298 The Battle of Ethandim. 



search for and procure the female ; the man however returned with 

 another male bird, and it was conjectured that the comparative 

 dinginess of colour in the female enabled her in the dark fir plan- 

 tations to escape detection. It is annually seen in small numbers 

 in France, Germany, Holland, and more frequently in Italy ; it is 

 said to be of a shy retiring disposition, frequenting secluded groves, 

 and feeding on fruits, berries, and insects. 



Alfred Chakles Smith. 

 Yateshury Bectory, Calne, Nov. ith, 1857. 



ALTHOUGH I have no hope of being able to determine the 

 [^ much vexed question as to the true site of this decisive 

 victory of Alfred over the Danes, yet I am unwilling to leave my 

 friend, ISIr. Matcham, in possession of the field of controversy, and 

 the readers of the Magazine under the impression that he has proved 

 his case. Supposing the question to be narrowed, as he argues 

 it, to the rival claims ofEdington andYatton alias Eaton, or Etton- 

 down, (and setting aside as untenable those put forward by other 

 writers in favour of Heddington near Calne, Yattendun in Berk- 

 shire, Eddington in the same countj^ Hampton in Gloucestershire, 

 Edington in Somerset, &c.,) I think it will be easy to shew that 

 the arguments of Dr. Thurnam and of Whitaker for the latter of 

 these two sites are by no means so weak as Mr. Matcham represents 

 them ; and that in the very brief space which I can venture to 

 occupy with so trite or, as many may think, trifling subject. 



Let me first say that when Mr. Matcham translates the 'Eth- 

 andun' of Asser into 'Edington,' (as he does in p. 177,) he thereby 

 seems to beg the whole question. Certainly, if Asser had said, 

 what Mr. Matcham puts into his mouth, cadit qucestio ; there would 

 be be nothing to ai'gue about, for neither Dr. Thurnam nor any one 

 else, would, seriously or otherwise, venture to difier with Asser. 

 This, however, maj^ be onlj' a misprint ; for, of course, as appears 

 in the original Latin at the bottom of the page, that venerable 

 ' cotemporary authority ' wrote, not Edington, but Ethandim; 



