3772 The Zoologist — November, 1873. 



in common it will be found that we concur ; where we do not, our dis- 

 crepancies may be accounted for by our obseivations having been made in 

 different districts. The knowledge that my hares have been previously 

 coursed by Prof. Newton will make intelligible how I came to follow so 

 closely in his track. With respect to the birds the same will hold good, my 

 remarks having a direct bearing upon his " Notes on the Birds of Spits- 

 bergen," in the ' Ibis' for April, 1865.—^. E. E. 



The Cirl Bunting an Autnninal Songster. — The fact that the cirl bunting 

 is equally an autumnal songster with the congenerous yellow species has 

 not, so far as I am aware, been noticed by ornithologists, at least I can find 

 no mention of it in some of the leading works on British birds; consequently, 

 on hearing one in full song on the 4th of the present month, I thought it 

 might be worth while to send a short note for the ' Zoologist ' on the sub- 

 ject. About Plymouth the cirl bunting is quite a common bird, and in 

 August I have repeatedly heard its song, whicii the cock delights to deliver 

 from the lower branches of an elm, or may be only a bush in a hedgerow 

 bounding some grassy enclosure, manifesting less partiality for spots about 

 corn laud or other arable fields than the yellow bunting, and appearing to 

 prefer low-lying situations, though the well-nigh universal distribution of the 

 latter bird causes the two to be often met with together. It may be worth 

 while for me to add that in the neighbourhood of Plymouth the so-called 

 common bunting is less common and more of a local species than is the 

 ciri.— T. B. Archer Brir/f/s ; 4, Portland VUlas, Fhjmontli, Sept. 12, 1873. 



llawfiuch Breeding in the IS'ew Forest. — It will perhaps be remembered 

 that in a recent number of the 'Zoologist' (S. S. 3491) I expressed an 

 opinion that the hawfinch docs occasionally breed in the forest ; and this 

 summer the fact has in several instances been proved, altliough no nest or 

 eggs have come under my own observation. A man informed me that he 

 had discovered several nests of this species in the south-western portion of 

 the forest in May ; still as he failed to supply me with eggs I somewhat 

 doubted his assertion ; but ^bout the middle of June I had several young 

 hawfinches scarcely fledged, strange-looking little creatures, sent me from 

 near the locality he had indicated, so I at once concluded they must have 

 come from one of the nests he had found. Again on the 3rd of June I had 

 two more sent me from another locality, but these were better feathered, 

 although I suspect they could not have flown much, as the peculiar shaped 

 feathers of the wings were in a very undeveloped state. Only two of the 

 birds I have received were worth preservation, but I dissected the stomachs 

 of all (seven in number"), and in each case they were literally crammed with 

 peas, in fact the older birds were shot whilst in the act of splitting open the 

 pods, amongst which they did considerable damage. Peas seem to be the 



