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The other pair, which I had turned out into a cold aviary, developed perfectly; and in May the male began to make advances to the hen, which she at first resented; eventually she permitted him to feed her, and he finally succeeded in enticing her into a log-nest suspended in one corner of the aviary. From this time the female bird seldom left the log-nest; the male bird entered from time to time to feed her, and I hoped she had laid eggs and was sitting; but in this I was mistaken, for it was late in June when, weary of waiting for results, I looked into the nest, and discovered two freshly-laid eggs. Early in July, watching my opportunity when the hen was taking a constitutional, I again looked into the nest and discovered a plump naked youngster, which uttered harsh hissing sounds until I covered it up. It left the nest, fully feathered, but with a short tail, on June 26th, able to fly short distances, but extremely nervous about trusting to its wings; the efforts of the parents to induce it to fly were very interesting. By September this young bird was larger than either parent, and called as loudly (the note is not unlike that sometimes produced by a heavy iron gate when very rusty and slowly opened widely); I therefore concluded that I had reared a male; but, as it still retains the greenish grey head of its mother, it seems likely that I was mistaken in this surmise. It is much wilder than its parents, which one would hardly have expected in a bird bred in confinement; but I have noticed in the case of some of our British birds that when reared from the nest by hand they become not only more wild than those caught in traps or nets, but remain permanently so. A. G. BUTLER (Beckenham).

Jack Snipe in Dorsetshire in May.-On the evening of May 25th I flushed a Jack Snipe close to my feet, in a swamp on Bloxworth Heath. It pitched down again about twenty yards off, but I could not get it to rise a second time. This is the latest occurrence I have ever recorded. In my note-book on 'Birds ' I see that on May 6th, 1851, I flushed a pair of these birds in a bog about a quarter of a mile distant from the spot where the one now recorded was found. I had no time on the last occasion to make any effectual search for a nest; in fact the spot where it rose was evidently only one where the bird was just then feeding; but it can hardly be supposed that these birds should be here in May and not breed with us. Some lucky accident will, I suspect, one day prove this to be the case.O. P. CAMBRIDGE (Bloxworth Rectory).

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Song of the Cirl Bunting.-Have any of the readers of The Zoologist' noticed that the Cirl Bunting bas, in addition to its well-known ditty, which resembles that of the Yellowhammer without the long concluding note, a short and pleasant song sounding like "say, say, see," or sayo, sayo, see"; the last note a third higher than the preceding? On one occasion, some years ago, I heard a bird which I believed to be a

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bunting, on the wild grounds near Portsmouth. Its song, frequently repeated, sounded like "Tic, tic, tic, wirra, wirra." I could not get very near it, and have never since heard a song like it. It was not a Corn Bunting.-CHARLES W. BENSON (Rathmines School, Dublin).

Nesting Materials used by the Hawfinch.-Whilst examining the materials used in a nest I found situated in the topmost branches of an old crab-tree in Sutton Coldfield Park, I was particularly interested in finding, in addition to the usual dead twigs, fibrous root, and hair, that the nest had been built with a platform of the green leaves of the mountain ash, which could not have been obtained within some 250 yards of the spot. I cannot help thinking that these were used as a protection in screening the nest from observation from below.-J. STEELE ELLIOTT (Dixon's Green, Dudley).

Wood Pigeon nesting on the Ground.-Whilst exploring one of the many little islands on Lough Cong, Co. Galway, I came across a most unusual sight. The island to which I refer is thickly wooded with small firs, oaks, willows, and other trees and shrubs. Round the edges of the wood there was a line of high heather. Wood Pigeons, Columba palumbus, were breeding in considerable numbers in the wood; but as I was going round the edge of the island I almost stamped on a Wood Pigeon which rose from out of some high heather. Thinking that this was a curious place for the bird to be feeding, I looked down amongst the heather. In the midst of a thick clump of tall heather was a Pigeon's nest, composed of a few sticks placed literally on the ground. This nest contained one egg, which I have. This seemed very strange, but I thought it must be an accident. On the other side of the island, however, I flushed another Pigeon in the same way, and found another nest in exactly the same sort of position, but this nest contained quite a big young one. There seems no accounting for this curious fact. The birds must have nested in this position by deliberate intent. Yet there were plenty of good trees for their purpose, where other Pigeons were breeding.-HENRY F. WITHERBY (Blackheath).

