317 



A Bittern was shot at Bradford-on-Avon in January, 1897, and was 

 stuffed by Mr. C. Pepler, of Trowbridge. 



The Great Black Woodpecker in Wilts. The standard, 



Sept. 30, 1897, contained the following letter : — 



"The Great Black Woodpecker. — Sir, — As the Eev. A. P. Morres' 

 letter seems to suggest some doubt as to the genuineness of the specimen 

 referred to in my former letter, being in Warminster, I hunted up the 

 son of. the late Mr. King, who stuffed the bird in our collection, and he 

 informs me that as a lad he has a very clear recollection of the bird 

 coming to his father in the flesh for preservation from Longleat. He 

 also stated that it made a great impression on both his father and him, 

 as never before or since had they seen a similar specimen. 



" I am endeavouring to obtain further corroborative evidence from 

 some of the old servants or tenants at Longleat, but I think that the 

 above is fairly substantial evidence that at least one Great Black Wood- 

 pecker has been killed in England. 



" I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 



E. A. RAWLENCE. 

 Newlands, Salisbury, September 22. 



This was followed, Oct. 4, 1897, by a letter from Lieut. -Col, Gostwyck, 

 stating that he had shot a Great Black Woodpecker in 1863 near 

 Endsleigh, in Devonshire. 



The StOnehenge Bird. Notes and Queries, 24 April, 1897, under 

 this heading has a long quotation from " Ars Quatuor coronatorum," in 

 connection with a tradition that immediately before sunrise on the longest 

 day a bird perches on the gnomon stone, and flies away as soon as it has 

 seen the sun rise, and that throughout the rest of the year no bird ever 

 alights on that stone ! 



StegOSaurUS in Wilts. [Note by the late W. Cunnington, F.G.S.] 

 Two large spines of Stegosaurus were dug from the G.W.R. cutting near 

 Wootton Bassett. They came into my hands through the kindness of 

 Mr. H. N. Goddard and are now in the Natural History Museum at S. 

 Kensington. Casts of them were made by order of Prof. Owen and 

 these I placed in our Society's Museum. Prof. Owen in his monograph 

 on the reptiles of the Kim. Clay, published by the Palaeontographical 

 Society, described the creature under the name of Omosaurus, but the 

 knowledge of the animal's structure was then very limited, and the 



