4050 The Zoologist— July, 1874. 



9. At page 2848 of the 'Zoologist' for 1871, Mr. Gunn, of Nor- 

 wich, has given a most minute description and measurements of a 

 specimen killed by Mr. F. Borrett in a marsh in the parish of 

 Hickling, but leaves us in uncertainty as to the time of the occur- 

 rence by writing " 10th instant," and not dating his letter. As the 

 terms " instant," "ultimo" and "proximo" convey no idea what- 

 ever to the mind of the reader, I trust my correspondents will 

 henceforth oblige me by discontinuing to use them : the date was 

 the 10th of October, 1872. 



10. In the 'Field' of February 2, 1872, there are two notes on 

 the occurrence of a specimen of White's thrush in Castle Eden 

 Dene on the 17th of January, 1872, communicated by Mr. Sclater 

 and Mr. Johnstone ; and these were reprinted in the ' Zoologist' 

 (S. S. 3019). The following passage is very interesting : — " On the 

 17th of January last Mr. Burdon was shooting in the Dene, when a 

 bird came across him, and, not knowing what it was, he fired and 

 hit it, but it could not be found. He, however, picked up a wing- 

 feather and some breast-feathers, which he brought home. On the 

 31st, a fortnight afterwards, Mr. Burdon was shooting over the same 

 ground, and came upon the bird, and after being chased for some 

 distance it was finally captured by one of the watchers, apparently 

 but little the worse, excepting that the whole of the primary feathers 

 of one wing were shot ofl", which stopped the bird's flight. It was 

 brought home, put into a cage, and as it eats well I hope to be 

 able to keep it alive." — John Sclater. At p. 3041 Mr. Sclater 

 informs the readers of the 'Zoologist' that this bird died on the 

 nineteenth day after its capture, having received greater injuries 

 from shot than was at first expected. "The shoulder-bone," says 

 Mr. Sclater, " had been broken from the blow of the shot (as the 

 flesh was not shot through) ; it had strongly knit together, but was 

 half an inch shorter than the other : the bird was a male, was very 

 bold, and fed from my hand three days after it was caged. It ate 

 well up till the day it died, and would no doubt have lived but for 

 the injuries it had received. It once or twice gave a harsh scream 

 when handled, but I heard no note; it used the perch, always 

 roosting upon it. The markings were all well defined and alike on 

 each side, so far as its damaged state would allow me to judge, 

 the primaries being all shot off one wing ; the third feather of the 

 other wing was also gone, and there were only eight feathers left 

 in the tail." Then follows a most minute description of the bird, 