Nightingale singing in July.-For the first time in my continental experiences, extending over twelve years, I heard the Nightingale sing in July last year, at Royat. We arrived there on June 29th, and at half-past ten p.m. heard its song very plainly from our hotel. The birds were plentiful in the neighbourhood, and continued to sing up to July 15th, when I heard one for the last time, as it sang close to the English church. Royat is an excellent station for ornithologists.-CHARLES W. BENSON (Rathmines School, Dublin).

[When the young are hatched the males leave off singing, and busy themselves in bringing food to the nest. This is generally before the end of the first week in June.-ED.]

Supposed hybrid between Blackbird and Thrush. - During the severe frost last winter a bird was caught in my garden which I at first took by gaslight to be an old hen Blackbird; but a more careful examination by daylight convinced me that there was something odd about it. It had the peculiar flattened crown which, together with a slight frontal depression, gives a frog-like aspect to the Song Thrush and Redwing when viewed from the front; the throat also had an ashy-white appearance suggestive of the Ring Ouzel. The bird, however, probably through inability to wash for several weeks, was so grimy that it was not easy to come to any definite conclusion as to its true colouring. On March 7th I showed the bird to my friend Mr. Frohawk, who agreed with me that there was something very odd about its appearance; we therefore decided to give it a good wash, and thereby ascertain its true colouring: this we did, and when thoroughly dry again we found it in all respects intermediate between Blackbird and Song Thrush. The following is a description, so far as it could be taken from a caged bird:-Upper parts, including wings, tail, cheeks, ear-coverts, and neck, deep smoky-brown; a narrow pale brown superciliary streak from the base of the upper mandible to behind the orbit, and a short moustachial streak from the lower mandible; circle round eye yellow; chin and throat ashywhite, forming a large triangle with its apex on the chin; sides of this triangle washed with brownish buff, and the whole surface traversed longitudinally by parallel irregular mottled dull black streaks, which pass into indistinct spots on the fore-chest; chest and breast rufous-brown, more smoky at the sides; abdomen and vent slightly greyish in the centre, shading into smoky brown at the sides and gradually passing into the more rufous tint of the breast. Bill orange, somewhat paler towards the tip; culmen blackish; feet yellowish horn-brown; iris hazel. Size about that of a Blackbird. I have once or twice found eggs of the Song Thrush deposited in the nest of the Blackbird; but at the time I thought this might have been done designedly by some naturalist trying an experiment (for I have tried such an experiment myself); but Mr. Frohawk on one occasion discovered a nest of this character which was undoubtedly visited by both Blackbird and Thrush. The existence of hybrid Blackbird and Song Thrush is tolerably well established; but I believe most of the birds supposed to represent this cross have been shot, not caught. It will be interesting to discover whether the song of such a bird will partake of the character of that of both parents. The alarm-note is a sharp "chuck," very like that of the Blackbird.—ARThur G. Butler (Beckenham).

Crossbills in Leicestershire.-On March 15th Mr. Turner, of Market Harborough, received three specimens of the Common Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, a male and two females, which had been killed near that town. The Crossbill occasionally remains in this country during the winter. In ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XIX.—JUNE, 1895.

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the first week in January, 1852, while I lived in Oxfordshire, I shot two, a male and female, from a small flock which visited our garden. The plumage of the male differed very much from the bright tints of its summer dress; it was of an almost uniform pale red, with darker markings on the side of the head and on the wings; the plumage of the female did not show any marked change. A. MATTHEWS (Gumley, Leicestershire).

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Albino and Pied Varieties.-In February last I had a lovely white Wood Pigeon brought to me, I think the prettiest I have ever seen. There are a few dark feathers in its plumage, but they are hardly visible, and so far as they are noticeable they only serve to accentuate the general appearance of the bird, which is set off to great advantage by its purplish-red feet. It is a welcome addition to our local museum. In the spring of 1894 an albino of the common Whitethroat was brought in, a nestling and a dainty little bird, with pink irides. Mr. Whitaker's note on the pied Hawfinch (p. 72) reminds me that the Italian collection of birds at Florence contains a white Hawfinch. If I remember right, it is of a uniform dull white, with a pale grey chin-spot. Several pied Hawfinches are mentioned in the 'Avifauna Italica' of Professor Giglioli, who has procured many pretty varieties of birds for the Italian collection. The most noteworthy variety that I have seen of late is an example of the common Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, preserved in the public museum at Bergamo. This bird has the head, neck, and breast of a pure yellowish white; the remainder of the plumage is brown and green. I never before heard of a pied Crossbill.H. A. MACPHERSON (11, Victoria Place, Carlisle).

