SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BIRDS OF GODALMING. 271 



peculiar note is uttered sitting, and never on the wing. I have 

 seen it on a stack of turf with its throat nearly touching the 

 turf, and its tail elevated, and have heard it in this situation 

 utter its call, which resembles the birr of a mole-cricket,— an 

 insect very abundant in this neighbourhood. I have almost 

 been induced to think that this bird serves as a decoy to the 

 mole-cricket, this being occasionally found in the craw of these 

 birds when shot. Those who are not acquainted with the cry 

 of the bird or the insect may imagine an auger boring oak, or 

 any hard wood, continued and not broken off, as is the noise of 

 the auger, from the constant changing of hands. The eggs of 

 the fern owl have frequently been brought me by boys ; there 

 are only two in number, greyish-white, clouded and blotched 

 with deeper shades of the same colour ; the hen lays them on 

 the soil, which is either peat or a fine soft blue sand, in which 

 she merely makes a slight concavity, but no nest whatever. 

 The cry of the fern owl is the signal for the night-flying moths 

 to appear on the wing, or rather the signal for the Entomo- 

 logist's expecting them. RusticusJ 



Columba Livia. — The Rock Dove is sometimes met with 

 near Godalming. W. K. 



Tetrao Tetricc. — From time immemorial the Black Cock has 

 been an inhabitant of Hindhead. It seems strange that White 

 should lament its loss, for he might generally have found it 

 within an hour's ride of Selbourne. They are certainly not 

 abundant, being apparently entirely unpreserved ; but no season 

 passes without some few brace being killed by the sportsmen 

 of Godalming. The black cock is a noble bird on the wing; 

 in addition to his colour, his forked tail distinguishes him from 

 all other game. E. N. D. When I was a little boy I recollect 

 a black cock used to come now and then to my father's table. 

 White. The black cock frequents Hindhead. W. K. % 



Coturnix vulgaris. — The Quail is not common, but is occa- 

 sionally found in the neighbourhood of Godalming. W. K. 



(Edicnemus crepitans. — This bird abounds in the champaign 

 parts of Hampshire, and breeds, I think all the summer, 

 having young ones, I know, very late in the autumn. They 

 frequent dry, open, upland fields and sheepwalks. White. 

 Guildford Downs. W. K. 



f Mag. of Nat. Hist. Vol. V. p. 603. 



