3830 The Zoologist — January, 1874. 



the little auk was taken alive near the coast : weight, three ounces and a 

 half; plumage black and white ; the sides of the head are white, above the 

 eye a small white spot ; scapulars with white streaks ; secondary quills 

 tipped with white. House martin last seen on the 8th of October. Snow 

 buntings first seen same date. — T. Brunton; Glenarm Castle, Lame, 

 Ireland. 



Note ou the longerity of the Royal Rite. — In the 'Zoologist' for 1865, 

 Mr. Eocke recorded two remarkable instances of the longevity of the royal 

 kite, to which I am desirous of adding a third, less remarkable than one of 

 the cases mentioned by Mr. Rocke, but yet perhaps worthy of notice. In 

 the summer of 1840 I purchased, whilst in Cardiganshire, a young kite, 

 which had been taken a few weeks previously from the nest at the " Devil's 

 Bridge," in that county, and kept it in confinement till the 3rd of December, 

 1873, when it was found dead in its cage, without any previous illness 

 having been observed, except some slight lameness in one leg. This kite 

 was a female bird, and laid two eggs iu April, 1802. It may^ be worth 

 mentioning that on one occasion when a full-grown dead slow-worm was 

 offered to this kite, the bird seized it with avidity and swallowed it whole. — 

 J. II. Gurney ; Northrepps, December 13, 1873. 



Buzzard^ Uobby and Peregrine near Newniariiet. — A buzzard was taken 

 near here last week, and a hobby was trapped on the 2Gth November on the 

 Warren ; when found it was unfortunately too far gone to be preserved. 

 A peregrine falcon was also shot last week at Southminster. — William 

 Ilowlett; Newmarket. — 'Field,' Dec. 0, 1873. 



Fieldfares feeding upon Apples. — Anything unusual in the habits or 

 economy of birds must be interesting to naturalists; ou this ground there- 

 fore I am induced to record a raid upon my orchards by fieldfares during 

 the present autumn. My friend Mr. F. Bond has suggested to me that 

 perhaps the usually earlier clearance of the apples from orchards may 

 account for this fact not having been noticed before ; but this suggestion 

 appears to be effectually disposed of by the counter-fact that in the year 

 1870 my orchards were unvisited by even a single fieldfare, although the 

 apples (a larger crop than in the present year) were left out until within 

 three or four days of the date when lately cleared. The crop was got in by 

 the 12th of November in 1870, and by the 10th of the same month in the 

 present year. The fieldfares first made their appearance about the 1st of 

 November, and were remarkably bold for a bird of such proverbial shyness ; 

 they were in considerable numbers, and the quantity of fruit quickly scooped 

 out by them was quite a caution. Wishing to scare them, as well as to 

 obtain some fine specimens for preserving, I found no difiiculty in getting 

 repeated shots any day, until the last apple was got in. I should mention 

 also that in 1870 scarcely a single blackbird or thrush attacked the apples, 

 while this year these birds were literally in hundreds, being far more 



