498 The Zoologist — November, 1866. 



catcher (Muscicapa airicapilla), at Buckhatn Hill, Uc kfielil, Sussei. I killed it witli a 

 saloon-pistol, as it sat quietly uear the top of an o;ik tree in the park. My repeated 

 endeavours to find another of its species were fruitless; and I am quite unable to tell 

 whether my bird was bred in the neighbourhood or niigratinir, but I should feel 

 inclined to say the latter. — Charles B. Wharimi; JVillesdcn, Middlesex, October, 1866. 

 The Sky Lark. — Mr. Harting, as a Shakespearian enthusiast, leaches us that his 

 author was a good ornithologist. I cannot (orbcar pointing out, as an ardent admirer 

 of Milton, that he has subtly noted a characteristic of the sky lark, which, as far as I 

 know, Shakespeare has been silent on — that is, its habii of singing in the night. 

 I have heard it warbling high up in the air in the dead of a summer night. People 

 do not generally give Milton the credit of being a good naturalist (spite of his match- 

 less descriptions of the nightingale's song) ; perhaps when " outwatching the Bear with 

 thrice great Hermes," or " unsphering the spirit of Plato" (' Penseroso,' 90), be had 

 delighted 



" To hear the lark begin his flight. 

 And singing startle the dull night, 

 From his watchtower in the skies. 

 Till the dappled dawn doth rise." {L' Allegro, 41.) 



— M. G. Watkins ; Burnoldby-le-Bcck Rectory. 



Late slay nf Sivifts.— It is singular thai, after writing to you ab(Uit a swift seen on 

 the .3rd of September, I should have an opportunity of seeing one so many weeks later. 

 Yesterday (Wednesday, September 26th) I went with a friend and neighbour to see 

 the Flamborougli Caves: we had just visited the light-house, and on our way back 

 along the cliffs all our party (eleven in number) had seated themselves on the grass, at 

 the head of one of the numeious small bays, and were looking out to sea from about 

 tlie height of two hundred feet, when I observed one swift hawking about below us: 

 the bird then came up to our level, and was more than once within very easy shot of 

 us, with its face towards us, at less than thirty yards distance ; there could be no 

 possible mistake about it, and I studied it most carefully tliidugh my binocular, 

 which I happened to have in my hand. My friend (Mr. Angas, of Bteford Grange) is 

 a very intelligent and well-educated farmer, as well as sportsman, and we were all 

 watching the bird for five minutes. The day was warm and pleasant; thermometer 

 69° as we passed by the public barometer in Flamborough village on our way to the 

 Caves, and 62° when we came back.— J. Gilbert White ; Beeford, Hull. 



Food of the Wood Pigeon. — Having read the two communications in this month's 

 •Zoologist' (S. S. 456) relating to the food of the wood pigeon (commonly called 

 " wood-guest" here), I also bog to be heard. I have shot wood pigecns at all seasons 

 of the year, but particularly in the autumn, and have frequently examined the con- 

 tents of their crops, and have never found anything in them that would prove that 

 they injured the farmer, except in that season when the corn is ripe and turnip-tops 

 are to be got. This auiunin I shot between forty and fifty wood pigeons, aud every 

 one of thera, almost without exception, bad their citips full of corn: they were preying 

 on the corn at the time that I shot them. It was as much as I could do to keep them 

 off four fields of corn, for when fired at in one they would fly over to another. They 

 go in flocks of from twenty to two thousand : I think I can say two thousand without 

 hesitation, as I have seen an acre of ground rendered almost blue with them. They 

 flatten down the corn with their strong wings, and then alight and feed. I have seen 



