52 Short Commitnications : — 



this season : the barometer rose slightly. On the following 

 morning, at nine o'clock, the northern hemisphere of the sky 

 was studded with the mottled cirrostratus ; the wind was brisk 

 from the west, but tending to the south ; the pressure of 

 the air 30*096; the temperature 41*9°, being 7"2° lo*isoer than 

 the preceding morning at the same hour. The temperature 

 remained low the whole day, the sky wild, and the wind 

 increasing until the evening, when it blew strong from the 

 south-west in gusts, and was accompanied with showers of 

 rain, the temperature increasing considerably. At nine a. m. 

 the following morning the thermometer stood at 58*8°, being 

 16*9° higher than the preceding morning: the barometer 

 showed 29*417, being a fall of '679, or rather more than half 

 an inch. The early part of the day was bright, with a fresh 

 breeze from the south-west : at two p. M. it became overcast, 

 and a heavy shower of rain fell : at night it blew strong from 

 the south-west, accompanied with showers of rain, and once of 

 hail. On the 15th, at nine a.m., the temperature was 46*1°, 

 a decrease of 12*7° from the preceding morning: the baro- 

 meter 29*132, and ultimately sinking to 29*118. These 

 great and sudden differences in temperature are very uncom- 

 mon at this time of the year, and actually greater than many 

 of the same parallel hours in June and January of the present 

 year, as I have found by referring to my own observations. 

 Hull, Oct. 18. 1833. 



Art. XII. Short Communications, 



Birds. — A Notice of some rare Species of Birds observed or 

 Jcilled in the County of Suffolk, and adjoining Borders of Essex, 

 during the Winter Months of 1 8S2 and 1833. [% J. D, Hoy, 

 Esq., of Stoke Nayland^ Suffolk.'] 



Two Eagles of the cinereous or white-tailed Species (Falco 

 Mhicilla), but in the plumage of the sea eagle (F. Ossifragus), 

 were, in December, 1832, trapped on a large rabbit-warren, 

 near Thetford [and, it may be assumed, from Mr. Hoy's 

 heading, on the Suffolk side of this town, which itself is just 

 within the boundary of the county of Norfolk]. They had 

 been observed for some time in the neighbourhood. One of 

 the eagles carried a heavy trap a considerable distance, I 

 believe, nearly half a mile, and was secured with some diffi- 

 culty. One was apparently in its first year's plumage : the 

 other, from its lighter-coloured feathers, and the tail-feathers 

 possessing much more white, was probably a year older. They 

 were both presented to me by G. Gardiner, Esq., of Thetford. 



