198 EAGLE CAPTURED AT SWAFFHAM. — THE BAT. 



the air by the biid, though not strong enough to draw the 

 latter, which struggled with its wings, under the water. — 

 Thus the fish rushed along on the surface, the two animals 

 looking much like a boat with the sails spread, until both 

 were secured by some people who went after them in a boat. 

 — Id. 



Capture of an Eagle at Swaffham. — About the end of De- 

 cember last a large eagle was observed on Beachamwell war- 

 ren, about three miles from Swaffham, where it made great 

 destruction among the rabbits. The warreners tried every 

 scheme to entrap it, but without success ; as it would not 

 come down to a bait. On the 5th instant one of the keepers 

 of John Motteux, Esq., saw it fly into a plantation adjoining 

 the warren, and by sending a person to the farther side, it 

 was frightened towards him, when he got a shot at it and 

 killed it. It proved to be the white-tailed or cinereous eagle 

 (Falco albicilla, Linn.), weighing lO^lbs., and measuring be- 

 tween the tips of the wings 7 ft. 5 inches ; it was a male bird, 

 but not in the adult plumage, the general colour being light 

 brown, and the tail feathers not perfectly white. I have pre- 

 served it in my collection of British birds, and on skinning it 

 found it a complete mass of fat. 



There was a pair of the long-tailed duck {Anas glacialis, 

 Linn.) killed in the beginning of February, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lynn, but I was not fortunate enough to get them. 

 Two pairs of the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator, 

 Linn.) were shot about the same time. — Henry Dugmore, Rec- 

 tor of Pensthorp. — Swaffham, March 12th, 1839. 



Early appearance of the common Bat. — I have, the last 

 two years, observed an unusually early appearance of the com- 

 mon bat (Vespertilio pipistrellus). On the 6th of March, 

 1838, at 1 o'clock, P.M., it being a bright, warm, sunny day, 

 I observed one of these animals flitting about in search of food, 

 in a garden at Poole, in Dorsetshire ; and although it fre- 

 quently flew to a considerable distance, it returned again and 

 again to the same locality, and I continued watching it for a 

 considerable period. On the following day a similar circum- 

 stance occurred iii another garden at Poole. This year I have 

 observed a still earlier appearance of this little animal, viz., 

 an the 23rd of February. I was riding on that day from 

 Brading to Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, at about half-past 5, 

 P.M. The weather was warm and serene, and the light of 

 the moon was succeeding to that of the sun, which had lately 

 set, when I observed a bat hovering about precisely as in a 

 summer evening. Before arriving at Ryde I saw two more of 



