1 8 LOCAL OBSERVATION 



Note from " Aviary Record." 

 "January loM, 1894: Green woodpecker (Gecinus 

 viridis) * pulling out thatch from roof of schoolhouse, 

 Lilford (Edwards)." 



"December iTik, 1894. 

 " We have scarcely any hawfinches in our neighbour- 

 hood this summer, and I have heard of very few during 

 the autumn. Before 1870 we looked upon them as very 

 irregular, but occasionally abundant winter visitors ; now 

 they are sometimes extremely abundant breeders, and 

 scarce after the month of September." ^ 



"January 26th, 1895. 



" Three little auks, one of them captured by a cat, 

 were brought to me from this neighbourhood the day 

 before yesterday ; two were picked up in the county, and 

 one of them brought to me alive about October 13th ult., 

 and I heard of another found just over our frontier in 



Beds about the same time. G. L tells me of two in 



the New Forest on Monday last. Doctor H told 



me of the ' auk-storm ' on the Yorks coast. 



" The only other remarkable birds that I have heard 

 of as occurring recendy in Ithis neighbourhood are my 

 bimaculated duck, or drake, on our decoy, on 21st ult., 



1 To E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Esq. 



* The Green Woodpecker is less of a purely tree bird than our 

 other woodpeckers, often seeking its food (ants, etc.) on the ground. 

 This bird was probably looking for insects. 



