lu a few years the sight of one of the larger buds of prey, which used to 

 be such an ornament to our landscapes, will be as unexpected a pleasuie as the 

 discovery of a Dodo or a Megatherium. However, they are not all quite gone 

 yet; a few years since a male Honey Buzzard (Falco apivorus) was killed 

 in the neighbourhood of Ross, and within a few days of the occurrence a female 

 was shot from her nest in Newent wood, not improbably the mate of the former 

 victim. The nest contained three egg^, two of which, together with the parent 

 bird, are in the possession of Mr. Skyrme, of Eoss, and the other is here 

 exhibited side by side with that of the Common Buzzard (Falco huteo). 



The Hen Harrier (Falco cyaneus) is occasionally seen on the wooded banks 

 of the "Wye ; one was shot sometime since in the parish of Bridstow in this 

 county. 



The Tawny Owl (Strix stridula) is still abundant throughout the county, 

 and the Barn Owl (Slrix ftammea) is pretty numerous. We may mention that 

 we once found a Starling's nest and twice the nest of the Blue Tit in the same 

 hollow tree with, and in close proximity to, the young family of the tawny owl, an 

 awful situation one would imagine for the little Tit to have selected, where he 

 <»uld daily look down on the headless carcases of a number of small birds, includ- 

 ing very probably some of his own species, storing the Owl's larder, but Tommy is 

 probably not given to moonlight expeditions, and the big owl can make nothing of 

 the small chink in wliich his pert little neighbour resides. 



Besides our common Kedbaoked Shrikes (Lanius collurio), the Great Gray 

 Butcher Bird (Lanius excuhitor) pays us now and then a passing call, and we 

 have ourselves met with a small flock of these birds in winter time on the Black 

 Mountain. 



A few words on the MeruUdse. The Dipper or Water Ousel (Cinclut 

 aquaticns) is plentiful enoiigh in the western and northern portions of Hereford- 

 shire, and the Ring Ousel (Tardus Torquatus) tolerably abundant on the Mon- 

 mouthshire and Shropshire BUUs and in the parish of Ewias Harold in Hereford- 

 shire. We have found their nests as frequently on the ground, amongst the 

 heather, as on a rock or in a bush — all the other birds of this family seem to take 

 it into their heads occasionally to desert their usual bush-loving habits and to 

 build upon the ground. Last year we found a Missel Thrush's (Turdus viscivorus) 

 nest, on which the female was sitting, placed on the ground on the top of a bare 

 mass of stone, and i^resenting an almost ludicrous appearance. We have several 

 times found the nest of the blackbird (Turdus merula) built on the level ground 

 in the middle of a wood, and remember to have found the nest of the Redwing 

 (Turdus iliacus), in Norway, in the midst of high grass in the shade of a birch 

 tree. But why should not birds be whimsical sometimes in their architectural 

 fancies as well as ourselves ? 



The Stonechat (Sylvia ruhicola), which is not nearly so numerous as the 

 A^Tiinchat (Sylvia ruhctra) in Herefordshire, builds a nest that is very difficult to 

 find ; like some others of the same family, they frequently return to the same spot 

 for nestling purposes, and we have foimd the Stonochat's neat for several years 



