4760 THE Zoo.ocist—JAnuary, 1876, 
Peregrine Falcon, Great Northern Diver and Wild Geese near Merton 
Hall, Norfolk, —W bile attending to Lord Walsingham’s museum at Merton 
Hall, one of the keepers brought me, on the 4th of November, a fine 
peregrine falcon which had been caught in a trap ; it was a male bird, and 
in fine plumage. A great northern diver was shot on the 7th of November 
on Thompson's Lake, where from the Ist to the 16th I saw wild geese 
‘feeding in hundreds. In the morning the geese would leave the lake, 
flying over the Hall, sometimes hundreds in a flock, to Wretham Mere. 
I have ever seen so many together in England before. When in Califormia 
with his lordship on a Natural History expedition I have seen large flocks 
of these birds, but nothing equal to the numbers that I saw in Norfolk.— 
Thomas Eedle; 40, Goldsinith’s Row, Hackney Road, Loudon. 
Kite, Hen Harrier and Hobby in Nottinghamshire.—During the first 
week in November a very fine specimen of the kite was shot by Mr. 
Charlton’s keeper at Chilwell; it was a female and in very beautiful 
plumage. This hawk, which is now very rare in England, has only oceurred 
on two or three occasions in this county. A hen harrier was shot near the 
Trent Bridge in November; it was a female, and in good plumage- I have 
seen a male of this specics about here all the summer, but never could hear 
if they had nested. In July last I shot a female hobby: it was about 
9 p.m. and quite dusk. ‘The bird was flying about a pond when T first saw 
it: I quite thought it was a nightjar: it was niost probably feeding on 
hats, great numbers of which were constantly flying over the pond during 
the summer evenings.—J. Whitaker; Rainworth Lodge, Mansfield. 
Roughlegged Bazzard in Yorkshire—A specimen of the roughlegged 
buzzard was shot at Kirklevington, near Yarm, on the 26th of October, and 
is now at Mr. Ward’s, the naturalist, for preservation. This bird, with its 
mate, has been seen about here for the last mouth. I send you this informa- 
tion, as it is a bird not often seen in England.—IW. Richardson. (* Field’ of 
November 6, 1875.) 
Curious Capture of a Buzzard.—A few days ago I heard from a game- 
keeper that a large “kite” had been trapped on a farm in this neighbourhood, 
and was being kept alive for me; so this afternoon I called at the place, 
when it proved to be—as I fully expected it would—only a common buzzard. 
It had been taken in a gin set at the mouth of a rabbit-burrow in a thick 
hedge, which seems to be rather a queer place for a buzzard, unless it was 
chasing the rabbit from the outside, and was captured as it dashed down 
after it. It is a young bird of the year, and its leg but little injured, 
although its beauty has been sadly spoilt by the unfortunate manner in 
which both wings have been clipped. — Gervase I. Mathew; H.M.S. 
‘ Britannia, Dartmouth, December 4, 1875. 
Marsh Harrier at Slapton Ley,—A male bird of the marsh harrier, in 
the second year’s plumage, was shot by a keeper at Slapton Ley, on 
