during this exceptional spring, for this usually late visitor. In ordinary seasons it is seldom seen with us before the end of April or beginning of May. I have a record as early as April 18th. But this season everything ornithological, entomological, and botanical appears uncertain, and out of its usual order.—G.B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants).
The Great Spotted Woodpecker in Surrey.—Dendrocopus major has become so rare a bird in Surrey that the successful rearing of a brood deserves to be recorded. Early in June I happened to notice a hole in the trunk of a partially decayed birch tree in an unfrequented part of the Hurt Wood, near Shere. The hole was circular, about fifteen feet from the ground, and appeared to be the work of a Woodpecker. On tapping the trunk the cries of young birds greeted my ears, and I therefore returned the following morning with a glass to watch for the old birds, and ascertain their species. After waiting about twenty minutes a female Great Spotted Woodpecker suddenly flew against the trunk, but, catching sight of me, swerved aside and retired to a small oak tree a few yards from where I sat. Here she perched upon a horizontal branch, lengthways, after the fashion of a Nightjar. She remained almost motionless (thinking apparently that she was invisible), and I was able for a quarter of an hour to examine her with my glass. She had in her bill a large bunch of insects, which, finding inconvenient, she deposited on the branch in front, but removed when taking her departure. When the male bird flew to the hole, as happened in due course, she warned him of the danger with loud and alarming cries of "quick," often repeated at regular intervals. Both birds then retired to a distance, and kept up their answering alarm-notes. After about half an hour the male flew against the further side of the birch, and peered round the side of the trunk in my direction. The young ones had by now become vociferous; but, though I remained about an hour, neither parent ventured to enter the hole. I am told that the brood was fledged a few days later. The Lesser Woodpecker (D. minor) may still be seen in a good many places in Surrey, and, though very shy and difficult to discover, is not so very rare. Gecinus viridis is abundant, and, I think, increasing in the unbuilt-over portions of Surrey.—Harold Russell (Shere, Surrey).
Hoopoe in Hants and Dorset.—From information received from friends residing in widely separated localities, both east and west, and whose descriptions could be only referable to this handsome and conspicuous species (Upupa epops), I infer that it has visited us in some numbers, contrary to its usual scarcity; and on May 2nd I saw a specimen which had been found dead somewhere on the borders of Dorset, apparently starved. The body was very emaciated, and one wing had been injured, as if by a stone, which must have prevented flight, and possibly was the cause of its
