116 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



since a beautiful Goshawk was shot within half a mile of the same place. 

 The Falcon was presented to me, and has been preserved. — M. C. Cooke, 

 Trinity Church Schools, Carlisle Street, Lambeth, January 26th., 1856. 



The Great Bustard, (Otis tarda.) — A female of this species was shot in 

 a turnip field, near Lee's Hill, Kingswater, near Brampton, on the 8th. 

 of March, 1854. — T. Armstrong, 10, Barwis Court, English Street, Carlisle. 



Common Bittern, (Botaurus stellaris.) — A fine specimen of this bird was 

 shot on Todhill's moss, four miles from Carlisle, by the gamekeeper of 

 G. G. Mouusey, Esq., on the 6th. of January, 1856. — Idem. 



The Eider Duck, (Anas moUissima.) — A female bird was shot on the 

 15th. of November, 1855, close to Hest Bank Station, and is now in my 

 possession; it was shot on the break -water in Morecombe Bay. — Idem. 



The Spotted Crake, (Crex porzana.) — One old bird and two young ones 

 were shot on the 7th. of September, on Monk-hill Lough, one of which 

 fell into my hands. — Idem. 



Common Scoter, (Anas nigra.) — A male of this species was shot on the 

 23rd. of February, 1856, at Port Carlisle. — Idem. 



Two or three parties in our neighbourhood have caught the Common 

 Crossbill, and who have it in confinement, and find it very tractable; they 

 feed directly, and will drink out of a cup like a bird that has been years 

 in the cage. One party opens the cage door and lets the bird out; it climbs 

 about the outside of the cage, similar to a Parrot. — Idem. 



Scarcity of Birds about Richmond. — Seldom has a winter past with fewer 

 records of rare feathered visitors; even the Lesser Redpoles, and other small 

 birds, which are during the dead months usually to be seen in this neighbour- 

 hood in large flocks, are totally wanting; neither do the Yellow Buntings 

 and Chaffinches congregate in such numbers as usual. I have generally been 

 able to record some of the rarer of the Anatidee having been taken or killed 

 here in the months of December or January, but this year I am unable to do 

 so, for, with the exception of a Golden Eye, seen on the Swale in the latter 

 end of November, no mention whatever of Ducks has reached me. A small 

 flock of Crossbills were seen last week a few miles above Richmond; and 

 a pair, male and female, were killed. I quite agree with you in considering 

 that Haws are this year unusually numerous, and also much brighter in colour 

 than usual. I made the same remark with regard to the berries of the holly. 

 — Henry Smurthwaite, Richmond, Yorkshire, February 3rd., 1856. 



The Myrtle Bee. — In the April number of the fifth volume of '"'The 

 Naturalist," a paper under the above title appeared from my pen, the 

 result of a communication made to the "Notes and Queries" on the sub- 



