156 Short Communications : — 



from an individual " taken on the coast, near Bamborough 

 Castle, Northumberland ; " and adds that " Col. Montagu 

 mentions that a pair of hoopoes began a nest in Hampshire ; 

 and Dr. Latham records that a young hoopoe was shot in 

 the month of June. The species is abundantly met with in 

 the south of Europe; it also occurs in Holland, Germany, 

 Denmark, and Sweden. In the winter it retires to Asia and 

 Africa, where it is also a permanent resident." Mr. Blyth 

 has recorded, in the Field Natu?'alist for January, ii. 53., that 

 in the summer of 1833 a pair of hoopoes frequented a garden 

 in the neighbourhood of Tooting, Surrey. — J. Z).] 



The Fern Owl, its time of Migration. (V. 674.) — The fol- 

 lowing is an extract from a letter from my brother (H. T. 

 Clarke, VI. 9 4'.) to a relative, dated Kronstadt, 27th June, 



1833, English style: — " Tell W that whilst we were in 



the North Sea" (the date must have been 9th or 10th June), 

 *' two fern owls settled on the main-topmast-stay, the only 

 instance I have ever heard of these birds settling on a vessel. 

 I shot one ; its crop was empty, and it appeared quite ex- 

 hausted : the other got away. If I were at home, I would 

 tell Mr. Loudon about it : he can do as he likes. They were 

 most likely on their way from Norway to Lincolnshire, as we 

 were then about 120 miles abreast of that county." I have 

 followed my directions in communicating the above, as it will 

 satisfy a correspondent in V. 674. ; but I regret that the tra- 

 veller should have so cruelly divorced the poor birds. — 

 W. B. Clarke. Stanley Green, near Poole, Aug. 24. 1833. 



One of the Habitats of the Fern Owl, or Night Jar, is a 

 plantation at Paradise, in Broad Clist, Devonshire, ten miles 

 from Exeter, the property of Sir Thomas Acland. The 

 clutter made by these birds during the night is occasionally 

 heard at an almost incredible distance. I have this on the 

 authority of a friend, the Rev. C. R. Roper, M.A., of Mount 

 Radford, Exeter. — W. B. Clarke. Sept. 12. 1833. 



[In Water ton's Wanderings in South A7nerica will be found 

 a delectable description of the night cries of the various 

 species of goatsucker, or fern owl, which inhabit the wilds of 

 Demerara.] 



The Flaiifnch, and its Nest and Eggs, in Britain. — In 

 addition to the instances indicated in VI. 520, 521., VII. 53., 

 T. F. R.'s detailed description, in II. 404., of the unusual 

 nest and eggs which had been taken in a hedge of elms, in 

 July, by a boy in Essex, proves clearly that they were the 

 nest and eggs of the hawfinch. T. F.'s description, in I. 

 374, 375., of the nest and eggs of the hawfinch is very accu- 

 rate : they, with the old female bird, had been taken in Kent. 

 — J. D. Salmon, Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, Dec, 28. 1833. 



