8946 Birds. 
hound, as long as the weasel was iu view. She was now quite “ at fault,” and crept 
cautiously about, peeping under every bush and shrub, but all to no purpose, as Lam 
glad to say my liitle friend escaped; and I think he deserved to do so, for the cun- 
ning and pluck which he displayed. Whenever the cat seized him or struggled with 
him, the weasel made a very peculiar kind of screech, and chattering something like 
one of the small monkeys I have heard at the Gardens.—J. Edmund Harting, in a 
letter to Mr. Bond ; December 14, 1863, 
Peregrine Falcon and Shorteared Owl near Alton.— A female peregrine falcon 
was shot at Froyle, about three miles from here, last Monday. Its weight was 
2ibs. 50z. I could not get to measure it until skinned, but I believe it to be a very 
fine one. This is the third I have known shot in this neighbourhood: this one and 
one of the others are in the Museum at Alton. I have also to inform you of a short- 
eared owl being taken about two miles from here last week. We every now and then 
get a specimen of it at this season of the year.—Philip Crowley; Alton, Hants, 
December’ 19, 1863. 
A Honey Buzzard’s Nest in the New Forest.— I have been informed that a pair 
of honey buzzards built a commodious nest in the New Forest this year; but, from 
the continual watch which was kept on them by the discoverer of the nest, who, I was 
also told, was offered a guinea each for the unblown eggs, were he so fortunate as to 
obtain them, no eggs were deposited, which was attributed to their being both males, 
yet this I very much doubt; at any rate it is a pleasing fact to know that these birds 
are not yet extinct in this once much-favoured locality —Henry Reeks. 
Ring Ouzel near Malton.—Mr. Boulton, who has recently recorded a specimen 
from Malton (Zool. 8877), rightly supposes that this bird is not common in that 
neighbourhood. There are no rocks near Malton, consequently this bird is only an 
accidental or occasional visitor. About ten miles from Malton the picturesque valley 
of Pickering commences, and among the rocky débris which has fallen from the high 
moorlands above this bird is by no means uncommon.—George Norman; Hull, 
January 2, 1864. 
On the Redwing singing in England.—In late numbers of the ‘ Zoologist’ there 
have appeared several notes on the redwing singing in this country; a fact which, 
judging from the tenor of the remarks, seems to be doubted. If this is really the case, 
it will be satisfactory to your corvespondents to know that I am able to settle the ques- 
tion from my own personal experience. About the middle of March, when the weather 
has been fine and warm, I have on many occasions heard the redwing sing, and 
under circumstances which rendered a mistake impossible. During the spring it was 
a common custom with my brothers and myself to go in the evening to the neigh- © 
bouring woods for the purpose of shooting hawks, when they came in to roost: many 
valuable birds have in this way fallen to our guns, such as the peregrine, merlin, 
buzzard,—and among multitudes of the common sparrow-hawk, some in very re- 
markable plumage. Kestrels we never shot at, feeling convinced that the good 
service they perform in destroying mice more than compensates fur any misdeeds of 
which they may be guilty; indeed, I cannot remember having ever detected a kestrel 
‘in any felonious proceeding, save that recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ of stealing a roasted 
