Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/348

322 Cirl Bunting in Carnarvonshire.—As an interesting fact bearing upon the apparent extension of the range of the Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) in North Wales (if, indeed, it really is extending its range, and has not merely escaped notice until recently in some localities it is now known to inhabit), I should like to record that on the 29th June I watched, and listened for some time to the song of, a male of this species at Llanbedrog, about four miles west of Pwllheli. I could hear another bird singing at a little distance. The particular spot was the beautiful sheltered garden of Glyn-y-Weddw, which is heavily planted with conifers and other trees, and partly surrounded with plantations. Here, in the soft air, myrtles, escallonias, bays, fuchsias, and even camellias and other tender plants flourish in the open. The fact of the Cirl Bunting singing on and off from noon to two o'clock on that particular day, when the leaden sky, growling thunder, and warm heavy air were enough to depress all living creatures, shows that this species, like the Corn and Yellow Buntings, is a persistent singer after the early freshness of the day and the summer is past.— (Bloxham, Oxon).

Appearance of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) in Yorkshire.—While I was sitting in a small wood some three miles from Beverley, my attention was attracted by the violent actions of two birds which seemed to be mobbing something. In a short time they came closer, and I saw that the object of their ire was a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The smaller birds were Greenfinches, and they were making furious dashes at the Woodpecker as he hung on to the trunk of a tree. The reason for their attack was obvious, as, when the Woodpecker had gone, I found a Greenfinch's nest, with the bird sitting on it, quite close to the spot. This was on May 27th.— (104, Gilda Brook Road, Eccles, Lancashire).

Economy of the Cuckoo.—Referring to the notes of Mr. Tuck (Zool. 1898, p. 477) on the economy of the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), it is not an exceptionally rare occurrence to find two eggs deposited in one nest in this district; but the Cuckoo scarcely or ever selects the nest of the Hedge-Sparrow. Roughly speaking, 80 per cent, are laid in the nest of the Titlark, 5 per cent, in that of the Whinchat, and the rest in nests of various species. My sons once brought me an egg which had been laid in the nest of a Ring-Ouzel. Whilst at Marley some time ago, with Mr. Carter, of Bradford, we found a Titlark's nest containing two Cuckoo's eggs, which were remarkable on account of the fact that both the Titlark's and Cuckoo's eggs deviated in a marked degree from the normal type, the former being scarcely distinguishable from the Pied Wagtail, with which, in colour and markings, the eggs of the Cuckoo very closely