Peacock : The Birds oj North-ivest Lindsey. 275 



aphides from swede turnips. The plants were black over with 

 insects. Much destruction is caused to ashes in our woods 

 by this species making its nesting holes. Starhngs drive the 

 lawful makers of the holes away time after time, with the result 

 that many trees are so injured that they snap off in heavy 

 south-western gales. 



Great Spotted Woodpecker. — Only visit Bottesford at 

 rare intervals. The last I saw was in Holme Wood, Messing- 

 ham, 1889. It breeds in the Eastern Woods regularly ; and 

 I have records of it in Divs. i, 2, 3, 5, 7. It has been recorded 

 for South Kelsey ; and is ' probably fairly common in the 

 Rasen district in several woods, Claxby, Wilhngham, &c.,' 

 Mr. Young says. 



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. — Rarely wanders as far 

 as Bottesford from its breeding ground in the Eastern Woods. 

 Mr. Burton says, ' K few always about Gainsborough.' I have 

 records for Divs. 2, 3, 5, and 7. 



Kingfisher. — Is a nesting resident, only driven from the 

 •district during great frosts. Then it moves to the sea-shore. 

 It nests away from the water at times ; I found one in Yaddle- 

 thorpe Gravel Pit on October 7th, 1887. In 1888 I saw five 

 together at once. Divs. i, 2, 3, 5, and 7. 



Hoopoe. — Reaches us as a rare wonder at times. A pair 

 was shot early last century in the Eastern Woods at Scawby. 

 Another pair frequented the garden of a house at Brumby 

 for at least a week in 1893. Mr. E. Garnell showed them to 

 me, but, if they were not shot, they did not remain to breed. 

 My last record is my nephew's at Cadney : — ' The Naturalist,' 

 1907, p. 61. A pair has attempted to breed just outside my 

 district, near Rasen. 



Cuckoo. — Is very common all over. I have found the eggs 

 of this species in the nests of the following birds : — Pied, Grey, 

 and Yellow Wagtail, Hedge vSparrow, and Meadow Pipit. For 

 •once it is found in any other nest, it is twenty times in that of 

 the Pied Wagtail. I believe it is only put into the nest of any 

 other species when the hen Cuckoo does not know of a Pied 

 Wagtail's nest, and must place her eggs somewhere. The 

 colour type of our local eggs copy this species. I have never 

 seen the blue or the red type. The Cuckoo is generally heard 

 and seen on April 23rd, but in cold, backward spring. May 7th 

 is the usual date. It is a bird worth special study, for it has 

 four distinct cries, two of them — I might almost write three — 



1908 July I. 



