"The robin and the wren Are God Almighty's cock and hen; Are God Almighty's bow and arrow.” (Chambers.) This association of the robin and the wren and the legend of the 'Babes in the Wood' are both. very old: John Webster (17th century), in the Duchess of Malfi,' alludes to them thus: "Call for the robin redbreast and the wren, Since o'er shady groves they hover, The friendless bodies of unburied men." And Mr. Harting has noticed Shakspeare's and Isaak Walton's allusions to this charity of the "honest robin" (Zool. S. S. 418). Among the Scandinavians this species was sacred to the fiery-bearded Thor, and as the wren was also sacred to the northern gods, this may, be the true origin of these fancies. Stockbriggs, Lesmahagow, N. B., November, 1867. after all, EDWARD R. ALSTON. (To be continued.) Notes from Flamborough. By JOHN CORDEAUX. OCTOBER, 1867. October 14th. Arrived at my old quarters near the north landingplace at 3.30 P. M. In the evening walked along the north shore towards the light-house. Observed in the course of this walk several rock pipits, a kestrel and some thirty or forty lesser blackbacked gulls, with two exceptions young birds. I also saw a single skua (Lestris catarractes). This northern side of the headland of Flamborough, from the northern landing-place to the lighthouse, is extremely wild and picturesque. Time and tide have indeed wrought many mighty changes in this coast-line, since it first arose a long unbroken and gigantic barrier of limestone, stemming the fierce onslaught of the wild North Sea. A year has passed, and all is changed save the destroyer: The great waves yet rush landward, line beyond line, even as they did in those remote ages, bursting in thunder at the root of the mountain, ever unceasingly night and day, summer and winter, striving to breach these solid bastions; and well have they done their work, now the white limestone cliffs are a ruin; mighty isolated columns of chalk, once portions of the cliff, now standing alone, the outposts of the slowly retreating land. Here the wave has worn a deep and narrow gorge far inland, there again the cliff rises beyond the coast line, as yet unsubdued; its base, however, we perceive is worn completely through, forming a mighty archway, through which the sea is ever racing in the wildest confusion. Give it time and it I will fret away the seaward pillar, and then the face of the cliff will shoot forward and one more bastion will have been carried. It was dark when I turned homewards along the cliffs. The wind had risen, sweeping upwards, moaning along this broken and deserted coast in a most melancholy cadence; drifting inward the gray sea fog, which in a few minutes wrapped the headland as in a shroud; even the blaze of the lighthouse was obscured "The white mist, like a face-cloth to the face, Clung to the dead earth, and the land was still." That night an 800-ton barque went on shore within a quarter of a mile of the light-house. It proved a fortunate circumstance for the fishermen, who got £200 for getting her off the rocks, which, thanks to the high spring tide, they did before morning, and £35 more for taking her to Sunderland. October 15th. Saw at the house of Mr. Bailey, two skuas, shot off this coast on Saturday, the 12th. Both were young birds-the larger of the two Lestris pomarinus, the other L. Richardsonii. The pomarine skua was procured in a curious manner-Mr. Bailey had shot at and slightly wounded a kittiwake, which fell at some distance from his boat; before he could get near it the disabled bird was attacked and killed by the skua, it speedily, however, fell a victim to its temerity, and on the approach of the boat was shot, clinging to the body of the gull. On the same day Mr. Bailey saw a Buffon's skua in mature plumage, but failed to bag it. Many hundreds of kittiwakes were seen about the headland on the 14th and 15th, and I was told that on the latter day upwards of one hundred were shot and brought in by one boat. I deeply regret to write that this graceful and trustful gull is threatened with speedy extinction at this famous breedingplace; thousands have been shot in the last two years to supply the "plume trade." The London and provincial dealers now give one shilling per head for every "white gull" forwarded; and the slaughter SECOND SERIES-VOL. II. 3 Q of the poor birds during the season affords almost constant and profitable employment to three or four guns. One man, a recent arrival at Flamborough, boasted to me that he had in this year killed with his own gun four thousand of these gulls; and I was told that another of these sea-fowl shooters had an order from a London house for ten thousand. No wonder the kittiwakes are rapidly disappearing. There has this year been a marked diminution of the great breeding colony in the Speeton cliffs. The shooting commences as soon as the poor birds return to this their summer quarters, and is carried on without intermission on every fine day in the spring, summer and autumn. A few years more and the glory of Flamborough will have departed. Can nothing be done to check this cruel, shameful and shortsighted destruction of our beautiful sea-fowl? This slaughter is going on, not only at Flamborough, but at every other favourable position round the coast, and will continue, unless our fair countrywomen are moved by compassion, or find some substitute more novel and taking than the all-prevailing plume. Let them persist in wearing sea-bird feathers, and the end is indeed not far distant. Future generations, when they flock to the sea-coast during the pleasant summer days, will only hear the tradition of the sea-birds home. The grand scenery of our storm-broken coasts will remain, but the winged multitudes which once gave