a narrow 7 wood footbridg'e, which was on 

 a level with the garden path, and where almost everyone coming into or 

 going out of the garden necessarily walked over the nest. In this and 

 nearly all the other cases, the young birds got safely away. It was no 

 doubt, too, on account of the Magpies that this year we had scarcely any 

 Missel Thrushes' nests. These birds usually build in such exposed spots, 

 they would have been found by the Magpies at once. The previous year 

 an unusually large number of Missel Thrushes bred in the garden. — Geo. T. 

 Porritt, Crosland Hall, near Huddersfield, ioth October 1902. 



NORTHERN NOTES and NEWS. 



The August ' Windsor Mag-azine ' contains an interesting- article on 

 * Land Won from the Sea,' by Beckles Willson and H. Goulding'. This 

 is accompanied by plans of Sunk Island, Hatfield Chase, etc. 







Yorkshire botanists will be glad to hear that Mr. George Massee, of 

 Kew, has prepared a work, 'European Fungus-Flora,' which includes 1,553 

 British species, which was lately published by Messrs. Duckworth & Co. 



Naturalist, 



