464 Retrospective Criticism. 



boldly into the water, and, like its more experienced predecessor, swam on 

 shore with the greatest ease and confidence. — E. S.,F.L.S. July 21. 1831. 



Hares taking the Water. — I once saw a hare that was closely pursued 

 spring into a river about 20 yards wide, and swim boldly across it. Rabbits 

 will take water when less pressed, as I have seen four, and heard of more, 

 to do so, which might have easily escaped without getting wet. In one 

 case, although a man stood on the bank which the rabbit was striving to 

 gain, and the bank was not more than If ft. above the water, the rabbit 

 landed, and made its escape. — Henry Turner, Botanic GardenSy Bury 

 St. Edmunds y May 15. 1831. 



New Mode of examining Birds. — If A B. (p. 145.) will refer to the pre- 

 face of the sixth edition of Bewick's Birds, for the account of Mr. Dovas- 

 ton's ** ornithoscope," he will perceive that his mode of observing the 

 motions of his feathered friends is not new. — Thomas Edgeworth. Wrex' 

 ham, June 8. 1831. 



Men feel and reason very similarly. The same necessities suggest 

 similar expedients to remove or relieve them. I adopted A. B.'s mode, 

 and Mr. Dovaston's also I suppose, for I have not seen Bewick's Birds, 

 years ago. (See p. 450.) — J. D, 



The Resident and Visiting Birds of Renfrew and its Neighbourhood, — Sir, 

 In X. Y. Z.'s list of birds in the neighbourhood of Renfrew (p. 269.), I 

 observe that Parus caudatus (long-tailed titmouse) and Turdus musicus 

 (mavis or throstle) have a star prefixed to their names, which mark, we 

 are told, is intended to denote that such species are visiters in that part of 

 the country : again, Turdus pilaris (fieldfare) has no star prefixed to it ; 

 and we are therefore left to infer that this bird is not a visiter, but that it 

 continues in the neighbourhood of Renfrew throughout the year. Allow 

 me to ask whether these are real facts ? or whether the insertion or omis- 

 sion of the star respectively, in the cases alluded to, are mere typographical 

 errors ? I do not at the moment recollect ever to have heard of an instance 

 of the fieldfare breeding with us, or continuing in the country through the 

 summer ; which I thuik somewhat extraordinary, considering the immense 

 numbers in which these birds visit us in the autumn and early part of the 

 winter, and also that many of them occasionally get crippled by hedge- 

 sportsmen, and hence might probably be unable to undertake a journey to 

 a distant country. As to the long-tailed titmouse and the mavis, these 

 certainly are not visiters merely, or migratory species, in most parts of the 

 country ; they may, however, be so in the north, as may the fieldfare there 

 also be a constant resident. At all events, I should be glad of farther in- 

 formation on these points from your correspondent X. Y. Z. : for the facts, 

 as stated in his list, if facts they be, are certainly curious and highly inter- 

 esting ; and, if the statements be erroneous, they ought to be corrected 

 without loss of time, lest the error should be widely propagated and handed 

 down under the authority of your Magazine. Yours, &c. — W, T, Bree, 

 Allesley Rectory, May 12. 1831. 



Habits of the Bittern. — Sir, In Vol. I. p. 495., your correspondent, 

 Mr. Rennie, remarks, that " the bittern (^'rdea stellaris Lin.) usually 

 booms while flying high in the air." Now, I do not deny that such may be 

 the case occasionally ; but it happened to me to be for many years a fre- 

 quent visiter of the extensive tract of marshes in the county of Norfolk, 

 through which the river Bure pursues its course, and where the bittern was 

 then a common inhabitant. The amusement in which I was engaged, that 

 of angling, often led me amongst the ditches and retired spots of these 

 marshes : there the bittern's boom was heard, sounding hollow from its 

 sedgy couch amidst the almost impervious clumps of lofty and tufted reeds. 

 On one occasion I had the good fortune to see the bird rise into the air 

 at a short distance only from the place whereon I stood : its boom, how- 

 ever, ceased ; and I do not remember ever to have heard it from a bird 