life and animation to these lonely headlands will for ever have disappeared, the victims of a passing folly. Will not some pen more able than mine write an appeal powerful enough to melt the heart of even the most devoted votary of fashionfor women are proverbially pitiful, and I am sure will never countenance a custom indulged at such a cost? The young kittiwake is particularly in request by these feather-makers, as the rich black markings on the plumage contrast favourably with the pure white of the under parts and pearl-gray of the back. Often a rare gull is procured by these local gunners: these birds generally find their way to some collector; but this is not always the case, and many a valuable capture is sent away amongst a heap of the common species to be cut up for plumes. A young Iceland gull (L. Icelandicus) was shot on Saturday the 12th. I was told the Iceland gull is not uncommonly met with at Flamborough during the autumn and winter, and about half a dozen are shot by the gunners every year. The lesser gull has also been frequently killed, both at Flamborough and the Bridlington coast; two in immature plumage were shot on the 12th. L. eburneus, L. Sabini and L. glaucus have been killed at Flamborough. Of the terns the common and arctic are those most frequently met with. I examined several skins of both species. Several Sandwich and black terns were shot during the autumn, and a solitary whitewinged black tern, I was told, seen this year in the neighbourhood. A considerable flock of petrel (Thalassidroma pelagica) arrived in Bridlington Bay during the first week in October, and some eight or nine of these little ocean wanderers were shot: they had little fear of man, so little that one was knocked down by the short gaff the fishermen use when hauling in the cod. I had a long talk to-day with the man at the lighthouse on the subject of our migratory birds. At this season it is no unusual circumstance to pick up birds on the balcony below the lantern, killed by flying against the glass. This is more frequently the case on thick, dark and foggy nights, when the light is in a great measure obscured. Woodcock and wild duck, and frequently snipe, have been found thus knocked on the head, and occasionally partridges and starlings, and other species not probably migratory. Sometimes flocks of smaller birds will on these dark nights flutter round and against the glass like moths, and may be then taken by hand, as they are completely bewildered by the dazzling glare. He had often seen in the autumn, about "woodcock time," flocks of the little goldcrested wren. A temporary and favourite resting-place was the small garden attached to the lighthouse, where he had observed them foraging amongst the cabbages and greens; the next day not one would be seen in the neighbourhood. He told me the woodcocks usually arrived with a N. or N.E. wind. Had once seen, some arrive during the day. They alight immediately on landing, either just topping the cliff, or, in stormy weather, dropping at the base just above high water, where for a time they lay like stones in any nook or corner. After a stormy night they are frequently found in the little caves and hollows, worn by the waves at the base of these sea-cliffs. If put up on their arrival they move with a slow and lazy flight, seldom going more than a hundred yards. A single woodcock was this year killed at Flamborough in the first week of October; and six, I heard, killed on the 14th. Great Cotes, Ulceby, Lincolnshire, JOHN CORDEAUX. Ornithological Notes from Norfolk for August, September and October. By HENRY STEVENSON, Esq., F.L.S. (Continued from S. S. 811). Hooded Crow nesting in Norfolk.-An instance of this fortunately rare occurrence in this county occurred, during the past summer, in Mr. Upcher's grounds at Sherringham, near Cromer. The old birds had been observed on several occasions by the gamekeeper, and on the 26th of August, as Mr. H. M. Upcher informs me, he had an opportunity of seeing both old and young birds himself: he first saw one old and two young ones, and afterwards two more, but whether the same or the other parent bird and a third young one he was unable to determine. Rosecoloured Pastor.-On the 7th of September I saw a very fine adult male of this species, which had been shot at Hemsby, near Yarmouth, about the end of July, and having been badly mounted at first, was being re-stuffed by Mr. Knight, of Norwich. This species has not, I believe, appeared in Norfolk for the last nine or ten years. Spotted Redshank.—An immature bird shot near Yarmouth about the last week in September. Storm Petrel.-During the first week in October, after a succession of strong gales from the N.W., a flight of these birds appeared on our coast, and specimens, as is usual on such occasions, were picked up, either dead or dying, both inland and by the sea; the first, according to date, was picked up dead at Little Fransham, several miles from the coast. Between the 4th and 9th some seven or eight more were obtained on the beach, either at Sherringham or Cromer, and others are said to have been knocked down with stones by the boys and not preserved. On the 7th a single bird was caught alive in a farm-yard at Lexham, nearly in the centre of the county; and on the 9th another was found dead at Hickling, near Yarmouth. At Lynn, as I am informed by Mr. Wilson and Mr. E. L. King, several were reported to have been seen flying in the harbour on the 30th of September, but on the 5th of October a male bird was picked up dead in the marshes between Snettisham and Dersingham, and another was found dead on the mud of the harbour on the 9th, These birds were for the most part in very poor condition, and were probably portions of one large |