198 UNITY OF SYSTEM. 



A Honey Buzzard shot in a neighbouring village last autumn, and a 

 Ring Ouzel this spring. 



In the summer of 1855, some Crossbills frequented a row of poplar trees 

 in this village, feeding upon the larva in the tuberous swellings so common 

 on the leaves of this tree. The Waxwing, Hawfinch, Hoopoe, and Red- 

 necked Grebe have been seen or procured near Ackworth during the last 

 few years. 



Some years ago, a gamekeeper slightly wounded a Bittern ; upon approaching 

 it, it erected the long plumage on its neck, so that it resembled a huge 

 fan, half expanded its wings, and eyeing the man full in the face, turned 

 round at all his movements, still presenting a bold front on all sides. The 

 dog was the first to begin the attack, and soon retired with a wounded 

 eye. It was only by using his coat as a protection that the keeper secured 

 his bird. Taking it to his cottage alive, he released it in the kitchen. 

 Instantly the Bittern resumed the defensive, and with erected plumage, and 

 eye flashing incessantly from bright yellow to dark brown, it drove every 

 one from the room, and then stalked majestically to and fro. I have 

 frequently seen this poor fellow since he was stuffed by Mr. Reid, of 

 Doncaster. 



The same keeper once wounded a Heron, and proceeding carelessly to 

 pick it up, the bird seized him ingloriously by the nose, the sharp, serrated 

 mandible lacerating that member severely. A friend of mine was once struck 

 close below his eye by a dying Heron. In its stomach were forty fishes, 

 besides others that were too far digested to admit of computation. 



A recent correspondent remarks upon the Red-backed Shrike destroying 

 the young of other birds: — Last summer a gamekeeper took one alive in 

 a trap, containing a brood of young Thrushes, and set with the intention 

 of catching the parent birds. The Shrike had eaten the heads of the young 

 Thrushes. I saw it stuffed, so there can be no mistake about its identity. 



A pair of Shrikes built in the garden of a friend in Essex, who tells 

 me he once found a field-mouse impaled on a thorn near the nest, and very 

 carefully skinned, the skin being drawn over its head. I have several 

 times shot these birds in the south. 



Ackworth, Yorkshire, June 10th. } 1857. 



ON UNITY OP SYSTEM. 



(Continued from page 1-50.) 



Mankind, as it appears, then lived together in one region of the earth, 

 and modern researches help to illustrate the event of the deluge by the 

 observations made on a recently-drained inland sea, as large as the Medi- 



