472 Miscellan eons. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



FAUNA OF DORSETSHIRE. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



1 send you an account of the occurrence of two or three rare 

 birds which do not seem to be noticed in Dr. Pulteney's ' Nat. Hist, 

 of Dorsetshire,' viz. Scolopax Sabini, shot by George Morant, Esq., 

 about the middle of November last at Muston, near Dorchester, 

 and preserved by Mr. Wheatham of Abbotsbury, who prepared also 

 Falco peregrinus for me, which was taken alive here by a labourer 

 two winters ago just after it had killed a woodpigeon and was going 

 to devour it. Strix nyctea was shot in a wood at Langton, near 

 Blandford, two or three years ago, belonging to J. J. Farquharson, 

 in whose possession I saw the specimen (a most beautiful and dark 

 spotted [<^ ?] one). The Ardea nigra (Black Stork) was also shot 

 a year or two ago near Wareham, and is now in the possession of 

 the Earl of Malmesbury. Mr. Austice of Bridgewater lately men- 

 tioned in the paper that his specimen (sent to Col. Montagu) was 

 unique ; but I think Mr. Edward Quekett, of the Langport Museum, 

 told me another had been shot a few years ago between that town 

 and Bridgewater, which he endeavoured to obtain, but it found its 

 way to Taunton in rather a mutilated state. Thus we have four in- 

 stances of its being found in Britain ; and .should any doubt arise, a 

 reference to the persons named above would settle the matter. I 

 have seen the solitary snipe myself in Elsington Wood (the property 

 of the Earl of Orford). I saw the gray wagtail yesterday; it has 

 some yellow above the tail, not a yellow breast (I am not much of an 

 ornithologist, but I am pretty sure I am right), and it is not unfre- 

 quent here in winter and spring, and three sorts I saw formerly in 

 plenty in ploughed fields near Cambridge in spring, whilst being 

 ploughed. The Egyptian goose was shot last winter at West Staf- 

 ford, near Dorchester, and is now amongst a collection of aquatic birds 

 belonging to (my cousin) John Floyer, Esq. Merops apiaster (Bee- 

 eater), shot many years ago at Chidiock near Bridport, is in the 

 Museum there, belonging to the late Dr. Roberts, who suspected 

 that the bird had escaped from some cage. 



From the Dorset County Chronicle, Jan. 1st, 1835, is the follow- 

 ing : — " Phoca vitulina was taken off Portland, Dec. 29, 1834, in a 

 cod-net ; weight, 80 lbs. ; 3 feet 6 inches from snout to tail ; body, 

 26 inches in circumference ;" now in the museum of Mr. Bridge, 

 Surgeon, Weymouth. We have had lately about here rabbits of a 

 black slate colour and of a yellowish cast ; and in Yorkshire I saw a 

 white one, at large, but suspect some tame rabbit had escaped and 

 caused the mixture. I also saw some years ago a stuffed gray hare 

 in the possession of Mr. Goatley of Newbury, Berks. An eagle was 

 shot in Sherborne Park some years ago, and is in the possession of 

 the Earl of Digby. 



Circus cinerascens (Ash-coloured Harrier), shot near Charmouth 

 by C. Bartlett, Esq., on the authority of Dr. B. R. Morris ; also 

 a Hoopoe near Charmouth, spring of 1835, by Lord Bridport's 



