NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
97 
Summer Migrants. — It is most unusual not to have heard or seen the 
chilT-chaff at this dale, April 8, or any other summer migrants. In looking and 
listening for any indication, a few days ago, I came across a pair of the dainty 
little gold-crested wrens which have become extremely scarce in the locality. I 
trust other readers in various localities will again furnish notes on the arrivals of 
migrants, as I hope to do. 
Redditch. J. HlAM. 
The Cuckoo and the House-Sparrow. — As April is now approaching 
I send a few lines respecting the earliest appearance of the cuckoo in this neigh- 
bourhood, as the result of more than fifty years’ consecutive observations. 
It was on April 9, in the warm and genial year of 1857, and, curiously 
enough, it was on the following day that I heard the nightingale. Old tradition 
states that the 14th is the usual time of hei appearance in this country, which is 
the date when Heathfield Fair is held, so that it is often called “Cuckoo Fair.” 
A few years since, a poor woman of this neighbourhood was observed to be 
getting up very early on one April 14, and, upon being questioned why she did 
so, replied that “ She was a gooing to Heffel Fair to see the old cuckoo turned 
out ! ” 
May I add a few remarks upon that confirmed rascal the house-sparrow ? 
I do not believe he is an insectivorous bird ; at all events, I have never been able 
to obtain any evidence of it by careful examination of his crop ; nevertheless, I 
have occasionally seen him have a snap at a butterfly. That he has a fair amount 
of brains is evident from the fact of the cautious manner in which he places his 
nest in the farmer’s wheat stack. Many farmers have assured me that he will 
never have his nest in a stack which rests upon the ground, but invariably selects 
one which is mounted upon a framework at some distance above the soil. 
The Observatory , Crowborough Hill , Sussex. C. Leeson Prince. 
Nightingale. — The nightingale has been heard here for the last fortnight. 
Is it not rather early ? We are seven miles from Cambridge. 
Foxton , April 7. A. M. G. 
[Dr. Roberts’ ‘Naturalist’s Diary,’ quoting from Rev. T. A. Preston’s 
Marlborough Records, gives April 24 as the earliest date, Mr. Afialo “the 
middle of April.”— Ed. N.N. ] 
Hawfinches. — In response to Mr. F. M. Millard’s suggestion, I beg to 
inform your readers that on February 20 a fine male hawfinch appeared in my 
garden and remained about it until February 27, when a female made her appear- 
ance. This pair (presumably) remained with us, on and off, until March 27, 
since which date they have not been observed. From enquiry it seems they are 
uncommon here now ; and the above are the only specimens I have seen here in 
thirteen years. The male bird was not at all shy, frequently coming close up to 
the window overlooking the lawn, and apparently much enjoying the fruits or 
“ keys ” from neighbouring ash and sycamore trees, with which the lawn was 
strewed. 
Westfield , Pinner, Middlesex. Arthur R. Gillman. 
I have for many years kept a list of our local birds, but to my friends and 
myself the hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris) is new in this locality. One first 
made its appearance on our front lawn on March 2, 1898. On the 6th it was 
accompanied by what I take to be a female, as it had not such bright glossy 
plumage as its companion. On the 24th four appeared, the two strangers being; 
I should think two young of last year, with their parents, as they showed no white 
on the tips of their tails, and were altogether slightly immature looking. The old 
male appears by itself nearly every afternoon, always feeding, sometimes picking 
something off the grass, at other times eating the holly berries. It clips off the 
prickly leaves if they are in the way of its mouth — about a berry — and finally 
having eaten the pips, drops the skin, nearly whole, on the ground. All this I 
watch through glasses from the billiard-room window. It moves about like a 
mechanical toy, with little spasmodic hops, and flies like a very pronounced 
chaffinch. It has short pink legs, tarsi and feet, and its wings when folded just 
clear the pure white at the tip of the tail. When flying it shows the white on wing- 
coverts and primaries very distinctly. It is about the size of a small starling, but 
