9096 Birds. 
affords them some concealment even in winter. A few others are to be 
seen in the garden, where it is probable they will soon become 
acquainted with cats and merlins, which seem to be especially fond of 
preying upon such poor wanderers as seek shelter therein. How the 
two just mentioned manage to escape is a mystery, but I fancy they 
display even more than usual caution. Sometimes I have crept behind 
the wall and watched them through the crevices; but no matter how 
cautiously I approach, they always hear me, and are never in sight 
when I take my first peep. After awhile, however, one slowly glides 
from among the tangled herbage at the foot of the hedge which skirts 
the wall, stands to listen, and then, if satisfied, walks rapidly about 
the grass, nodding with every step, and constantly picking at something 
upon the ground ; occasionally it catches sight of some article of food 
several feet distant, and runs headlong to seize it. When I raise my- 
self so as to see above the wall, although there is a pretty fair screen 
of twigs above, I am instantly perceived, and the watchful bird stands 
for some seconds with its neck at full stretch and its tail elevated ; 
then, as if convinced that the apparition is not to be trusted, it makes 
off for shelter with all speed. The bird which, from its smaller and 
more slender make, and also from its more subdued colouring, appears 
to be the female, is much the more shy of the two, never coming out 
until some minutes after its companion. Once when both were out, 
and within a fathom of me, I tried the effect of suddenly rising to my 
feet. Instantly the astonished birds scampered off to shelter, and in 
an almost incredibly short space of time one darted through a chink on 
my side of the wall. It stopped abruptly on perceiving me, and then, 
instead of retreating, took wing, and with heavy flight dropped 
towards the mouth of a drain about forty yards distant, and in the 
twinkling of an eye was out of sight. 
Henry L. Saxby. 
Baltasound, Shetland, March 31, 1864. 
Some Particulars of Birds obtained in the Neighbourhood of 
Eastbourne, Sussex. By Joun Dutton, Esq. 
Tuis rich and beautiful region is as celebrated for objects of Na- 
tural History as it is for the salubrity of its climate, its noble cliffs 
and breezy downs, which teem with the feathered race. That magni- 
ficent headland Beachy Head, 588 feet high, the crest of which is 
visible far out at sea when the last expiring beams of day linger on 
