32 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



the road: — Pohjpodium vidgare, P. pheyopteris, Lastrea dilatata, L. spinu- 

 losa, L. oreopteris, Athyrium filix-fcemina, Pteris aquilina, Blechnum boreale, 

 Asplenium adiantum-nigmm, and A. trichomanes. We arrived at our lodg- 

 ings a little after sunset, all dry and comfortable, and ready again for 

 another inea 1 of which we partook most heartily. 



(To be continued.) 



Grey Phalarope. — A very fine male specimen of this bird was shot this 

 week in a neighbouring parish, about sixteen miles from the Solway. — W. 

 G. Gibson, 75, High-Street, Dumfries, December 17th., 1856. 



Ringtail Harrier, (Falco pygargus.) — A female was shot in the act of 

 devouring a Partridge, at Foulmire, Cambridgeshire, November 29th., 1856. 

 — S. P. Savill, 13, Regent- Street, Cambridge, December 10th., 1856. 



Merlin, (Falco sesalon.) — One of these birds, an adult female, was shot 

 at Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire, November 19th., 1866. Another, an 

 immature male, at Green End, near St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, December 

 3rd., 1856. — Idem. 



Little Auk, (Alca alle.) — On Thursday last, November 13th., a boy at 

 Little Shelford, four miles distant from Cambridge, picked up, in an ex- 

 hausted state, a good specimen of this bird. After a short time it seemed 

 completely revived, and, when put into a tub of water, it was quite at 

 home, and seemed much refreshed by its bath. — C. Th urn all, Newton, 

 near Cambridge, November 15th., 1856. 



Little Auk, (Alca alle.)-— -I have just discovered one of these birds lying 

 dead on the surface of our river, forty or fifty miles from the sea. We 

 have also had the Rose-coloured Starling and Hoopoe shot close to us. — 

 C. Smooth v, Jun., Great Abington, Cambridgeshire, November 22nd., 1856. 



Little Grebe, (Podiceps minor.) — A fine specimen of this bird, in the 

 winter plumage, was shot while swimming in a pond near South Shields, 

 on November 19th., 1856; it is now in my possession.f — W. Yellowby, 

 South Shields, November 26th., 1856. 



Scarcity of Birds in Hard Weather. — This subject was treated upon in 

 "The Naturalist" last year, or, indeed, I believe, strictly speaking, two 

 winters ago; for we have been visited so unusually early with a severe 



* This bird is the female of the Hen Harrier. — F. 0. M. 

 f It is a common bird everywhere. — F. 0, M. 



