The Zoologist — February, 1869. 1547 



this time; aud, in consequence of the warm Christmas, has escaped 

 the usual slaughter carried on at this season. 



Raven. — Two j'oung ravens belonging to Sergeant Rossiter, of San- 

 down, — taken from the Culver Cliffs, where a pair or two usually 

 breed, — were visited during the summer by five old ones. A novel and 

 interesting sight, too, that of seven such shy and wary birds congre- 

 gating about a house in a town. The tame ravens, I hear, are as 

 resplendent in plumage as the wild ones. 



In June I saw at Mr. Smith's, the Newport taxidermist, a hobby 

 (which had been recently shot in the island), a specimen of the hen 

 harrier, a beautifully pied jackdaw of the season, and a brood of four 

 white or pied hedgesparrows, taken from the nest. I was shown 

 a green woodpecker, shot the previous September in the forest by one 

 of the Parkhurst officials : it is the third green woodpecker, in the 

 flesh, that has come into Smith's hands within a iew years, so there can 

 be no doubt, after the instances recorded, of their occasionally 

 appearing in the island. 



On visiting the Freshwater CliflFs, in June, the herring gull only was 

 observed, and that by no means numerously ; but I was told that a few 

 pairs of the lesser blackbacked gull still nest there, as does also the 

 peregrine falcon. I saw at Mr. Rogers's a remarkably fine hoopoe, in 

 perfect plumage, shot in the neighbourhood ; also a bittern, little auk, 

 skua and little sandpiper; and was informed by him that he had 

 lately seen, when walking on the Downs, three choughs flying about 

 the cliffs, being the first he had observed at Freshwater during a 

 residence of many years. 



Henry Hadeield. 



Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 

 January 4, 1869. 



On the Occurrence of the Whitethroated Sparrow (Zonotrichia 

 albicollis) in Aberdeenshire. By W. C. Angus, Esq.* 



I HAVE much pleasure in adding this interesting North American 

 species to the fauna of Europe. The bird which I send for exhibition, 

 along with this notice, was shot by Mr. Mitchell, August 17th, 1867, 

 near the Broad Hill, on the Links of Aberdeen. It was put into my 



* Read before the Natural History Society of Glasgow, March 31st, 1868. 



