220 



HA RD WICKB' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



common broom also grows abundantly in a spinny 

 close at hand. 



The meadows around are decked in spring and 

 summer with cowslips, primrose, scabious, sneeze- 

 wort, yarrow, lesser stitchwort, early purple orchis, 

 wood anemones, common meadow-sweet, water- 

 dropwort, common burnet, lady-smock, and others. 



The footpath to the covert leads through meadows 

 with waving grass, decked with beautiful but 

 common wild-flowers ; ragged robins are scattered 

 here and there in the tall grass, with white oxeyes, 

 and large patches of yellow bedstraw, purple vetch, 

 and bird's-foot trefoil growing near together, mixed 

 with yellow rattles, hawkweeds, red and white clover, 

 with others nearly hidden from sight in the long 

 grass. The large waving flowers of the yellow iris, 

 marsh-marigold, water-speedwell, water-foi-get-me- 

 not, water-figwort, wild columbine, rock-rose, 

 and willow-herbs, etc., grow along the brook which 

 runs just by the covert. 



Many of the trees by the brook-side bear the 

 marks of the woodpecker's strong bill,' where it lays 

 its eggs, and the tree-sparrow builds its nest in one of 

 the holes made by the woodpecker. Furze-chats also 

 build their nests on the ground at the bottom of 

 furze bushes, in the meadows around, and the black- 

 headed bunting, sedge- warbler, and long- tailed tit, 

 live and breed along this brook undisturbed. 



RARE BIRDS SEEN OR SHOT IN THE NEIGHBOUR- 

 HOOD OF NORTH MARSTON, BUCKS. 



A few years ago, a red-legged partridge was seen 

 on Quainton Hills by Mr. John Anstiss, who (I 

 believe) almost stepped on it when it was on its nest. 

 In the summer of 1889 a bird about the size of a 

 blackbird, and somewhat resembling it in form was 

 killed in the grass, in the field close to the moat at 

 Hogshaw. It was of the colour of a young starling 

 on the head, back, wings, and tail, while under the 

 chin and throat, it was of a whitish colour. Mr. 

 John Hughes, the owner of the field, said it must be 

 an uncommon bird, for he had not seen one like it 

 before. I am convinced that it was a female ring- 

 ousel, but as I did not examine it myself I could not 

 be sure at the time. Perhaps some reader might 

 have an idea what the bird just described was. 



On July 27th, 1889, I saw sitting on a rail, a 

 curious-looking bird, which on my getting nearer to 

 it, proved to be a hawfinch or grosbeak. I got 

 within a few yards of it, before it flew away to a bush 

 close by. It probably came from Runtswood or 

 Curtis's brake which are not very far from where I 

 saw it. I had the pleasure of seeing two more haw- 

 finches together, on August 29th, and one on the 

 following morning at Hogshaw about one hundred 

 yards from the place where I saw the first. 



On July 25 th, 1889, my cousin saw a red-backed 

 butcher-bird, and I myself found two nests of this 



bird near a brook here, a few years ago. This bird 

 is rare in this neighbourhood, but now and again one 

 may be seen, and a nest found. 



A woodcock was shot here in the winter-time a 

 year ago, and a lesser sjDOtted woodpecker was shot 

 here in an orchard two or three years ago. A few 

 kingfishers have now and then been shot along the 

 brook-sides around here, during the winter-time, and 

 one was seen on November 26th last. 



A white skylark was seen on a ploughing at Buxlow • 

 last August, in company with other larks. A white 

 sparrow has also been seen amongst a flock of its 

 companions at Quainton, by Mr. William Anstiss of 

 this village. The same person told me that he caught 

 in the nets recently a blackbird with some white 

 feathers on its breast. It might possibly have been a 

 ring-ousel. 



A couple of summer-snipes, or common sand- 

 pipers were shot near Hagditch pond on the lOth of 

 May last year, by Mr. Henry Anstiss, my cousin 

 being present with him at the time. I saw two of 

 these birds around a large pond at FuUbrook, early 

 in May in 1888. 



He told my cousin that his father many years ago 

 went after a curlew which was about the slough (a 

 field near this village), but he could not get near 

 enough to shoot it. I have also been told by a 

 younger member of the family, and so has my cousin, 

 that his father several years ago shot a fine plumaged 

 bird, amongst a flock of sparrows in a field called 

 " Ander's Oak." He said it was a little larger than 

 a house-sparrow with a rather long tail ; the head is 

 blue, and the body is mottled, and is of various 

 colours. The upper part of the bill (he said) hooked 

 over the under portion. I am inclined to think that 

 this bird mentioned is a crossbill. 



Mr. H. Anstiss told my cousin that he shot a 

 night-hawk or fern-owl a few years ago, during the 

 autumn or winter-time, as it flew out of an old cow- 

 shed. One was heard on the evening of the lOth of 

 May, last year, by my cousin. 



He also told him that when he was out shooting in 

 the winter-time with some one else, he saw a flock of 

 snipes containing twenty or more, but he thought 

 they were starlings till they were out of gunshot. A 

 green whistling plover or golden plover has also been 

 shot in this neighbourhood a few years ago by the 

 same person. Many other interesting observations in 

 bird life have been noticed, by one or another of the 

 family, and the information they give about them is 

 thoroughly reliable. 



H. G. Ward. 



We have received Part I. vol. i. of what promises 

 to be a most important work on "British Flies" 

 (Diptera) by the Hon, M. Cordelia E. Leigh and F. 

 O. Theobald. It is being issued in one shilling parts 

 by Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. 



