92 



FIELD NOTES. 



BIRDS. 



Occurrence of a Night Heron in Cumberland. — A fine 

 immature female Nig-ht Heron [Nycticorax griseus) was found 

 dead on Grinsdale Island, near Carlisle, on loth December 1903. 

 This is the second example of this species which has occurred 

 near Carlisle during the last three years. Both birds are now 

 in the City Museum at Tullie House. — T. L. Johnston, Carlisle. 



Food of Barn Owl. - On 30th December 1903 a live Barn 

 Owl was sent in a basket to our local taxidermist. Whilst in 

 the basket it had cast up a 'pellet' of undigestible matter which 

 was given to me. After macerating" and carefully examining* 

 it, I found remains of five Common Shrews — four skulls, five 

 pairs of lower jaws, and numerous other bones. — C. S. Carter,. 

 Louth. 



Black Redstart at Teesmouth. — When near the North 

 Gare Breakwater (on the Durham side of the Tees mouth) on 

 28th October 1903, and following up a single Shore Lark, I 

 noticed a Black Redstart perched on some heaped up slag,, 

 which was secured after a short chase. It is an innnature male, 

 lacking the white mark on the wing, and, so far as I am aware, 

 is the first obtained at the Tees mouth. On 9th November 

 a female example of the same species was seen between Seaton 

 Carew and West Hartlepool. — C. E. Milburn, Middlesbrough. 



The Tree Creeper in North Lancashire. — Lately in 

 reading Mitchell's ' Birds of Lancashire,' 1892, Ed, 2. by 

 Howard Saunders, I was struck by the following passage : — ' It 

 is not common in the Preston district, and in Furness, according* 

 to W. B. K. , Mr. W. A. Durnford's informant, it occurs but 

 rarely,' p. 59. On 4th February, last, I saw one almost in the 

 town of Ulverston, on a wall, searching amongst a mass of 

 hypnum, and a pair frequently come and hunt over a moss- 

 covered wall at the side of my house. An inquiry to Mr. W. 

 Duckworth, of Penrith, to whom the birds of the lake area are 

 well known, brought the information that he had seen the 

 species in the outskirts of Ulverston and at Conishead. He 

 writes, ' It is always thinh' scattered amongst the older woods,* 

 and mentions its occurrence In the Colton and Rusland districts, 

 where such conditions obtain. The ' W. B. K.' above was a 

 Mr. Kirby, long since dead. He was a competent observer, 

 and had a very fine collection of eggs. Later in the season I 



Naturalists 



