back in a fir-wood, and, as generally seems to be the case, could have shot them all; only one bird, however, was killed, being all that the shooter required for his collection.—C. Matthew Prior (Bedford).
The Curlew of the Wiltshire Downs.—Perhaps the remarks I am about to make have not much bearing upon the point at issue, as to the supposed nesting of the Common Curlew in Wiltshire (p. 183), but may serve as an illustration of how mistakes of the kind are made even by those whose knowledge naturally points to a different conclusion. Some few seasons ago an oologist—whose name I purposely reserve—paid me a visit, and having amongst other things looked over my small collection of eggs, I asked him if he saw any error in nomenclature; he replied, he had noticed one egg marked Numenius arquata, which certainly did not belong to the Curlew, it being much too large as well as of different markings; and he further added, that the eggs of the Curlew were taken not uncommonly on the downs in the neighbourhood of Winchester, &c. I suggested that he meant eggs of the Stone Curlew or Thick-knee; for Gilbert White, in his 'Natural History of Selborne,' mentions the breeding of that species in his day not very many miles from the same place, but my friend still held to his opinion that my large egg was not that of a Curlew. If I mistake not the downs in question form a continuation of those in Wilts, and if this is the case it seems somewhat remarkable that the same error has been committed in two separate instances. Whether my friend has ever altered his opinion I am unable to say, yet, if this should meet his eye, no doubt he will remember the incident, and will perhaps give us a note on the subject.—G.B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants).
Red-winged Starling in Yorkshire.—On March 31st last, while on an entomological tour between Askern and Barnsley, just after leaving Adwick-le-Street and crossing the Pontefract and Doncaster turnpike-road, I saw laying among the grass on the roadside what I took to be a dead Blackbird; but, on picking it up to examine it, I found it to be a fine male of the above species; it had apparently flown against the telegraph wires during the night. This rewarded me for the otherwise fruitless journey.—S.L. Mosley (Primrose Hill, Huddersfield).
[This makes the tenth recorded instance of the occurrence of the American Red-winged Starling in the British Islands. For the other nine, see 'Hand-book of British Birds,' p. 117.—Ed.]
Note on the Willow Wren.—Notwithstanding the intensely cold weather which we had early in April, the willow warblers arrived here in their usual abundance. One was seen for the first time on April 12th, and by the 15th they were somewhat plentiful, although not generally distributed, owing no doubt to the cold wind, which induced them to affect such localities as were screened. It may be noted that I never heard their song from their arrival until the 19th April; on the 20th, however,
