Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/545

Rh Do Cuckoos suck Eggs?—I much regret I have no proof whatever to offer Mr. Davenport that the Hawfinch's eggs mentioned in 'Zoologist,' p. 426, were sucked by Cuckoos; neither have I any proof that they were sucked by Jackdaws. But the fact still remains that not only were the eggs sucked in the above-mentioned nest, but the contents of thirty-two other nests of the same species, with those of some scores of other nests I saw, had met with a similar fate. Cuckoos in this locality have been exceptionally plentiful during the past season, and with one exception (on an island in the Outer Hebrides during the spring of 1895), I have never known them to be so numerous.— (Langley House, Ascott-sub-Wychwood, Oxford).

Hypolais polyglotta in Sussex.—As reported by Mr. Howard Saunders in the current issue of 'The Ibis,' the second of the Warblers mentioned by Mr. Ticehurst (supra, p. 333) has turned out, as the latter surmised, to be of this species. The specimen has been examined by Mr. Saunders and others, amongst them by the present writer, and is now in the possession of Mr. Boyd Alexander. The species has already been declared to be a member of our avifauna by Mr. Murray A. Mathew ('Birds of Pembrokeshire,' pp. 9, 10), but in this instance doubt may perhaps be reasonably entertained of the correct identification of the species.— (St. Leonards-on-Sea).

Willow Wren singing in Autumn.—On looking over my note-books for 1891–93, in which years I noticed more particularly the dates on which our different birds were singing, I find that the Willow Wren figures therein as a comparatively common autumn singer. Thus in 1891 the dates are June 15th, Aug. 14th–22nd; in 1892, Aug. 1st–17th; in 1893, June 16th, 20th, July 1st, 6th, 25th, Aug. 7th, 9th, 24th, Sept. 8th. These notes refer mainly to Midlothian.— (46, Cumberland Street, Edinburgh).

Mealy Redpoll off Coast of Kerry.—Between 1889 and 1893 I received seven specimens of the Mealy Redpoll from the Tearaght Rock, a small but precipitous islet out in the Atlantic, nine miles west of Kerry. These Redpolls are very large, and I have always regarded them as Greenland Redpolls, Linota hornemanni, Holb. In this I hope to be confirmed by Mr. Howard Saunders, to whom two stuffed specimens have just been forwarded. Five were obtained in September, one in October, and one in November.— (Fassaroe, Bray, Co. Wicklow).

Note on Pied and Grey Wagtail in the Itchen Valley.—I wish to correct a statement I made on p. 462 in the October issue of 'The Zoologist' with relation to these birds. I there stated that by the end