74 Thh Zoologist — February, 1866. 



supplied with three sparrows, and occasionally one or two during the 

 day, sometimes varied by a young rat. I invariably found everything 

 eaten up by morning; sometimes the heads were left, but this was not 

 always the case. The fatter he grew the fiercer and more combative 

 he became, and I never succeeded in any degree in taming him or 

 making him acknowledge his protector. It was extraordinary, how- 

 ever, to see the friendship which sprang up between the pointer and 

 owl. On anybody entering the stable the bird would jump away, and 

 place himself close to his friend "Don," not unfrequently ensconsing 

 himself between the dog's fore legs, snapping and hissing at every one 

 that approached, and evidently to the great delight of his friend, who 

 frequently looked down upon him with the utmost complacency. 

 Requiring the stable I had him removed into a large granary : here 

 during the day he generally sat perched on the edge of an old corn- 

 screen, which was placed away on a rafter near the roof. I fancied his 

 appetite had decreased with this change of abode, as on several 

 occasions I found the sparrows, with which he had been supplied the 

 previous evening, untouched, but this was soon accounted for by 

 finding the skins and bones of mice amongst the castings ; he had 

 commenced foraging on his own account. Shortly afterwards, his 

 wing having quite healed, he one dark morning, much to my regret, 

 escaped through the door, and 1 never saw him again. 



Hooded Croiv. — October 7. Observed, lor the first time this season, 

 a party of hooded crows in the marshes. I am informed some were 

 seen in the neighbourhood on the 30th of last month. This is, how- 

 ever, early for them to appear. 



Peewit. — During October and November we have had immense 

 flocks of peewits on the lowlands and marshes, equal to, if not greater 

 than, the large flights of these birds which visited this district in the 

 autumn preceding the severe winter of 1860-61. Like the golden 

 plover, dining wet and showery weather they are wild and restless, 

 constantly on the wing, passing and repassing, often at an immense 

 height, over the marshes. 



Gray Plover. — October 25. Some few solitary birds seen on the 

 fore shore. One I procured greatly resembled a golden plover in 

 winter plumage; the upper parts darkish brown, with the edges and 

 markings on the feathers the golden colour seen in Charadrius pluvialis. 

 The under parts white; the rudimentary hallux and black axillary 

 feathers at once determining the species. 



Golden Plover. — November 4. Saw the first flock of golden plovers. 



