Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/257

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nesting season of the year 1899 will ever be a red letter one in my calendar on account of the excellent series of photographs of nests and eggs, birds on their nests, birds feeding their young, &c, many of which are unique, that we—my friends Mr. T.A. Metcalfe and Captain H. Moore—were able to obtain. It was a bright sunny season, admirable as far as the light was concerned, and warm enough to be perfectly pleasant when we were lying up in water, or hiding for hours in the heather or gorse, for a shy bird to come back on to her nest. During the month of January many Duck were on inland flood water, but they were very bad to approach in a punt. Slavonian Grebes were about in some numbers. I had several Pipistrelle Bats and a sandy-coloured Mole brought to me. February was fine. Rooks and Herons were busy building by the 18th; a piebald Mole was caught near Knaresborough, but most unfortunately was thrown away before I heard about it. I have been trying to secure a piebald and a spotted example for years. Many Little Grebes about. The latter end of March was very cold and stormy. The pair of Rooks from Mr. Kitching's rookery at Heworth, that have built in a kind of cage just below the weathercock on the top of Heworth Church spire, 120 ft. from the ground, every year since 1887, have at last completed their nest after many failures. I saw a magnificent old male Heron that had unfortunately been trapped on a well-known Trout stream; he had been so often in the traps and escaped that he had not a whole toe left. His long crest-plumes measured nine inches.

Very early in April Long-eared Owls and Tawny Owls were sitting. On the 7th Metcalfe and I tried hard to get a photograph of the latter as she flew off her four eggs, which were in a hollow tree on a "scarr" side at the edge of a moor. There