252 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the morning, and had made a very varied bag, the sport being doubly 
interesting in consequence of the wood not being regularly preserved, and 
being still the haunt of many an animal and bird, such as the Marten-cat 
and Buzzard, which would have received but scant mercy at the hands of 
most owners. Would that there were more such refuges for the destitute 
still to be found! They had sat down to enjoy—and what more enjoyable 
on such an occasion ?—their al fresco luncheon, and had not been long so 
engaged, when one of the boys who had been beating cried out, “I see a 
Marten!” and sure enough there was a fine Marten-cat peering down upon 
them from a Squirrel’s “draw” just above their heads. There was a rush 
for the guns, but my cousin was quickest on his legs, and soon a fine male 
Marten-cat was lying at his feet, which now adorns his rooms as a memorial 
of a most pleasant excursion. I may add that up to this time this wood 
had been a well-known haunt of Martens, and although of course not 
plentiful, they are not considered rarities. I am afraid, however, this will 
not long continue to be the case, but I am sure that every one who is 
interested in the Natural History of our island will say with me, “ The 
longer the better."—A. P. Morrzs (Britford Vicarage, Salisbury). 
{We should be glad if any readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ would enumerate any 
localities where the Marten-cat may yet with certainty be found.—Ep.] 
PurPLe GALLINULE IN NoRTHAMPTONSHIRE.—In addition to the occur- 
rences of the Purple Gallinule in the United Kingdom mentioned by 
Mr. Cecil Smith and yourself in the May number of ‘The Zoologist’ 
(pp. 227, 228), I beg to inform you that a very fine specimen of this bird 
was caught by a navvy on an embankment of the North-Western Railway, 
not far from Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire, and brought to me at 
Lilford, where it is now alive and well in my aviary. I am sorry that, as 
I have not my notes here with me, I cannot give you the precise date of 
this occurrence, but my impression is that it was early in 1873. This bird 
bore no traces of captivity.—LriLrorp. 
Tuer SomeRseTsaIRE PuRPLE GaLLInvLe.—The facts forwarded to you 
by me relative to the occurrence in Somersetshire of the Purple Gallinule 
were supplied me by the owner of the bird, and by a gentleman who is his 
near neighbour. There can be no reason why their statements should not 
be received that one bird was captured and another seen. It is beyond me 
to understand on what grounds the Purple Gallinules, and some other 
birds, which have been obtained in this country should be set down as 
escapes. There is no antecedent impossibility in any bird that can fly 
finding its way to England; there is no great improbability in birds which 
belong to the South European or North African Ornis straggling occasionally 
to this country. It is not easy, it is well nigh impossible, to lay down any 
hard and fast rule, and to pronounce of one bird that it is an escape, of 
another that it ean only be a genuine immigrant. Unless there are the easily- 
