3^ 



168 



NOTES, OOUUESl'ONDEKCE, &C. 



Wild Swans in Buckingham- 

 SHiiiE. — An unusual capturo uas 

 made in the parish of Little Brick- 

 hill, Bucks, about ten a.m., on 

 "Weilucsday, Dec. 22. There was 

 a slight covering of snow, and the 

 atmosphere was very misty. A 

 labourer on the farm of Mr. 

 Gregory perceived three wild 

 Bwaus flying towards him, not 

 more than ten or fifteen yards 

 from the ground. He threw a 

 Btoce and broke the wing of one 

 of them, which, of course, tell an 

 easy victim. 'Ihe field in which 

 this took place is a !;rass fltlil 

 called " the Fishpond Close," but 

 there is no pond or other water 

 within a considerable distance. 

 The labourer, delighted with his 

 booty, presently set to work to 

 pluck it, with an eye to his Christ- 

 mas dinner. Had he been better 

 advised, he might probably have 

 obtained a good sum for the bird,/0? 

 as a specimen to be Btuft'td 

 J. W. Williamson (Bletchley). 

 Fidd, Jan. 1, 1870. 



From a letter in the Uiu 

 Herald of Jan. 15, it appears th 

 the remaining two went on to' 

 Fenny Stratford, where they were 

 seen on rhe same day. " On 

 Monday, the 27tb, they came down 

 again ; and when flying near the 

 railway biidge one was shot by a 

 man employed on the railway. 

 The other flew on towards Simp- 

 sou, atid was shot there. The 

 fwaufc [.robably came from Wo- 

 bnrn Park, and were young birds, 

 as their feathers indicated. It 

 appears to be a common thing for 

 the young birds to take flight the 

 first winter from their houjes, and 

 in this case it resulted fatally to 

 them." When will the happy 

 time arrive when the noticing and 

 the shooting of a rare bird shall 

 be no longer synonymous terms ? 



Curious Captuke of a i kncii . 



"I was fi.shing here, near the 



Quarry Wo(.d, on the lath Nov., 

 with Rockel, fi-herman, using a 

 line pateruo.ster line, baited with 

 two minnows, i'or perch. Foiling 

 a bitf, I struck, and after about 

 five minutes' play secured a fine 

 tench, weighing ylb., with llie 



bottom hook fixed in its tail.— 

 C. A. C. (Great Marlow)."— iaZfZ 

 Nov. 23, IfcTO. 



Cats taking thk Water.— 

 " That cats will take the water is 

 on record ; there was a cat, or 

 rather a family of cats, if I re- 

 member aright, at the ' Complete 

 Anglers,' Marlow, that used to 

 swim after the dead fish thrown 

 out of the punt wells by tho 

 fisherman. This could, no doubt, 

 be corroborated. — C.C.C.," in 

 Schnce Gomp, Sept., 1869. Can 

 any of our readers substantiate 

 this? 



Plant new to the County. — 

 Mr. Henry Taylor, of Ajlesbury, 

 has forwarded ns a specimen of 

 tSoiecio [Cineraria) campestris L, 

 which he discovered in June last 

 on the chalk hill above Aston 

 Clinton, called Aston Hill. It has 

 nWshefore been recorded for the 



s OF Animals. — Reynard, 

 ("ibert, Partlet and Ch anti- 

 equivalents for Fox, Bear, 

 n, and Cock owe their 

 proper names to the in- 

 genius of the middle 



they were coined by the 



author of that beast-epic tho 

 Reineltc Fvchs, which enjoyed such 

 a wide popularity at that time that 

 it was translated iuto most of the 

 languages of tho Europe. Whilst 

 only synonyms with us, in several 

 tongues they have supplanted the 

 older forms. For instance, Picnard 

 in French i.'5 the general name for 

 Fox, to the exclusion of the older 

 name Volpils : Bjom is the gene- 

 nal name for a Bear in the .Norse, 

 as Poro, a he-bear, and Pirinn,a 

 she-^ear, in the Old German. 

 Tibort still survives in Tabby-cat, 

 and is the Tybalt of " Romeo and 

 Juliet" ii. 4, and iii. 1 ; the 

 Tybartof Decker's " Satiromastix ;" 

 the Tibalt of Nash's " Have with 

 you to Saffron Walden;" and in 

 the lloniauntdeRenart V. "Then 

 the King called for Sir Tibert the 

 cut." If some of your subscribers 

 could enlighten me as to puss, 

 the poetical soubriquet for a hare, 

 I should feel much obliged.— 

 Samuel Dyek, 



. -K. 