Ornithological Notes from Yorkshire.-On Feb. 1st several Whooper Swans were observed in this locality. On Feb. 2nd, when driving between Fewston and Darley, I observed three large birds on the moors near to a plantation. Getting within a short distance of them, they proved to be Black Grouse, a male and two females. I was shown, on Feb. 11th, a dead female specimen of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which had been found in Dob Park wood. This species is rare in the Washburn Valley. I have only known one instance of its nesting here-viz. in Lindley Wood in 1888. On Feb. 25th an old male Great Spotted Woodpecker was caught in Folly Hall wood. It breeds sparingly in this valley. Mr. J. Yorke, of Bewerley Hall, Pateley Bridge, informed me that, on Feb. 14th, he saw a Waxwing, Ampelis garrulus, in a thorn bush on the bank of the Nidd, about a mile above Pateley. It seemed to be in good plumage, and was eating berries greedily; it took no notice of him, though he watched it from a distance of only a few feet. I have never seen or heard of one here in recent years, though we have two in our collection which were killed here many years ago.-WM. STOREY (Fewston Lodge, near Otley).

Winter Notes from the Isle of Man.-On Feb. 23rd last I saw in the hands of Mr. G. Adams, of Douglas, a Red-necked Grebe (Podicipes griseigena), which a few days before had been killed at the south of the island, and sent to him for preservation. It had the chestnut colour on the neck well developed, and the cheeks whitish grey. I observed no trace at all of the slight crest of the species. In the Isle of Man, as elsewhere, birds suffered severely at the time of the great snowfall (Feb. 6th), and during the prolonged hard weather before and afterwards. On the day following this fall, flocks of birds of various kinds-Rooks, Starlings, and Chaffinches -sat, as if in a stupefied state, on the trees bordering the main road at Laxey, motionless, and regardless of passers-by and the stir of the village. There has been a perceptible thinning of Blackbirds and other song-birds, but Magpies and Jackdaws, which are very numerous and familiar about this place and its immediate neighbourhood, do not seem to be materially reduced in numbers. On Feb. 18th a male Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator), in full plumage, and an adult Sheldrake (Tadorna cornuta) were found dead on the shores of Douglas Bay. The former was discovered "sitting upon a stone with the head folded upon the back." A Heron was caught alive by some boys, who ran it down with a dog, and another, which was brought to Mr. Adams dead, was said to have fallen lifeless from the air while flying. Flocks of Gulls, chiefly of the Blackheaded species, Larus ridibundus, though a good many Herring Gulls were also present, spent weeks among the houses of Douglas, being fed by the residents in the roadways and gardens. On Dec. 23rd, and on several subsequent dates, I saw, in Douglas Bay, a Black-headed Gull with a complete dark hood.-P. RALFE (Laxey, Isle of Man).

Common and Lesser Terns in the Outer Hebrides.-Mr. Howard Saunders, in his Manual of British Birds,' p. 631, states that he has no conclusive evidence of the occurrence of Sterna fluviatilis in the Outer Hebrides. When staying at Stornoway with a friend last August we were both somewhat anxious to obtain a specimen of the Arctic Tern (S. macrura), and accordingly rowed out one day to some low islands to the east of the harbour, where Terus were swarming; but the proportion of the Common to the Arctic species was roughly 15 to 1. I was fortunate enough to obtain a specimen of the latter, and my friend shot one of the Common species in mistake for an Arctic Tern; so we had ample opportunity for identification. Not being aware of its hitherto unrecorded existence in these parts, we unfortunately did not preserve the bird. Later in the month, when at Barra, there was a small rock in Vatersay Sound which was almost always covered with old and young Common Terns. The reason for this bird having been overlooked in the Outer Hebrides may no doubt be accounted for by the fact (as stated by Mr. Howard Saunders) that when the Common and Arctic Terns inhabit the same area they frequently

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