VOL. X.] NOTES. 45 



The Rev. A. C. Smith {Birds of Wiltshire, p. 412) said that 

 various people " assure me that they used to breed regularly 

 in certain districts on the Downs. Possibly they may do so 

 still." He then quotes the three writers mentioned above, 

 and adds, " I have no positive proof to bring forward, but see 

 no reason to doubt it." 



In the meantime (1883) Morres, in spite of his previous 

 assertion, wi'ote {Wilts. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Mag., Vol. XXI., 

 p. 223) : "I had often been told that these birds bred on the 

 Downs, and was promised some eggs, but when they were sent, 

 they turned out to be Stone-Curlews, as I had all along 

 suspected would he the case " (my italics). 



Now Morres's original statement appeared in the Zoologist, 

 and was therefore widely read, but as his recantation was 

 only published in a local journal, it was almost unnoticed — ■ 

 though it was just quoted by Mr. Hai-tmg in the course of his 

 review of Smith's book {Zoologist 1888, p. 118). At all events, 

 this recantation must have escaped the notice of Howard 

 Samiders, for he repeated his statement in the Manual, 2nd 

 edition (p. 127) and has been copied by all subsequent writers. 

 Mr. Eagle Clarke has kindly looked up Saimders's notes for 

 me and finds that the passage stands just as it is in the 

 Manual, and therefore I think we may conclude that he got 

 his information from the sources mentioned. Needless to say, 

 I shall be very glad if I am shown to be wi-ong and the Curlew 

 is proved to nest in the county. 



II. The Black Grouse. 



The Black Grouse {Lyrurus t. hritannicus) is another bird 

 which is popularly supposed to be a resident in Wiltshire. 

 This error can also be traced to Howard Samiders, but I have 

 been miable to discover on what evidence his statement was 

 based. 



In 1884 Howard Saunders wrote (4th edition Yarrell, III., 

 p. 62) : " They are foimd, although sparingly, in Wiltshire." 

 Writing in 1887 the Rev. A. C. Smith {Binls of Wiltshire, 

 p. 327) quoted this statement and added : " I am afraid, 

 however, that we can only lay claim to the visit of a very 

 rare and accidental straggler, seen from time to time after 

 an interval of many years." He recorded a male and female, 

 obtained in 1818 and 1819 respectively, which were suj)posed 

 at the time to be the last native birds of this species in the 

 county, and remarked that all later records (of which he only 

 gave three — in 1866 and 1880) had straggled over from the 

 New Forest. 



