308 The Zoologist— July, 1866, 



Honey Buzzard in North Devon. — Mr. Vingoe received from North Devon yester- 

 day a fine specimen of the female honey buzzard. There was a chain of eggs in the 

 ovary, but whether they would have been laid this year is doubtful. The upper 

 plumage from the head to the upper tail-coverts is of an uniforni hair-brown colour, 

 excepting only on the nape of the head and neck, where this colour is somewhat 

 broken with white; the chin, breast and belly are dull while, with thickly spread longi- 

 tudinal patches of hair-brown. The tail has the first transverse bar at the centre, with 

 two others less distinct upwards; the other parts of the tail marbled with two shades 

 of brown transversely ; the under part of the tail very light in colour : there is no shade 

 of blue about the head. — Edward Hearle Rudd ; Penzance, June 2, 1866. 



Great Gray Shrike in Wiltshire. — Since I announced in the ' Zoologist' for May 

 (S. S. 228) the occurrence of Lanius excubitor in Wiltshire, I have received informa- 

 tion of two further captures of the same bird ; one on the borders of the county, or, to 

 speak more accurately, just within a neighbouring county, and the other on the 2nd of 

 tliis month, in the parish of Road, which has derived so unenviable a notoriety from 

 the foul murder committed there some years since. Whether the great gray shrike is 

 unusually numerous in England this year, or whether it is exceptionally common in 

 Wiltshire just now, I have no means of knowing ; but it is certainly not a bird to 

 escape notice when seen by the least observant; and I have never before bad my 

 attention called to so many Ciiptures of it within a short space of time in this county. — 

 Alfred Charles Smith ; Yalesbwy Rectory, Calne, May 26, 1866. 



Curious Position of a Blackbird's Ntst. — A blackbird has this season built its nest 

 in a somewhat curious place. A rustic arbour lately made in our garden, and com- 

 posed of twisted pieces of "barked " oak, is placed against the south wall. The bird 

 has built its nest between the brick wall and the pule which supports the roof, and 

 being on a level with the seat, indeed partly resting on it, it is quite open to the gaze 

 of anyone who may enter. Whilst it was still sitting on its unhatched eggs the oak 

 was being painted, but thou};h the brush must have often almost touched the nest, the 

 poor bird never left it during the operation, and she is now rearing three young birds 

 in security. She has become a favourite even with the gardener, who is one of a race of 

 men not generally prepossessed in favour of the thrush family. — J. A. Harvie Brown; 

 Dunipace House, Falkirk, May 25, 1866. 



Golden Oriole in Suffolk. — On the 28th of April last a splendid mature female of 

 the golden oriole passed into my hands for preservation. It had been shot a day or 

 two previously in the vicinity of Chediston, near Halesworth, in Suffolk. Its stomach 

 was filled with ilie remains of insects and some berries — apparently those of the yew. — 

 T. E. Gunn ; U, West Poltergale, Norivich. 



Arrival of Migrants. — Tuesday, April 17, 1866. I saw two wheatears on Black- 

 heatli ; one among the furzes at the N.E. corner of the Heath ; and the other, a fine 

 male in splendid plumage, to the S.W. of the tumulus. 18th. At 6 p.m. I saw an old 

 swallow fly due north across the Heath and over Greenwich Park ; his flight was steady 

 and strong, and as straight as an arrow. 19tli. Saw one redstart on the iron rails 

 round the Deodara, in Greenwich Park. 23rd. Strolled round the S.W. face of 

 Shooter's Hill: many willow wrens were busily flying to and fro the wood and fields: 

 saw one whinchat and one redstart alternately take possession of the elevated stump of 

 an old whin ; down went the whinchat to seize its prey, up went the redstart; the 

 moment he darted down, up went the whinchat : concealed behind the hedge I watched 



