Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/61

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NOTES AND QUERIES.


AVES.

Black Redstart at Brighton.—On Dec. 11th I noticed a Black Redstart (Ruticilla titys) clinging to the wall behind our hospital. It remained about Kemp Town the next few days, as I saw it several times before being shot and preserved to establish the fact of its occurrence. It is a nice bird, with good feathers, very little worn.—Charles H. Bryant (Sussex County Hospital, Brighton).

P.S.—I have seen this morning (Dec. 18th) another Black Redstart, probably a companion of the one I secured.—C.H.B.

"Chiffchaff building on the top of small Yew and Box Trees." Correction.—In my note on the nesting of the Chiffchaff and Willow-Wren in 'The Zoologist,' December, 1899, p. 556, please read "the Chiffchaff with us always breeds off the ground" instead of "on the ground."—H. Noble (Temple Combe, Henley-on-Thames).

Rose-coloured Starling in Co. Mayo.—On the 5th of last November a fine specimen of this rare visitor (Pastor roseus) to Ireland was shot by Mr. James A. Knox, at Belgariff House, near Foxford, as it was feeding by itself on the lawn. It was not in very good plumage, for some feathers on the back of its neck were not fully grown, nor had the long tail-feathers attained their full length. This is the third specimen obtained in Ireland this year. Mr. D.C. Campbell, of Londonderry, noticing, in the August number of the 'Irish Naturalist,' 1898, a specimen having been procured on June 9th by Mr. John Hunter near Inch in that county, and Mr. Williams, of Dublin, in the 'Irish Naturalist' for October, 1898, records the capture of a specimen on July 20th by Mr. A. Brooke in his garden near Killybegs, Co. Donegal.—Robert Warren (Moyview, Ballina).

The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) in Scotland.—It is well known that this species has been prominently under notice for some time, and it is believed that the birds have increased greatly within the last few years, and as a consequence that much mischief was being done to crops by them. By some at least the fact of their great economic value in eating up many pests seemed to be practically lost sight of. An article appeared in the 'Transactions' of the Highland Agricultural Society, by which it was demon-