142 The Zoologist — March, 1866. 



28th of December, 1865 : — *' A few days ago, as a young man named 



Colliiis was wheeling a barrow in a lane, loaded with flesh for dogs, 



he was suddenly startled by the appearance of a large bird alighting 



on the flesh and beginning rapidly to make a meal from it. The 



young man stepped back to the road-side, and took a long piece of 



string from his pocket with which to form a noose. The bird had 



flown a short distance during this operation. Two sticks were placed 



on the flesh, and the noose laid on them. With the end of the string 



in his hand he stood back three or four yards : the bird soon came 



back, and stepping into the noose was easily captured. It was kept 



several days alive, but, from being kept in so small a place, its 



feathers became worn. The bird was presented to Mr. A. E. Knox, 



the author of ' Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,' and this gentleman 



has kindly supplied us with the following description : — ' It is the 



only adult specimen of the pomarine skua I have ever met with in 



Sussex, the breast being of a dirty white, instead of the usual mottled 



brown, which is characteristic of the immature bird, and the tail long, 



until it was injured by confinement. The scienlific name of the bird 



is Lestris pomarinus. The first example ever noticed in England was 



killed at Brighton, and was mentioned in the catalogue of Mr. 



Bullock's collection, which was sold in the year 1819.'" 



W. Jeffery, jun. 

 Balbam, Chichester, February, 1866. 



Merlin killed ly Jlying against a Window. — On the 7tb of February I received a 

 most beautiful male merlin, which was found dead underneath a plate-glass window, 

 on the lawn in front of Lavbert House, the property of Mr. Gilbert Stirling. In all 

 probability it had been killed, when chasing some small bird, by coming in contact 

 with the thick glass, as no wound of any kind, save a weakness as from a bruise above 

 the bill, was observable. It is a remarkably fine specimen. — J. A. JIarvie Brown; 

 Dunipace House, Falkirk, February, 1866. 



Roughlegged Buzzard in Suffolk. — A nicely marked mature female of this species 

 was killed at Mulford,near Lowestoft, in Suffolk, on the 25th of last month (January). 

 It measured 21^ inches in length from tip of beak to tip of tail, and 4 feet 7 inches 

 across its extended wings to the extreme tip of each — this latter being 3 inches longer 

 than the Rev. F. O. Morris gives in his description of this species in his work on 

 British birds; tail 9^ inches. The bird was in excellent plumage and condition; 

 its body after being skinned proved to be completely cased with fat. Its stomach was 

 empty, with the exception of a little muddy substance. Mature birds of this species 

 are seldom met with in this county : the immature specimens are more frequent, some- 

 times more so than its near relative the common buzzard. — T, E. Gunn ; Norwich, 

 February 2, 1866. 



