250 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



and insects so easily procimible; and he would^ without difficulty, at least be 

 able to fill up the spaces in his cabinet by exotic specimens of the rarest 

 British insects. 



Stamford Hill, June, 1852. 



BlisttllnErniis llntirts. 



In December last I killed a Rabbit, with apparently only three logs, but on closer inspection 

 I discovered a perfect foot with unusually long claws, hanging about an inch from the shoulder; 

 the other leg was particularly muscular. Ho ran quite as fast as his four-legged brethren, and 

 was killed very near this place. — J. Williamson, Jun., Sherborne, Dorset, August 17th., 18^32. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe, (Upupa Epops,) May 4th., 1852. — A fine specimen was killed near 

 Lyme, Dorset, and presented to my father by a gentleman residing in this town ; unfortunately 

 he was on a visit to Cambridge when it arrived, and on his return, it was too far gone to 

 be set up well. — Idem, 



Cirl Bunting, (Embcriza cirlus,) August 2nd., 18o2. — As I was driving early in the morning 

 to Wincanton, I was attracted by the note of a bird that I did not recognise, in a plantation 

 about four miles from here; looking about I discovered a fine male Cirl Bunting, on the top 

 of a fir tree. On the following day I walked out and succeeded in killing it, but could not 

 find any more. In a letter from R. A. Julian, Esq., Laira House, dated July 20th. he mentioned 

 having heard three singing, and kindly promised to try and procure me one. — Idem. 



June 1.5th., 1852. — The nest and eggs of the Re«l Warbler were brought me this day, taken 

 in a little osier bed, about two miles off. A pair of these birds have frequented the same spot 

 for several years ; last year their nest was robbed four times, and this year I regret to say three 

 times; on each occasion they have built a new one a few yards from the former site. — Idem. 



Nesting of the Nuthatch, (Sitta Europsea.) — Whilst walking through a wood in this neighbour- 

 hood on the 18th. of April last, I saw a pair of these birds building. They had fi.Ked upon a 

 hole in an ash tree, about twenty feet from the gi'ound, and were contracting it with a 

 plastering of mud, for which they flew to a small pool about fifty yards distant from the tree, 

 and took pieces in their beaks about as big as a bean, which they laid on, and smoothed with 

 their chin. Sometimes one of them would go inside and remain for a short time, I suppose 

 for the purpose of smoothing the mud there. Tlioy would every now and then leave off from 

 their task, and chase one another up the trunk and round the branches of the tree with amazing 

 rapidity, uttering all the while their flute-like whistle. They both seemed to take an equal 

 share of the labour; and had, like the House Martin, small pieces of straw mixed with the 

 mud, for the purpose of making it bind better. Tlioy seemed to be quite at ease on the ground, 

 and hopped about much after the same manner as the SpaiTOW. The male bird was easily 

 distinguishable by his brighter plumage. — C. Stubbs, Henley-upon-Thames, April 6th., 1852. 



Roohery Deserted. — In a small wood near to Moore Hall, Cheshire, the residence of Afrs. 

 Heron, a colony of Rooks has been in existence for upwards of thirty years, but is now apparently 

 entirely deserted. In the present year, about the usual time of those birds returning to their 

 annual breeding localities, the wood in question was visited by two pairs of the Carrion, or Bluck- 

 l)illed Crows, as they are sometimes called. There did not appear, in the present instance, to 

 be any extraordinary resistance on the part of the Rooks, to retain possession, although in the 

 spring of former years, I am informed, that when a single Crow has alighted 'near the nests, 

 he has been made to quit the place instantly. I am told also, by those who have been on the 

 spot, that at the commencement of the present year, if the voice only of a single Crow has 

 been heard at the distance of several hundred yards, the Rooks however numerous, have fled 

 from their nests in the greatest consternation. To aid the rightful owners, a price was set 

 upon the heads of the intruders, which resulted in one of the four being killed, and although 

 attentively watched morning and evening for some time, still the object of driving the legitimate 

 settlers was completed by their determined aggressors. Dispossessed of their old quarters, the 

 foundation of another colony was commenced by the Rooks, in some fine Elms in an adjoining 



