78 
NATURE NOTES 
Hawk in the City. — On February i6, about noon, a hawk, which had 
been hovering about Guildhall Yard, suddenly pounced down amongst the 
pigeons in Guildhall Yard, and bore off in its claws a fine young pigeon. The 
incident, which is unprecedented, was witnessed by many people. A corres- 
pondent suggests that what was taken at the time to be a hawk was probably a 
young peregrine, and adds ; — “This fine species has frequently been noticed in 
London, sometimes near St. Paul’s — a good spot for a passing bird to rest — and 
some years since one frequented the dragon vane at the south-west corner of the 
Natural History Museum for many days.” 
[An illustration of this incident appears in the “ West End ” for March iith.] 
Missel-thrush, Alder, Hippophae. — In Mr. Di.xon’s useful and 
interesting book, “ Annals of Bird Life,” the missel-thrush is said to sing 
throughout September, October, November, December, Januar}' (twenty-five 
days), and February (twenty-four days). I have made special observations for 
the last two winters as to this statement, with the result that I heard the missel- 
thrush for the first time on January 23, 1898, and on January 22 this year, and 
in both years the full song was not heard, or heard daily, till February, and this, 
though the birds have been seen daily in and about my garden since the end of 
summer. A Hertfordshire friend confirms my own observation. Can it be that 
the habits of the bird are different in other parts of the country ? It does not 
seem likely that so keen an observer as Mr. Dixon should be mistaken. May 
I add another note. Of two alder trees blooming side by side I found the male 
calkins of one and the female catkins of the other ripe, the corresponding flowers 
in each unripe, thus ensuring cross fertilisation. I am successfully growing the 
sea buckthorn, but it flourishes best in a soil more or less impregnated with 
salt, as in Worcestershire, where I have seen it growing more than twelve feet 
high, and covered with the very beautiful orange berries. 
White Notley Vicarage, Witham, Essex. A. F. CuRTlS. 
Febrtiary 17, 1899. 
Wasp in February. — On February 19 I captured a female wasp (Vespa 
vulgaris) flying on the inside of my “ sanctum ” window. R. M. W. 
Stoke cVezviugioft. 
American Buckthorn.* — Having read lately various articles on this 
plant, I think the following may interest your readers. It is by the above name 
I have known it for the last twenty years and more, growing’ well at Weston- 
birt, on the high table land of the Colswold, about 500 feet above sea level, 
far inland. It was planted there by the late R. S. Holford, Esq., and is a 
beautiful unit amongst the many rare and beautiful trees and plants which he 
introduced to the country. In summer the grey-blue leaves of the buckthorn 
form a pretty undergrowth, or rather foreground, in many a copse and glade in 
the great “ Silk Wood.” Planted in front of noble groups of cedars, pines, yews, 
&c., it spreads by suckers and seedlings, and in one place it dispuie.s the territory 
of a wide open glade with the young silver birches which are springing up with it 
in great numbers. In late autumn, when the leaves are gone, the orange berries 
on the blue-grey thorny spikes are very fine. Perfect masses of them occur, and 
one gets the full benefit of them as the birds do not attack them until they have 
eaten many other sorts of berries. The smell of the berry is exactly like that of 
rotten apples. In .Silk Wood the soil is sandy and the buckthorn thrives there, 
but it grows well on a bank in Westonbirt gardens a mile or two away, where 
the sod is not sandy. A very fine effect is produced in various plantations and 
woods at Westonbirt by planting patches of dog-wood in foregrounds such as 
described above. When kept cut every year, this in winter is brilliant crimson. 
I mean the one year’s shoot is crimson only, so that unless it is cut annually it 
is merely a straggling green growth with red tips. Treated as a crop and cut. 
* The name is an unfortunate one, since Hippophae is not a native of 
America. — E d. A'.rV. 
