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MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



"See the leaves around us falling 

 Dry and withered to the ground; 

 Thus to thoughtless mortals calling, 

 In a sad and solemn sound: — 



Sons of Adam, (once in Eden, 

 Where, like us, he blighted fell,) 



Hear the lesson we are reading, 

 Mark the awful truth we tell. 



Youth on length of days presuming, 

 Who the paths of pleasure tread, 



View us late in beauty blooming 

 Number' d now among the dead. 



What though yet no losses grieve you, 

 Gay with health and many a grace; 



Let not cloudless skies deceive j'ou, 

 Summer gives to autumn place. 



Yearly in our course returning. 



Messengers of shortest stay, 

 Thus we preach this truth concerning, 



Heaven and earth shall pass away. 



On the tree of life eternal 

 Oh, let all our hopes be laid! 



This alone, for ever vernal. 



Bears a leaf that shall not fade." 



Haslar Hospital, Gosport, November loth., 1853. 



3JImllniirati5 Sntirrs. 



A Black Hare, (Lepus timidus.) — I saw to-day, in the hands of a bird and animal preserver 

 in this town, a Black Hare, which was killed (coursed) at Enville, the seat of the Earl of 

 Stamford, and was intended to be preserved for his Lordship's collection. Black wild Babbits 

 jure by no means uncommon, and I examined the specimen in question minutely, but could 

 not detect any symptom of a cross. — H. Saunders, Elderfield, near Kidderminster, November 

 5th., 1853. 



Occurrence of the Honey and Rough-legged Buzzards, (Pemis apivorus and Buteo lagopus,) in 

 Banffshire. — I had sent me the other week from Gardensto\vn, near to which plase it was shot, 

 a most splendid specimen of the Honey Buzzard, or Bee-Hawk; it is a female, and in excellent 

 plumage. I had also sent me yesterday from Troglen, the seat of Sir Eobert Abercromby, of 

 Birkenbay, a pretty Eough-legged Buzzard; it is a very large bird, and also a female: these 

 birds are rare with us. — Thomas Edward, High-Street, Banff, November 11th., 1853. 



Tlie Merlin, (Falco ajsalcn,) near Banff. — I shot a beautiful male specimen of the Merlin on 

 the 15th. of August, on the farm of the Mill of Boyndie, near Banff: it is a rare bird so far 

 north.— George Donaldson, Mill of Boyndie, near Banff, September, 1853. 



The Blackstart, (Sylvia tithys,) near Chichester. — Being a subscriber to "The Naturalist," I 

 take the liberty of writing to inform you that I have purchased a female Blackstart, which was 

 shot by a man of the name of Richard George, this day. I send you this information, as it 

 is of rare occm-rence near Chichester, and I think it is rather early for its appearance in 

 England. — G. Jackson, Chichester, October 25th., 1853. 



Variety of the Rook, (Corvus frugilegus.) — Last spring I shot ;i young Rook with a white 

 spot on the throat, and the middle claw of each foot was pure white, whilst the others were 

 of the natural black colour. — W. S. M. D' Urban, Newport, near Exeter, November I2th., 1853. 



Occurrence of the Pied Flycatcher, (Muscicapa atricapilla,) in Devon, and the Black Redstart, 

 (Sylvia tithys,) in Somersetshire. — On the 23rd. of August I saw killed by Mr. James Dodd, 

 in his garden at Plymouth, a specimen of that rare bird in Devon the Pied Flycatcher; its 

 habits were very similar to those of the common species, (Muscicapa grisola.) I also observed 

 on the 2nd. of the present month, near the village of North Petherton, Somerset, and about 

 twelve miles from the Bristol Channel, a Black Redstart flitting about on the roof and chimneys 

 of a cottage; the weather had been very boisterous during the previous night. — John Gatcombe, 

 Wyndham Place, Plymouth, November 14th., 1853. 



Malformation in the Bill of a Starling, (Stumus vulgaris.) — I have the head of a Starling 

 shot on this town moor, the lower mandible of which is five-eighths of an inch longer than 

 the upper; is not this rather extraordinary? the upper portion of the bill is of the usual size 

 and length : this bird was in remarkably fine plumage when shot last Monday. — George Hodge, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, September 17th., 1853. 



