Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/402

 330

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XIL OCT. 23, im

reality it frequents wild land and lives on insects. Mr. W. H. Hudson writes in his ' British Birds ' :

' The great decrease in the number of wheatears is no doubt due to the reclamation of waste lands, where this bird finds the conditions suited to it.

To a variety of climates it is able to adapt itself

But cultivation it cannot tolerate He feeds on

grubs, small beetles, and other insects picked up from the ground, but also pursues and catches flying insects."

Evidently the bird has nothing to do with grain, but, as wheat is so called from the whiteness of its flour, may not wheatear mean " white ear " ? The true ear is, indeed black, but a white stripe runs just above it and the eye. A French name, cul-blanc, refers to the base of the bird's tail being pure white ; while the Germans say Weisskelchen, whitethroat, in reference to its white neck and breast, the robin being Rothkelchen.

Is the wheatear mentioned by Anglo- Saxon writers ? Q.

COMPOSITOR'S " CASE." Several years ago I was told of a book whose author pro- fessed to have made out the detailed arrange- ment of the compositor's " case " of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I shall be very glad to have the name, &c., of the book, and 4o know of any instructed criticisms of it. Q. V.

MARRIAGE LICENCES OF THE DIOCESE OF EXETER. Have these been published ? and if so, by whom, and where may a copy be seen ? CURIOUS.

CERNET'S TOWER IN BUCKLERSBURY. Is anything known of this " sign " besides what Stow tells us of the tower itself ? It is hardly likely that a tower would be built in the fourteenth century without some idea of defence, unless for the protection of specie. Who was Cernet ? and why did he build his " tower " ? Stow says :

" On the north Side of this Street, directly over- against the said Buckle's-bury, was an antient strong Tower of Stone, which Tower King Edward the Third, in the 18th of his Reign, by the name of the King's House, called Cornet's Tower in London, did appoint to be his Exchange of Money there to be kept. In the 29th of his Reign he granted it to Frydus Guynisane and Landus Bardoile, Merchants of Luke, for 2QL per Year, And in the 32nd of his Reign, he gave it to his College or Free Chapel of St. Stephen at Westminster, by the Name of his Tower, called Cornet's-Tower at Buckle's-bury in London. This Tower, of late years, was taken dowi by one Buckle, a Grocer," &c.

^ The Topographical Record (vol. iv. p. 109, gives the name of the tenement as " Surnetis- tour," in the occupation, in 1367, of William Holbech. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.

SPANISH ARMADA : SHIPS WRECKED OFF AYRSHIRE.

(10 S. xii. 249.)

THE following notes on ships belonging inquirer.
 * o the Spanish Armada may be oi use to the

In the Channel.

San Salvador, Rosario, Santa Ana,- San Lorenzo, Maria Juan, San Filipe, and San Mateo, foundered.

In the North Sea. San Juan de Sicilia.

Falco Blanco (mayor) captured in trying to get back down the Channel. In Scotland.

San Juan Bautista in Tobermory Bay. This vessel, a hired transport or nao, the property of Fernando Ome, 200 tons, crew of 60, with 24 guns, carried no treasure, albeit some enthusiasts are now seeking for ducats and pieces of eight, thinking it to be the wreck of the Florencia.

Another San Juan was cast away on the Outer Hebrides.

In Ireland.

Gran Grifon, lost on Fair Island.

Gerona, " on rock of Bunbois " (Bush- foot), near Giant's Causeway, although Port na Spagna is popularly supposed to be the exact spot. A tradition in the writer's family holds that the ill-fated ship was lost on the Skerries, near Dunluce Castle, of which the M'Quillins were once lords,

La Trinidad Valencera, 1,100 tons, a huge Venetian galleon, sank in Glenagivney Bay, co. Donegal.

Juliana, on Gola Island.

An unknown ship, same spot.

Nuestra Senora de la Rosa, Great Blaskets Island (10 Sept., 1588, 2 P.M.); had 25 field-pieces and 50,000 ducats in gold and silver on board ; one survivor from the wreck.

San Juan (of Ragusa), foundered a few yards away. Seventy years ago a gun was found here with a coat of arms depicting a tree uprooted with a band across it pre- served at Clonskea Castle, co. Dublin.

A large Biscayan was lost between the Blaskets and Kerry Head ; and a zabra, or small galley, with 24 men aboard, stranded in Tralee Bay. All were hanged forthwith.

The San Marcos, a great galleon, was burnt in Scattery Roads by the Spaniards themselves. She was unseaworthy.