108 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
and, even where the brood came out, the young birds in many cases died. 
Hence a marked diminution of our resident birds has taken place; but very 
few Swifts, Swallows, and Martins made their appearance during April and 
May, and many of their breeding quarters were quite forsaken.—T Homas 
Brunton (Glenarm Castle, Larne). 
OccurRENcR oF THE Atpixe Swirt in Dervonsnrre.—When out 
shooting along the coast with my brother, on the 4th October, 1876, 
he shot a young specimen of the Alpine Swift (Cypselus melba, Mlliger), 
which was flying with two others in company with C. apus, of which there 
were about a score. We thought they would lodge on the cliff for the 
night, but nothing was to be seen of them next morning. Unfortunately 
the other two never came within gunshot. I have the skin in my 
possession.—H. E. Rawson (The Vicarage, Bramley Common). 
[The occurrence in the British Islands of this fine Swift—which is 
found in Central and Southern Europe, Western Asia, and Africa—has 
been recorded some score of times, during the months of March, May, 
June, July, August, September, and October. The 4th October is a late 
date at which to find the Common Swift still here, but is not unprecedented. 
An Alpine Swift procured in Norfolk was shot on the 13th October, 1831, 
and another was obtained at Hulme, near Manchester, on the 18th October, 
1863. Yarrell, in the Preface to the first edition of his ‘ British Birds,’ 
refers to one killed at Oakingham on the 8th October, 1841.—Eb.] 
OccuRRENCE OF THE Hen Harrier 1x Lonpoy.—A male specimen 
of this bird was picked up, dead, in the grounds adjoining Hereford House, 
Brompton, on the 20th January. One of the workmen in the employ of 
Mr. W. H. Chapman, builder, upon going through the grounds, at an early 
hour, found the bird (which had been wounded in the wing) dead, but the 
blood-stain fresh. The grounds of Hereford House cover an extent of 
about five acres, and contain many lofty trees, upon which there is a 
rookery, and are not at all a likely resort of a Harrier. I imagine the bird 
had probably been wounded in the outskirts of the town, and had dropped 
from exhaustion on the spot where it was found. Mr. Chapman was good 
enough to bring the specimen to me, as it appeared to him an un- 
common bird, and I have preserved and added it to my collection. ‘The 
specimen is in grey plumage, but is not an extremely old bird.—Epwarp 
Harairt (1, Bedford Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick). 
PomaToRHINE SKUA AND OTHER Brirps In BeprorDsHIRE.— One 
specimen only of the Pomatorhine Skua was, so far as I am aware, 
captured in Bedfordshire during the late autumnal immigration of Skuas, 
This one was shot at Ravensham, near Bedford, on the 18th October last. 
A male Goosander was shot on the 2nd December, at Compton Mills, by 
Mr. George Hare. On the 8th of the same month a male Bittern was 
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