OCCASIONAL NOTES. 53 
Bustard have visited us during the last ten years. In the previous month 
I saw a fine Hoopoe, which had been shot at Branksome Tower, near 
Bournemouth, on the 15th September: it was in the hands of Mr. Green, 
a birdstuffer there. I also obtained in the spring of last year, from the 
neighbouring parish of Broadchalke, a fine specimen of the Great Gray 
Shrike (Lanius eacubitor), which had been killed in that parish in Haster 
week: it is, as far as I can judge, an adult female.-—A. P. Morrgs (Britford 
Vicarage, Salisbury). 
Tue Tre or Day at wHicnh Birps tay THEIR Eees.—I am inclined 
to think that birds lay their eggs rather earlier than has been stated, although 
not, as some affirm, in the middle of the night, and for this reason :—Some 
time ago I wished to see what time a certain Green Woodpecker laid, and 
for three mornings I went about 5.15, and an egg was always there. The 
next morning I went a little after four o'clock, when she flew out of the 
hole, but there was no egg; in another hour and a half, however, it had 
been et Again, when out in the spring mornings about six o’clock, 
T nearly always noticed that nests previously found had pen an extra egg in 
them.—C. Marrnew Prior. 
Bennrit or tas Wrtp Brrp Prorectioy Act.—Mr. Edward Hart, 
the well-known naturalist, of Christchurch, informed me not long ago that 
in the spring of last year (1876), during May, there was a flock of some five 
hundred Bartailed Godwits in the Christchurch Estuary, which remained 
there for some ten days or a fortnight: they were all in full summer 
plumage, and presented to a bird-preserver a most enticing shot, but 
the Act duly protected them. He had been in the business, he told 
me, many years, and had lived at Christchurch all his life, more than thirty 
years, and had never seen a similar sight before. ‘This in itself speaks 
volumes in behalf of the Act.—A. P. Morrzs. 
ScanpinaviaN Form or THE Dipper in East YorxsuirE.—In my 
communication to ‘ The Zoologist’ on this variety of the Dipper (2ud ser. 
4871) I expressed my opinion that the very few Dippers which had been 
procured in this district would probably turn out to be Cinclus melano- 
gaster. Wnowing that a Dipper had been shot at Hasington, and preserved 
by Mr. Lawton, of that place, when in that neighbourhood a short time ago 
I called in to have a look at it, and my surmise, in this instance, turned out 
to be correct, as it is a fine specimen of the black-breasted Dipper. It was 
shot on the 24th October, 1874.—F. Boyzs (Beverley). 
Rotter 1x IreLanp.—We have much pleasure in being able to record 
what we believe to be the second instance of the occurrence of this bird in 
Treland. A fine specimen has been forwarded to us for preservation, shot 
some miles from Carrick-on-Shaunou. It was observed from the drawing- 
room window, pursued by a number of Magpies, when it was followed by the 
observer and shot. From being much injured internally, we were unable to 
