The Zoologist— November, 1870. 2383 



gray wagtail (Molacitla boarula. Lath.) wiih the giayheaded (M.fiava, 'L)—J. H. 

 Gurney,jun.; 2, Beta Place, Alpha Road, N.W., October 17, 1870. 



Tawny Pi/iit, Ortolan Bunting and Lapland Bunting near Brighton. — I saw the 

 following birds at Mr. Swaysland's very shortly after they were taken : — 



Tawny Pipit {Anthus campestris). A very interesting specimen of this bird was 

 taken near Brighton by a bird-catcher. It is a young bird of the year, and in plumage 

 similar to the young of the sky lark in its first dress, having all the back, the scapulars 

 and the two middle feathers of the tail edged with cream-colour. Can this bird have 

 been bred in this country ? for, though full grown, it seems almost too young to have 

 travelled far. It will go into Mr. Monk's beautiful collection at Lewes. 



Ortolan Bunting {Emberiza hortulana). A fine male was captured, by the aid of 

 bird-lime, by a young gentleman in the Dyke Road, near Brighton, on the 30lh of 

 September : it was excessively fat when skinned. 



Lapland Bunting {Emberiza lapponica). A fine young male was captured at 

 Brighton on the 6th of October. — Frederick Bond. 



Second Occurrence of the Scarlet Bullfinch, near London. — On Monday last 

 I saw a fine young female of the scarlet bullfinch that was taken near Caen Wood, 

 Hampstead, by a bird-catcher, on the 6th of October, 1870. I purchased the 

 specimen, and it will go into my collection. It will be recollected that I recorded the 

 first occurrence of this species (near Brighton in September, 1869), in the January 

 number of the ' Zoologist' (S. S. 1984).— Id.; October 12, 1870. 



Be-mired Crossbills. — On Thursday, the 6th instant, as two labourers were 

 returning home from work, in passing through Captain's Close they observed a bird 

 sitting upon the sluice-plank, situate at the lower end of the drain which runs 

 through the field. One of the men, named Goggles, went to the spot, and putting his 

 hat carefully down secured the bird, while at the same time another of a similar kind 

 fluttered in some nettles between his knees: this was also captured. Later in the 

 afternoon another was taken, on the same plank, by a labourer named Clark, and on 

 the following morning one was caught by a boy on the bank, a few yards from the 

 sluice. The birds, which proved to be crossbills {Lnxia curvirosira), had all been in 

 the soft mud of the drain, and were consequently unable to fly. Three of them are in 

 the possession of Mr. Thomas Ellis, the well-known animal and bird preserver of 

 this town, and are alive and doing well. — 'Lynn Advertiser' of October To, 1870. 

 [Communicated by Mr. Gurney.] 



tsightjar near London. — On the evening of the 1st of September a fine specimen 

 of the nightjar {Caprimulgus europceus) was shot while hawking for moths on the 

 skirts of a little copse within two hundred yards of this house, which is situated between 

 Brandesbury Park and the North London Railway, and which is only about three 

 miles from the Marble Arch. Tlie occurrence of this heath-loving bird within such a 

 very short distance of the great metropolis strikes me as being worthy of notice. — 

 C. Bygrave Wharton ; Home Lodge, Willesden Lane, Middlesex. 



[The nightjar has often been seen on Hampstead Heath, and a reliable ornitholo- 

 gist tells me it has once bred there. — JS. Netuman.'] 



Californian Quail in Sussex. — Having read in your paper of one of these young 

 birds being shot near here, I would beg to say that I have taken great trouble, at 

 considerable expense, to rear about sixty of them. They stray away a good deal, but 

 return two or three times a week, and feed in front of the keepers' cottages, fearless of 



