34 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



returned it to the nest, consigning it to its fate; however on walking down 

 the side of the hill, towards a marshy spot at the foot of it, I saw a I^apwing 

 running before me, and thinking this might be one of the birds belon^ng 

 to the nest, I walked quietly towards her, as I believed it was the female. She 

 continued running until I got within twenty yards, then dropping from under 

 her wing an egg, she ran a few yards farther, then rose. On picking up this 

 egg, I found the head and one of the legs of the bird protruding, and when 

 entirely freed from the shell, it attempted to walk. Where I got the second 

 egg Avas fully two hundred yards from the nest, so that the mother must 

 have been carrying it from the nest, down to the marsh, and no doubt intended 

 to return for the one she had left. — D. 31. Falconer, Loanliead, Novemher 

 18th., 1851. 



Hen Harrier, Peregrine, and Buzzard, at Falmouth. — The Circus cyaneus 

 was shot in the neighbourhood, August, 1851: in the possession of Mr. N, 

 Tresidder. The Falco peregrinus, (male,) was shot in the neighbourhood, 

 September 28th., 1851: in the possession of Mr. Chapman. The JButeo vulgaris 

 was shot in Mylor parish, November 1st., 1851, by a sailor: in the possession 

 of Mr, Chapman. — W. P. Cocks, Novemher 7th., 1851, 



Early disappearance of Swallows. — On the morning of the 2nd. inst., my 

 attention was arrested by the aasemblage of a large number of House Martins 

 round a lofty factory chimney; a little distance from the spot Swallows were 

 also assembled around the steeple of a church. I immediately recognised the 

 intent of the meeting to be that of preparation for their voyage to warmer 

 regions of the globe. I visited the place on the 5th., but found them all 

 disappeared; I have seen several Swallows since, but not one House Martin. 

 It seems rather singular to me why they should leave this neighbourhood 

 sooner than any other, for on the 7th., in a town a few miles from here, I 

 observed them flying about very actively, without the least symptom of being 

 prepared for migrating. — P. B w, Stockport, September 18th., 1851. 



To the list of Heronries recorded by Mr. J. Mc'Intosh, ("The Naturalist," 

 vol, i. page 60,) I may add one that came under my own observation some 

 years ago. It is situated on a small island, in the ornamental piece of 

 water, at Beanwood — the country seat of the Marquis of Landsdown, about 

 seven miles from Melksham, in Wiltshire, where I then resided. The island 

 is separated from the park by about ten or a dozen yards. The Heronry 

 consisted, if I remember rightly, of about a dozen or twenty nests, and the 

 trees, contrary to custom I believe, are very low. I never had the pleasure 

 of seeing this little community but once, and that was during the breeding 

 season. Three unfledged young ones in one of the nests might be plainly 

 seen through an opening in the trees, and the croaking of them and others 

 was incessant. To this I may add that I believe one or two pairs occasion- 

 ally breed in the woods round Hemsworth dam, a few miles from Pontefract, 



