88 Extracis from Correspondence, Announcements, 5fc. 



XII. — Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Announcements, ^c. 

 We have received the following letters : — 



To the Editor of ' The Ibis.' 



5 Peel Terrace, Brighton, Nov. 16th, 1861. 



Sir, — November might be called the Ornithologist's month, 

 at least on the South Coast; in it nearly all the rare birds have 

 been found which have come under my observation. 



On Friday (15th) two fine specimens of the Shore-Lark {Alauda 

 alpestris) were taken by a bird-catcher at llottingdean, near 

 Brighton, in clap nets. The decoy birds used were common larks 

 [A. arvensis), for which he first mistook these rare Northern 

 wanderers. 1 saw the man who caught them ; he said there were 

 five, and on the following morning in the same place he took a 

 third ; therefore two more remain to be accounted for on some 

 other part of the coast. I suppose these arrivals had something 

 to cause them of an unusual kind, perhaps the late severe gales, 

 though all three birds were very fat and healthy, with no appear- 

 ance of privation. The two first were cocks in good plumage, 

 $trong, had crests particularly fine, and showed the elongated 

 feathers (black, and pointed over the eye) well developed. I had 

 them all out and examined them minutely, during which they 

 pecked my fingers to the best of their ability. The black tail- 

 feathers were rich, but the gorget (rather narrow when the bird 

 looks down) not what I expected to find from the various plates 

 I consulted ; it is more seen, however, when the head is held back. 



I have never had the good fortune on any previous occasion 

 to handle three living British examples of the Shore-Lark at one 

 time. Two of them have been placed by Mr Swaysland, Queen's 

 Road, Brighton, in his aviary, and may there be seen ; the third 

 he proposes to stuff". I shall avail myself of the opportunity 

 to observe the habits of A. alpestris. The cry is like a Snow 

 Bunting's, or that of the chick of the domestic fowl ; and they 

 keep to the rock placed in the aviary, rather than descend among 

 the shrubs below, seem restless in their habits, and in appearance 

 remind one of the Emberizince. I inspected these birds within 

 a few hours of their capture, and was present when the man 



