514 The Zoologist — December, 1866, 



weight twenty-five ounces. The gizzard, which was very muscular, 

 contained a quantity of fine quartz-gravel and some very nainute 

 fragments of aquatic insects. The intestine measured seventy-six 

 and a half inches in length ; at four inches above anus it gave off two 

 " vermiform " caeca of unequal length, the right measuring six inches 

 and the left five inches. 



Edward R. Alston. 

 Slockbriggs, Lesmahagow, October 10, 1666. 



Ornithological Notes from West Sussex. 

 By W. Jeffery, jun., Esq. 



July — September. 1866. 



Osprey. — An osprey was slated in the ' West Sussex Gazette,' to 

 have been lulled about three miles from Arundel Bridge, in the parish 

 of Stol^e, by Mr. William Slaughter: it had been seen about there 

 for nearly a month, and " its prey while in this neighbourhood ajipears 

 to have been bream, and its impetuous ))lunge into the river, and the 

 rapidity, and unerring aim, of the bird in securing its prey, were 

 frequently witnessed by those who have been in search of it." A 

 second example was obtained near Newhaven, in the parish of 

 Bishopstowe, in East Sussex, on the 14lh of September. 



Redhacked Shrike. — Saw a female of this species darting from a 

 hedge and capturing humble bees, after the manner of a flycatcher. 



Warblers. — Scattered individuals of chifTchafF, lesser whitethroat 

 and sedge warbler seen at intervals to the end of September. The 

 willow warbler and chiffchaff have a similar note, a "tweet" or 

 " peep," — I scarcely know which represents it best, — and this circum- 

 stance renders it still more difficult to distinguish the two species. 

 The willow warbler and chiffchaff resemble each other much more 

 closely than the wood warbler does either. Redstarts were numerous 

 on the Downs about the middle of August, but scarce on the flat 

 country. The common whitethroat appeared in increased numbers 

 during the last few days in August, after a comparative absence. 



Wagtails. — Ray's wagtail first observed passing south about the 

 12th of August. Pied wagtail seen in increased numbers early in 

 August and up to the end of September. First saw the gray wagtail 

 on the 28lh of August, being a iew days earlier than usual, but did not 

 catch sight of it again until the Blh of September. Towards the end 



