150 Short Communications : — 



has, it will confirm my opinion; if they have, what Dr. 

 Fleming says of it is erroneous. How odd it is for us not to 

 know whether so conspicuous a bird be a summer or winter 

 visitant, or a resident here ! I should particularly value the 

 opinion and observations of one whom I admire, as the author 

 of the Wanderings in America. — E. Doubleday. Epping, 

 Sept. 29. 



Locality for the Kingfisher. — One of the habitats of this 

 bird is Cauford, Dorset, on the banks of the Stour, where it 

 may be frequently seen in the autumn, — W. B. Clarke. Park- 

 stone, Feb. 4. 1833. 



The Rose-coloured Ouzel, the Hoopoe, and the Great Bus- 

 tard, in Suffolk, i?i 1832. — A rose-coloured ouzel (Pastor 

 roseus Tern.), was shot in a garden at Woodbridge, in this 

 country, during the month of July ; and two hoopoes ( t^pupa 

 J^pops L.) were killed near Harwich about the middle of 

 September. A nest of the great bustard (OYis tarda L.) was 

 discovered this season on an extensive warren, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Thetford : the female, I have much pleasure in 

 stating, took her young off in safety ; and on the same heath 

 a male bird and two females have been seen together very 

 recently. —J. D. Hoy. Stoke Nayland, Suffolk, Nov. 20. 1 832. 



I have previously heard of the greater bustard's occasion- 

 ally breeding in corn fields at Icklingham, Suffolk, on an 



estate belonging to some one branch of the family of 



Gwilt, Esq., of that place. I believe there is a good stuffed 

 specimen of a greater bustard in the collection of George 

 Creed, Esq., surgeon, Bury St. Edmunds; but I know not 

 of which sex, nor from what locality obtained. — J. D. 



The Short-eared Owl (Strix brachybtus Lath.) breeds in the 

 County of Norfolk. — This bird has, I believe, been long known 

 to breed sparingly in the north of Scotland and its islands ; 

 and the northern counties of England have been considered 

 the most southern limit of its summer residence. I am ac- 

 quainted with two localities in the south-western part of 

 Norfolk where pairs of it breed ; and I have known several 

 instances of their eggs and young being found. One situation 

 is on a dry heathy soil, the nest placed on the ground amongst 

 high heath ; the other in low fenny ground, among sedge and 

 rushes : two species of the falcon family, the harrier hawk 

 and moor buzzard, breed in the same fen. A friend of mine 

 procured some eggs from the latter situation during the last 

 summer. The short-eared owl is pretty common in many 

 parts of Norfolk during the autumn and winter, the great ma- 

 jority of them retiring northwards in the spring, only leaving 

 a few scattered pairs to breed in this district. 



