214 NATURE NOTES 
Earth and Sky, No. II. A .Second and Third Grade Nature Reader and Text- 
book. By J. II. Stickney. Ginn and Co. Price is. 6d. 
With good sensible type and binding, but somewhat mediocre illustrations, 
this little book contains forty-three reading-lessons in prose and verse, many of 
them by standard authors, such as Bjornson, Hans Andersen, and Dr. George 
Macdonald, suitable for the lower standards in schools ; but, in our opinion, 
regrettably disconnected. 
Report and Transactions of the Ealing Natural Science and Microscopical 
Society for 1901-2. 
Full abstracts of the lectures of the session are given, dealing with a varied 
assortment of topics, mostly not local. Mr. Allen Brown’s on “ Recent Dis- 
coveries in Relation to Pre-historic Man in Ealing” is illustrated by a plate of four 
pala;oliths. 
Pearson' s Magazine for October, 1902, contains an interesting article entitled 
“ Eye to Eye with Wild Beasts,” describing Mr. Arthur Head’s ophthalmo.scope 
studies of menagerie animals. 
Received: The Butterflies and Moths of Europe, Parts ii and 12; The 
Dioptric and Ophthalmometric Review for September ; Report of the Zoological 
Gardens, Ghizeh, near Cairo, for 1901 ; The Victorian Naturalist for August ; 
and The Hsanane Review, The Naturalist, The Irish Naturalist, The Naturalists' 
yotirtial, The Aiiimal World, The Animals' Friend, Our Animal Friends, The 
Humanitarian, and the Agricultural Economist for October. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Autumn Lambs in North Wales. — I saw to-day (September 22) a ewe 
and three lambs on a farm in the Vale of Clwydd. This is not unknown, but 
very uncommon in these parts. F. L. Rawlins. 
Black Woodpecker.— My memo, in Nature Notes (p. 116) on the 
black woodpecker has led to a correspondence which may be worth recording, 
and is of unusual interest, as I believe it is correct to state that this bird previous 
to 1897 had not occurred in England for many years — indeed some authorities 
(juestion its title to be considered a British species. A well known ornithologist, 
whose opinions cannot be other than weighty and entitled to great respect, in 
thanking me for letting him know of the “ suppo.sed occurrences of the great 
black woodpecker,” suggested that “ the birds seen may have been nutcrackers 
[Nucifraga caryocatactes), which are very dark brown in colour, and would look 
very black on the wing: " adding that “the best authorities do not consider the 
black woodpecker is at all a migratory bird.” 
I then communicated the substance of his remarks to those who had seen the 
birds, and have received the following replies : — 
“ The birds called somewhat like a green woodpecker, but shriller. The 
red on the head could not be seen. What I go by more than anything else is the 
flight of the bird. No bird flies exactly like the woodpecker in long curves ; 
these birds did so, and consequently I believe they were peckers, and that 11 . 
has proved to be correct. As to the ‘nutcracker’ theory, I don’t believe in it, 
not because I have never seen the birds here, but because no crow flies like a 
pecker, and also because the white marks are ‘ very clear,’ and the birds seen 
at had no such marks. Butler in his “ British Birds,” says the nutcracker’s 
appearance htvs always occurred either in autumn or early winter. The peckers 
were seen at in spring. — Yours ever, C.” 
“ In answer to your letter, I saw the black woodpecker in Ixworth, in a small 
‘ carr ’ by the river, while fishing in July, 1897 — a cock bird with the red crest 
very distinct. It came to me, not I to it, and therefore was not frightened as it 
did not see me. It perched on a dead branch or rather limb, and hit it several 
resounding cracks. Apparently not satisfied, it flew off with the dipping flight of 
