Birds. 7381 



a letter just received from my son : — " Yesterday a curious oniithological event hap- 

 pened here. I was going to shut the rabbit-house door, when all the fowls came half 

 fljing down the yard, and hurried into the house. I guessed there might be a hawk, 

 aud, seeing the sheep also run under cover, I looked up, and there, not very high, but 

 near enough for me to hear the flap of his great brown wings, was a whiteheaded sea 

 eagle. Perhaps he was hungry, and had not met with his feeder the fish-hawk, and so 

 was forced to come inland. He hovered awhile over our farm, and then turned his 

 white head, and with one great flap of bis wings went oS" over Bleadon Hill, and dis- 

 appeared in the red sunset. I suppose he went to the Bristol Channel to fish for him- 

 self." — Theodore Compton ; Winscombe, Weston-super-Mare, January ib, 1861. 



Occurrence of the Whitetailed Eagle (Falco albicilla) at Weston-super-Mare. — A 

 very fine young specimen of the whitetailed or sea eagle was shot here last week. 

 Can this be the bird seen by Mr. Comptou ? — W. D. Crotch ; Uphill House, Weston- 

 super-Mare, Fehruary 4, 1861. 



[I am always reluctant to throw the slightest discredit on statements made in good 

 faith, and evidently without intention to mislead : but it does seem to me that the 

 American eagle cannot be admitted into the avi-fauna of Britain on such unsatisfac- 

 tory ground ; and I feel quite disposed to admit Mr. Crotch's solution of the difiicully. 

 — Edward Newman^ 



A Domesticated Golden Eagle. — In my neighbourhood an half-pay surgeon of the 

 navy had a golden eagle for three or four years iu his farmyard, where it was an object 

 of great attraction to visitors. It used to fly all over the country, and was sometimes 

 absent for a couple of days at a time. At last it was shot by a farmer, from whose 

 premises it was carrying ofl" a hen. It never did any damage at home, where it was 

 always well fed ; nor did I ever hear of its attacking any person, although it occasion- 

 ally used to show its displeasure, when disturbed by visitors, by screaming and shaking 

 its feathers. Its favourite perch was on the farmyard wall, overlooking a public road, 

 or on the top of an old chimney. For the last year of its life its habits had become 

 much more rapacious, and there were many complaints of its marauding ; but its 

 owner was the dispensing doctor of the district, and people did not like to vex him by 

 destroying the bird ; indeed, the man who did shoot it was quite unhappy when he 

 found that it was a tame bird. — Donegal, in the ' Field ' newspaper. 



Occurrence of the Common Buzzard (Falco buteo) near Lynn. — A fine male spe- 

 cimen of this bird was sent to' me for preservation ; it was shot at Sandringham, near 

 Lynn, by the Hon. Spencer Cowper, in November, 1860. — William Wilson; Museum, 

 King's Lynn, January 16, 1861. 



Occurrence of a pied Blackbird near Lynn. — A fine male specimen of the black- 

 bird, beautifully pied with white, was shot at West Winch, near Lynn, in De- 

 cember, \860.—Id. 



Immense Migration of Larks ; Migration of Starlings. — I was staying on Lundy 

 Island, this last Christmas, for woodcock shooting, and while there witnessed an extra- 

 ordinary migration of skylarks. After the frost and snow had continued for upwards 

 of a week, the skylarks from the mainland commenced migrating in almost a continual 

 sti-eam to the island, their instinct doubtless teaching them that on the island, sur- 

 rounded by salt water, the frost would not be so severe. I was one afternoon on the 

 highest point in the island, and saw these " frozen-out " skylarks arriving flock after 

 flock. In a very short time the island was covered with them. To give some idea of 

 their numbers I may mention that we could not fire at a snipe or woodcock as it rose 



