262 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



SQUACCO HERON (Ardea ralloides, Scop.). A specimen of 

 this extremely rare species was recorded by Mrs. }. L. (recte 

 "E.") Panton in the Dorset County Chronicle of January 26, 1905, 

 as having been seen by her in the garden at Steeple Rectory, in 

 the Isle of Purbeck, on January 17, 1905, after a severe and 

 prolonged S.E. gale. Only four occurrences of this scarce 

 visitant are chronicled in "The Birds of Dorsetshire" (1888), 

 while a fifth example was shot at Bere Regis by Mr. G. Toser in 

 the winter of 1891-2 (teste Rev. O. P. Cambridge, F.R.S.). 

 Nearly all the specimens observed in Britain have been met 

 with either in spring or summer, and have been in immature 

 plumage (E. R. B.). 



COMMON BITTERN (Botaurus stellaris, L). Two examples of 

 this now rare visitor were shot at Wareham about the end of 

 January, but the names of the gunners, who erred through 

 ignorance, have been withheld from me on the discovery that 

 the bird is protected by law (E. R. B.). 



Rev. J. Ridley contributes two notes on birds in Devon. 



I heard the nightingale in S. Devon on April u, and listened 

 to it for nearly a quarter of an hour. Only of late years has it 

 been certainly heard in this county. 



I also heard and saw a pair of ravens in Devon on April 7. 



GENERAL ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 



BAT flying round the lawn in the sunshine on February 24 

 (N. M. R.). 



BLINDWORM found with young in log of wood on Septem- 

 ber i6(J. R.). 



SMALL RED VIPER. A beautiful specimen of this small and 

 very local species ( Vipera rubra, Leighton), was captured at Corfe 

 Castle by my brother, Mr. Arthur E. Bankes, on May 18, 1905. 

 So far as I can ascertain, this interesting viper had not been 

 previously met with in the Isle of Purbeck, though it has 

 occasionally been observed elsewhere in Dorset, as recorded 

 on p. 210 of Dr. Gerald R. Leighton's "Life History of British 



