560 
when a Woodlark rose soaring and singing close to a clump of 
ancient Scotch fir on the “ wold ” side, on the road leading from 
Eiby to Caistor : after singing for several seconds, it alighted 
pipit-like on a projecting branch of the firs. 
The Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) nests very regularly, and 
in increasing numbers at least in our northern division. During 
October, 1878, unusually large migratory flocks arrived on the 
coast. The pretty little Siskin ( Canluelis spinns) only occurs as 
an occasional autumn migrant, and seems partial at this season to 
the same localities as are frequented by the Goldfinch, haunting the 
seed-bearing plants on wastes and by the road sides, near the sea 
coast. A rarer visitant is the Mealy Eedpole (Li not a linaricij. 
I have only a note of a single example shot during the last five 
years in this district. 
In severe winters Twites ( Linota JiavirostrisJ probably go 
southward as we miss them altogether from the salt marshes and 
coast. I have seen small flocks in our marshes on their return 
journey about the middle of March, and shot examples having 
then partly assumed the crimson rump of the breeding season. 
The Starling (Stunnis vulgaris ) is a wonderful mimic of other 
birds’ notes ; one in my garden so exactly imitates the call of the 
Curlew, a bird which frequently in early morning passes over, that 
I have been constantly taken in by it, and looked up to see the 
number and position of the passing flock. Sir Charles Anderson, 
says in a recent letter, “ I have observed that the Starlings which 
have been flying along with the Plover or ‘ Pyewipo’ in the winter 
have caught the plover’s cry. I once heard what I thought was a 
plover’s cry in the garden, and it was a starling. This was in spring, 
about breeding time.” 
Both the Rook and the Jackdaw seem to be increasing in 
number, and also extending their range in the North of Europe, 
if we may judge by the yearly increasing immigration on to our 
north-east coasts in the autumn. This season (1878) large numbers 
of both species came in during October and November. 
I have never met with the Wryneck ( Jynx torquilla) nesting in 
North Lincolnshire. A pair appeared a few years ago in a garden at 
Swinhope near Grimsby, and shewed every disposition to remain and 
nest in an old pear tree ; unfortunately their rarity proved their 
destruction. One was shot at Spurn Point, August 25th, 1873. 
