7384 Birds. 



Occurrence of the Great Spotted Woodpecker near Banff. — A male specimen of 

 this pretty and rather rare bird, in very fine plumage, was shot in a garden at a place 

 called Craigston, Aberdeenshire, about seven miles from the town of BanflF, on 

 Christmas Day. On dissecting it I found the stomach literally crammed with two 

 species of grub, of a creamy or grayish colour, and about a quarter of an inch in length, 

 one species having a reddish and the other a blactish head ; there were likewise a few 

 small beetles and a small spider. — Thomas Edward. 



Partridges in the Sea. — A few days ago, whilst loitering on the south sands at 

 Scarborough, in company with two gentlemen, a geologist and an entomologist, we 

 were suddenly surprised by a flight of what at first appeared to be wild ducks, but 

 from their close proximity to us we were certain they were partridges. Judge of our 

 astonishment when they deliberately made for the sea: eight of them were imme- 

 diately drowned, and two alighted on a rock, to which we made our way ; and our 

 friend the geologist, being better versed in the stratification of rocks, soon observed 

 and captured one. Thinking the tide would wash the others ashore, we waited for 

 high water, when we obtained two more, which proved remarkably fine ones, — Alfred 

 Roberts ; King Street, Scarborough, January 20, 1861. 



Flight of the Wood Sandpiper (Totanus glareola). — This bird was in the air when 

 first noticed. It flies in circles, and at every change in the direction of its flight it 

 produces a peculiar, musical, sharp and trilling sound, which endures for several 

 seconds. At the same time the wings are observed striking the air with a short, 

 rapid, tremulous motion, which there can be little doubt is the cause of this remark- 

 able sound. The sound produced in a similar manner by the snipe and other waders 

 has not the same sweet, almost warbling tone of this bird. — John Hancock, in ' Trans- 

 actions of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club,' iv. 58. 



Habits of the Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). — I am often much amused in 

 watching the habits of the moorhen, which breeds in the sedges bordering the ditch 

 which bounds my garden. The Ingenuity with which they bend down the broad 

 sedges to form a foundation for their nest, and to conceal it, and which prompts them 

 also to raise the nest in time of floods, so as to preserve it from injury, with the 

 anxious and afi'ectionale solicitude shown by them for their tender brood, render this 

 bird an especial favourite with me. The past year has been marked by a succession 

 of floods almost unprecedented, and il has been really wonderful how these birds, 

 whose nest was at a much lower level than that to which the water rose, managed to 

 raise it with the eggs gradually, so as to escape injury; yet that such was the case we 

 had abundant evidence. One nest was so near the bank that the eggs were 

 plainly to be seen from the garden walk, and thence we often watched the parent bird 

 sitting upon them, or, in case of too near an approach, gliding noiselessly and 

 stealthily down into the adjacent bulrushes, so as to be out of sight in an instant. I 

 observe, what some others have remarked, that the bird engaged in the duty of incu- 

 bation has the brilliant vermilion colour at the base of the bill. We used to consider 

 this the male bird. Is the contrary the case ? or do both sexes assume this appear- 

 ance in the breeding season ? I rather incline to the latter supposition. These poor 

 birds must now be sorely pressed to find a living. Three weeks of frost and snow, 

 with the thermometer often approaching zero, and once below it, have set fast all our 

 waters ; and yet within a few days I noticed a pair of moorhens searching amongst 

 the grassy tufts protruding froui the frozen snow for a scanty subsistence. One would 

 suppose there must be some sort of partial migration to milder districts, perhaps to 



