MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 99 



of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker may have been described, which are 

 white and very like those of the Wryneck, instead of those of the 

 Nuthatch. — John Porter, Jun., No 8, East Street, Lewes. 



Occurrence of the Alpine Accentor, near Lewes. — On the 26th. of December 

 last, I obtained two specimens of the above rarity, which were shot on 

 the Downs near here. — Idem. 



The Water-rail. — Whilst out hunting on Saturday the 12th., I saw the 

 following: — The hounds in trying a thick thorn cover at Walkeringham, 

 in Nottinghamshire, disturbed a Water-rail. It flew a considerable distance, 

 and settled on a thorn by the side of the cover. It suffered a farmer, who 

 was out on horseback, to ride up and cut it down with his whip. It was 

 a fine specimen, but lighter on the back than those I have usually seen. 

 — 0. Anderson, Lea, near Gainsbro', February 13th., 1858. 



A Colony of Sand Martins in a Town. — Although we cannot see the 

 process of incubation, yet there is no lovelier sight in the nidification of 

 our British birds than that of a colony of Sand Martins, whether we 

 consider the confidence which this bird reposes in man, its perilous voyaging, 

 (demandant pardon, Baron Humboldt, etc.,) its evident utility in the economy 

 of Nature, its butterfly-like flight and low twitterings, which, like other 

 aerial songsters, are mute on the ground, as if, as the falconer in Walton's 

 Angler has it, it were "sad to think it must descend to the dull earth, 

 which it would not touch but from necessity." Not the least interesting 

 of these points in its history is the freedom with which it sometimes builds 

 in the vicinity of dwellings, and even busy streets. One of the most re- 

 markable instances of this occurred last summer in this town. In the softer 

 sandstone overlying the rock, laid bare by a cutting in the west end of 

 the town, there have been more than a hundred nests, and, to judge from 

 the numbers of birds haunting the spot, perhaps little short of six hundred 

 Sand Martins were reared in them. This colony is surrounded by paved 

 streets, and a nunnery and a large chapel are in immediate contiguity. 

 There is no water near. From this interesting occurrence it appears that 

 this bird is not of that solitary habit that some have supposed, but that, 

 provided the situation be favourable, it matters nothing whether the nest 

 be "remote from towns" or "in populous city pent." I should observe 

 that many of the holes have been filled up and obliterated by the action 

 of the weather. — Henry Payne, M.D., Nottingham, October 26th., 1857. 



The Rev. F. 0. Morris will be very much obliged to any of his readers 

 who will send him, this spring, some larvae or chrysalides of Atalanta, Gardui, 

 Fimbria, Polychloros, Monacha, and, if possible, Pieris crategi; the two last- 

 named to introduce into his neighbourhood. — March 2nd., 1858. 



