26 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



RARE BIRDS IN HAMPSHIRE. 



In reference to a recent Note under this head relat- 

 ing to the shooting of a Sabine's snipe by Mr. W. J. 

 Green, of Bishop's Waltham, Mr. John Baker of 

 Abbotswood Villa, Romsey, writes as follows : 



About 15 years ago I shot a black snipe here and I offered 

 it to the Rev. Mr. Wood, author of a book on Natural 

 history. As he had no use for it he asked me to send it to 

 the Field office. When I took it they said there had not been 

 one shot in this country on record for 22 years. The first 

 they received they had no name for, but the chairman of 

 their society was Major Sabine, so they named it after him, 

 the "Sabine snipe." I have an idea that they came from 

 the bogs in Ireland, but why one should be black in every 

 20 years I cannot conceive. If you examine the feathers 

 on the back of the Sabine snipe with the feathers of the 

 ordinary snipe you will see the wave of the colour of the 

 plumage is reversed, or it was so with mine. It was only 

 about a month ago that I called at the museum in South- 

 ampton to see if there was one there. 



IZAAK WALTON. 



The Antiquary for December contains an article, 

 which will be interesting to Hampshire readers and 

 to lovers of the piscatorial art throughout the country, 

 on "The Grave of Master Izaak Walton." The 

 author, Mr. William Brailsford, gives some biblio- 

 graphical details about the various editions of " The 

 Compleat Angler." Walton's connection with Win- 

 chester, where, in the south transept of the cathedral, 

 his body peacefully rests, is well known. It was to 

 a Bishop of Winchester that he dedicated his famous 

 "Book of Lives." We may extract the following 

 paragraph : 



The little river Test, so plentifully supplied with trout, 

 was the scene of the Compleate Angler's efforts to obtain 

 a full creel, but the larger Hampshire river Itchen, flowing 

 through a chalk valley, appears to have had enticing attrac- 

 tions lor the old fisherman. The grand Winchester Cathe- 

 dral stands a prominent feature near the banks of this 

 river, and has numerous phases of architectural and his- 

 toi ical interest to arrest the notice of any antiquarian 

 visitor. The angler, however, will pause, as in duty 

 beund, at a chapel in the south transept, called after Prior 

 SLlkstede, 1524, where the rich tracery of the screen and 

 lock, and the appropriate cevice, a skein of silk, denote 

 the elaborate and costly workmanship of an age long past. 

 There is a blue stone on the floor of the chapel, and under- 

 neath lies all that is mortal of Izaak Walton. The place is 

 worthy a pilgrimage, for there is hardly a minster in the 

 whole of Great Britain with more magnificent features of 

 massy architectural grandeur, and with more interesting 

 monuments than those to be seen within it; while of all the 

 latter none can be more dear than that in Prior Silkstede's 

 Chapel. 



INTERESTING DISCOVERY AT WINCHESTER. An 

 anchor, similar to those used for small yachts, has 

 been dredged up from a considerable depth in the 

 bed of the river Itchen, near Winchester. Close to 

 it were found some Nuremberg or Abbey tokens, and 

 not far away were some massive oaken piles. It is 

 supposed that these remains belong to the time when 



the river Itche.n was navigable from Winchester to 

 Alresford, a navigation which was restored in the 

 time of Richard Coeur de Leon. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 



From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office,;Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.. R.E. Lat. 50' 

 54' 59" N. ; long. i 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J. T. Cook. 



* Black bulb in vacuo. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, December 14,16 



A HISTORY OF BASINGSTOKE. 



The long promised History of Basingstoke, by Mr. 

 Baigent, of Winchester, and the Rev. Dr. Millard, 

 the vicar of the parish, has at length appeared*, and 

 there can be no doubt that it is a most valuable con- 

 tribution to Hampshire history. From its situation, 

 Basingstoke must always have been a place of im- 

 portance in relation to the places surrounding it, and 

 this appears in very early time to have increased, so 

 that as time passed it gradually acquired the position 

 of an agricultural centre, of a trading centre, and of a 

 governing centre, not only for its own hundred, but 

 in a degree for five subordinate hundreds of which it 

 was the head. The very interesting way in which it 

 grew into importance, and which is fully set forth 

 in this history, is one of the most valuable features, 

 and this is of value not merely to Hampshire people, 

 but to all real students of English history. No better 

 type could be found to illustrate the growth of one 



* A History of the Ancient Town and Manor of Basing- 

 stoke. By Francis _Jns?ph Baigent and James Elwin Mil- 

 lard. London: Simkin, Marshall and Co.; Basingstoke: 

 C. J. Jacpb. 



