NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
117 
specimens, too, are unusually large. I measured one and found it 14 in. 
across, 40 in. in circumference. It had nineteen flowering stems, most of them 
from 7 to 92 in. in length, and all of them branched into from three to six 
flower heads, so that the whole plant contained ninety-five flower heads, and as 
two of the stems had been broken short off there must originally have been at 
least too. 
Fremham. L. F. M. 
Nuthatches {N-N., 1893, p. 224). — I have no doubt that your corres- 
pondent F. M. Millard is quite correct with regard to the nuthatch’s ordinary 
method of cracking nuts. I also have been told that it cracks them in the way 
described (by placing them in the cleft of a tree), but I have never been able to see 
this for myself, as the nuthatches I wrote about (page 201) always fly off vvith the 
nuts in their beaks, out of the garden, towards the adjoining orchards, where they 
no doubt find a more convenient tree for the purpose. I merely mentioned the fact 
of seeing the bird fly up to the roof with a nut in its beak, because it happened 
to be the first occasion that I became aware of the bird’s presence in the garden, 
and I have no explanation to offer of the bird’s behaviour in this particular 
instance, except that possibly even birds sometimes deviate from their ordinary 
methods of going to work. I can only repeat the fact that I suddenly observed 
a nuthatch fly up to the roof, from the direction of the place where the nuts 
were lying on the ground, with what was, to all appearance, one of them in its 
beak, which it proceeded to strike several times against the brick-work of the 
chimney, and finally flew off with it — still in its beak — to enjoy, as I thought, 
the result of its labours. It is quite possible, however, that it had not succeeded 
in cracking it in this way, and that in reality it flew off with it to a neighbouring 
tree, where it cracked it in the orthodox fashion. 
Since writing the paper referred to, my pair of nuthatches have returned, and 
are as tame as formerly, carrying off the nuts and crumbs as eagerly as before, 
when placed for them beneath the windows. We also place nuts in a large 
square kind of bottle, with wide neck, which we lay lengthwise, to entice them 
into it the more easily, and they are most excited about the nuts, which are 
clearly visible through the glass. The cock bird has already summoned up 
sufficient courage to go in after them, and it is most amusing to watch him 
taking them out ; sometimes he experiences a little difficulty in turning round in 
the bottle, when, having taken a nut, he wants to come out, but he never drops 
his nut, but holding tightly to it, he eventually twists himself right round and 
flies out with it in triumph. His mate, however, has not yet had the courage 
to go in and get them, but she spends half her time in peering through the glass 
at them on all sides, and making little attempts at going in, so I have no doubt 
she will end by doing so. 
Sutton Waldron Rectory, Blandford. R. Downing. 
Cuckoo in Brighton. — ^Just before six o’clock this morning (.\pril 15), 
I awakened thinking I heard the cuckoo. My window being generally wide 
open at the top, I often hear birds of passage call while passing over the house. 
I heard nothing more until 6.30 a.m. when my sister, who lives in the country, 
and is staying with us for a few days, sleeping in a front room, rapped at my 
door, saying “ Come quickly, there is a cuckoo calling loudly on the top of the 
house.” The note seemed peculiarly loud and strong, but it ceased before I 
could rouse anyone else to hear it. I did not succeed in seeing the bird ; it 
appeared to be on the eave projecting over the middle window. The morning 
was very damp, and it soon began to rain heavily, so doubtless he flew to a 
sheltered spot to rest. A little later the bird was heard for some considerable 
time by my sister, and also by one of the inmates of another house but a few 
doors distant. The chief point of interest in my account lies in the fact that 
the cuckoo, a naturally shy and retiring bird, is rarely heard in so populous a 
neighbourhood as this. My brother heard the cuckoo at Hurst (Sussex), on 
April 7. The early arrival of the cuckoo this spring cannot fail to attract 
the attention of naturalists. Gilbert White (according to my edition of 1833), 
gives April 7 as the earliest date on which the bird appeared in Sussex and 
Hampshire. This year, if reports in local papers be correct, the cuckoo was 
