204 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



record. "It was a sweet carol," says an amiable and talented author, "which the Rhodian 

 children sang of old in spring, bearing in their hands, from door to door, a Swallow as herald 

 of the season. — 



The Swallow is come! 

 The Swallow is come ! 

 O fair are the seasons, and light 

 Are the days that she brings 

 With her dusky wings, 

 And her bosom snowy white." 

 — John Rose, M. D., R. N., Haslar Hospital, Gosport, April 8th., 1853. 



The Sivift, (Cypselus apus,) at Driffield. — I saw, this evening. May 19th., a Swift hawking for 

 flies, for the first time this year. Weather fine, bat cold. — B. R. M., Driffield, May 19th., 1853. 



Rare Birds near Plymouth. — I have met with the following rare birds, or at least they are 

 so with us, in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, in course of the past year. February, 1852, 

 Little Gull, ( Larus niinutus,) shot in Plymouth Souud. March, Wryneck, (Yimx torquilla,) 

 shot at Pennycoraequick. July, Puffin, (Fratercula arctica,) shot in the mouth of the River 

 Erme, a young bird: can any of the readers of "The Naturalist" inform me if the Puffin has been 

 known to breed on the southern coast of Devon? December 11th., Cinereous Shearwater, 

 (Puffinus cinereus;) a pair of these birds, male and female, were captured in the sound in an 

 exhausted state, by a couple of Trawl bo^s, of whom I purchased them alive the same 

 evening. March, 1853, Pintail, {Anas acuta,) shot on the Taraar, in company with the common 

 Mallard. April 21st., Hoopoe, {TJpupa epops,) alighted on a mackerel boat, between the Eddy- 

 stone and Plj-mouth breakwater, quite exhausted ; insomuch that he suffered himself to be taken 

 by the hand without attempting to escape. — J. Bankkr, Stonehouse, April 23rd., 1853. 



TJie Sparroio, (Passer domesticus.) — The chairmen at the stand in Queen's Square Bath, have 

 tamed a number of House Sparrows. Eight or ten of these birds will fly down off the 

 adjoining house-tops at a whistle; and come round them, catching in the air crumbs that they 

 throw them. Two, both male birds, will fly upon their hands, and take food out of their 

 mouth: they had never been in captivity. — J. Williamson, Jun., Sherborne, Dorset, Ai)ril 

 22nd., 1853. 



The IFheafear, (Saxicola cenanthe.) — March 29th., I noticed for the first time this year, a 

 pair of Wheatears at Lenthay. These birds are very scarce in this neighbourhood; I have not 

 seen any since I have been a resident here, before this occasion. — Idem. 



The Common Martin, (Hirundo urbica.) — April 2iid., a pair were flying over the river at the 

 same place. Wind S. W. ; the three previous days had been excessively cold. — Idem. 



Nesting of the Woodcock, (Scolopax rusticola.)— April 14th., I went over to Middlemarsh, 

 about eight miles off, to see the nest of a Woodcock, that I heard was in a cover belonging to 

 H. G. Sturt, Esq. I found the bird had forsaken the eggs after she had sat on them for a 

 week, in consequence of being repeatedly disturbed : I procured the eggs, four in number. The 

 nest, or rather the bare ground on which the eggs were laid, was in an exposed place in the 

 short cover. A similar thing occurred in the same neighbourhood seven years ago. — Idem. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe, (Upupa epops,) in Dorset. — I am informed by Mr. Henry Turner, 

 a surgeon in this town, that the nest of the Hoopoe was taken on three or four occasions by 

 the school-boys, from the pollard willows on the banks of the river at Lenthay, and that they 

 were known by the name of Hoops. He has seen a specimen in my collection, and is quite 

 certain he is not mistaken. The fact of a pair having been seen frequently last autumn at 

 Sotnell corner, would seem to give credit to his assertion. — Idem. 



I have in my collection a pair of Bohemian Chatterers, or Waxwings, [Bomhycilla garrula,) 

 and a Spotted Rail, {Orcx porzana.) They were shot in this neighbourhood, but I have been 

 unable to trace the exact time. — C. Stubbs, Henley-upon-Thames, Oxon, 



Crested Greb?, (Policeps cristatus,) and Red-necked Grebe, (Podiceps rubricollis.) — On the 

 27th, of November last a very fine specimen of the Crested Grebe was shot here; I had it 



