Birds. 9415 



the habit of going to and fro, in fine weather, the Rock, and generally remains there the 

 whole day till townrds evening. He called my attention to the arrival of some of our 

 smaller birds during the first week in November, which, at difierent times, and in twos 

 and threes, passed the Rock, some alighting, and others flying close by and towards 

 the land. In every instance the birds came from a south-westerly direction, from the 

 direction of Scilly, and not from north to south. Singular enough, these birds con- 

 sisted of robins, wrens, and a few whitethroats and willow wrens, and also linnets, 

 starlings, fieldfares and redwings. They flew so close to the lighter where he was that 

 they were perfectly distinct, and some of the men caught a whilethroat and let it fly 

 again. Michael Roberts observed two wrens alight, and they jumped about with 

 their tails erect, and were ofi' again in a few minutes. These arrivals were at 

 difl'erent times and on different days, but the movements of all were from south to 

 north. There is yet a considerable mystery about the lex migratorius. We can 

 understand in some measure why some large flights of woodcocks and snipes ap- 

 pear here with a south-east wind, and others with a north and north-east wind. 

 They are, I think, both a part and parcel of the great migratorial movement 

 from the north to the south. The north and north-east winds bring down, in a 

 tolerably direct line, to the Lizard, Land's End, Scilly Isles and Irish districts, the 

 body of birds from Norway, Sweden, &c. There is no doubt a similar flight from the 

 northern countries of Russia in Europe and Asia; and these birds, in the course of 

 their southward flight to Albania, Egypt, &c., with a strong east or south-east wind, 

 are quite likely to adopt a lateral course, which would very soon bring them to the 

 shores of Great Britain ; but then comes the question. How come the small birds in 

 separate troops, during intervals in a week in the early part of November, from the 

 south ? The only way that it can be at all accounted for is that all these birds might 

 have encountered an adverse wind, or perhaps current, in going south, and thus were 

 driven back ; but then comes also the fact that the weather was apparently as tranquil, 

 and as free from storms and tempests, as at midsummer, and there was no appearance 

 of exhaustion in the birds. We are all, as naturalists, interested in the subject of 

 migration, and I have mentioned the above fact not only as likely, probably, to afl'ord 

 some interest, but also to elicit from your other correspondents their views and 

 suggestions, which will very materially add to the development of the secret. — 

 Mdward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, December 6, 1864. 



Redfooted Falcon, or Orangelegged Hohby, at the Mouth of the Humber. — During 

 the first week of November last, 1864, a female specimen of this extremely rare falcon 

 was shot by a sailor from his ship, as the bird was hovering over the vessel. This was 

 at the lime the ship was entering the mouth of the Humber. The sailor took the bird 

 for preservation to a birdstufi'er at Hull, whilst it was in the flesh. The birdstufi"er, 

 not knowing the species, mentioned it to Mr. Richardson, of Beverley, who gave me 

 a description of the hawk. I recognized the species at once, and have succeeded in 

 purchasing the bird. It was forwarded to me this day, November 8ih, 1864, and is 

 still quite soft and pliable. It is a very perfect specimen of the redfooted falcon, and, 

 judging by the plumage, I should pronounce it lo be a mature female. — W. W. 

 Soul ton ; Beverley, November 8, 1864. 



Osprey in Bucks and Hertfordshire, and Great Gray Shrike and Cirl Bunting in 

 Bucks, — During the greater part of the month of September a pair of ospreys fre- 

 quented the large reservoirs of the Paddington Canal Company, which are situated 

 in the parishes of Wilslone, a hamlet of Tring, Herts, and Marsworth, Bucks. They 



