Birds. 9627 



Dictionary,' says, ' Lord Stanley assures rae tbal he shot a Picus martius in Lanca- 

 shire.' Yarrell repeats this statement, aud the same may be found in Latham's 

 'General History of Birds,' 1822, vol. iii. p. 430. Under these circumstances we 

 might have hoped to have found ihe specimen in our museum. But in the edition of 

 Latham, annotated by the late Eavl of Derbv, and now in llie possession of the present 

 Earl, the passage 'One was killed in Lancashire by Lord Stanley' is erased, and in 

 the margin is written, in his lordship's own hand, 'a mislaken idea !' " Is any reader 

 of the 'Zoologist' in possession of information respecting other reputed British 

 examples of this bird ? if not it must share the fate of many others introduced in error. 

 — Edward Neivman. 



Hoopoe near Ingalestone. — On the 20th of April a hoopoe was seen by Mr. Looker, 

 gamekeeper, on Woodbarns Farm, near here, and for several days after: he tried to 

 obtain the specimen for me, but was unsuccessful. T can perfectly rely on his 

 statement, his knowlege of our birds and their habits being above the average. — 

 W. Jesse, jun. 



Hoopoe near Lowestoft. — On the 21st of April a nice mature male specimen of the 

 hoopoe was killed near Lowestoft, in Suffolk.— T. E. Gunn ; Nonvich, May 2,1864. 



Hoopoe near Lynn. — A fine specimen of this bird was shot at Walpole St. Peter's 

 on the 25lh of April, 1865.— Edivard L. King; King's Lynn, Norfolk. 



Hoopoes on Slreatham Common. — A fine male hoopoe was brought me a few days 

 ago by a friend, who had just shot it on Streatham Common: as another has been 

 seen in the neighbouihood the poor birds were doubtless breeding. In the stomach of 

 the one I have I found seventeen perfect skins of large larvEe and a number of the hard 

 head-plates of others, but no remains of Coleoplera whatever. I enclose two skins of 

 larvge, as I took them from the stomach : 1 think you will be able to name the species : 

 they were all alike.— Z>ayi(/ Thomas Button; Park Road, Clapham, May 27, 1865, 

 [The skins are those of the larva of Zygffina Filipendulie.] 



Discovery of Starlings' Slculls. — Last Friday, while seeking for nests with a friend, 

 we found a hollow elm tree, with straws protruding from a hole about ten feet from 

 the ground, which induced me to mount and examine; the result was as follows: — 

 I extracted in toto about a barrow-load of decayed organic matter, evidently the 

 deposit of years: the principal portion of this I drew out downwards; that is, the hole 

 I worked at was nearly at the bottom of the deposit. About eight feet above the 

 above-mentioned hole was another one tenanted by a pair of starlings, whose nest 

 formed the newest layer of the whole accumulation, the component parts of which were 

 as follows:— decayed straw and sticks ; comminuted decayed wood ; bones and feathers 

 of starlings, on/y forty-three starlings' skulls; remains of an old stock dove's nest; 

 portions of starling's eggs, some almost entire, occurring at intervals in the deposit. 

 The last thing extracted was the starling's nest, as yet unoccupied by eggs or young: 

 the old birds were evidenily very much distressed at my interference. Query, What 

 does this mean ? I have frequently before found the " larder " of a pair of kestrels or 

 sparrowhawks, but the contents, as far as birds and animals went, were various; 

 i. €., sparrows, greenfinches, thrushes, mice, young rabbits and rats, &c.: the usual 

 pellets of skin and fur are also to be found in such situations ; whereas, in this instance, 

 I found not one particle of evidence of hawk or owl, except one feather from the breast 

 of a sparrowhawk, but this was very close to the new starling's nest, and therefore 

 perhaps formed part of the materials brought by the starlings. Is it possible that thi.s 

 Las been the cemetery of all the ancient and time-worn starlings of the neighbourhood ? 



