MISCELLANY. 329 



supposed to proceed from the Jack -daw, without being able'to observe any differ- 

 ence in the size of the birds overhead. — W. C. Hewitson, Bristol, Oct. 10, 1836, 

 in the Analyst, No. xx., July, 1837. 



Situation of the Nest of the Swallow (Hirundo rustida.) — The places 

 selected for nidification by the Swallow are very various. It is no unusual cir- 

 cumstance to find the nest of this bird placed under the wooden 'bridges?which 

 commonly communicate from the drainage mills to the river in the fens. I have 

 repeatedly found it in such situations. I once saw one in the cavity of a hollow 

 tree. Out-houses, stables, &c. &c, are very general situations, and in such places 

 whenever you approach very near the nest, or even only occasionally enter the 

 building, the old birds are extremely vociferous. Still I never saw them assume a 

 menacing attitude as described in your interesting communication see (p. 273, 

 No. XI). This is a new feature in their economy. — J. D. Salmon, Thetford, 

 Norfolk; July 11, 1837. 



An Osprey (Falco llaliaitus) taken near Flamborough. — An adult male 

 of this species once alighted in an exhausted state upon the rigging of a small 

 vessel passing Flamborough Head. It was brought to Scarborough, and pre- 

 sented to the Museum of that town by John Tindall, Esq. — Patrick Hawk- 

 ridge, Scarborough, Aug. 7, 1837. 



Instances of the Capture of the Red-footed Falcon (Falco rufipes) in 

 the British^Islands. — Since my notice of the four specimens killed in Norfolk, 

 in 1830, which I believe is the first record of the occurrence of this species in 

 England, a fifth example has been shot in the same county, in 1832. Two spe- 

 cimens have been obtained in Yorkshire, and one in the county of Durham. An 

 adult female specimen lived two years in the menagerie of the Zoological Society. 

 A specimen is preserved in a museum at Devonport, which was obtained not far 

 off ; and Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, has recorded a notice of one that was killed 

 in the county of Wicklow in the summer of 1832. — Yarrell's British Birds,]*. 45. 



Swarm of Flies. — On Monday evening a singular circumstance took place 

 at Redruth. At about seven o'clock the main street of that town was visited 

 by a shower of small yellow flies*, which fell so thick as to cause great annoy- 

 ance to persons walking at the time. They bit or stung severely the faces or 

 hands of those on whom they alighted. It is rather singular that the insects 

 confined their movements to the High-street alone. — Plymouth Journal, July {?), 



1837. 



The above account differs materially in many points from the plague of flies so 

 prevalent, in the north at least, last year. Query, were they the Turnip fly ? — 



*"Fly" is a yet more comprehensive term in Entomology than " Sparrow" in the sister sciencs 

 of Ornithology !— Ed. 



