THE ZooLocist—May, 1876. 4927 
liable to error, I beg to cite the following instance :—Gilbert White; in his 
‘Natural History of Selborne,’ says, “Rooks do not copulate in trees nor 
on their nests, but on the open ground.” This is not correct, for on March 
a7th I distinctly saw, in two different places, rooks copulating in trees, I 
do not say this is the rule, by any means, but at least it is an exception. 
First heard the wryneck on March 23rd. The ring dove has again taken 
to those graceful undulating motions which they always assume in the 
breeding season.—C.. Matthew Prior. 
Arrival of Swallows and Sand Martins,— Yesterday, on passing a large 
fish pond, where I have for many years past seen the earliest arrivals of 
swallows, at 2 p.m. I could not see one, but on my return, about 4 p.m, 
there were fifty or more swallows, with about half a dozen sand martins, 
busily hawking about over the surface of the pond, which is several acres in 
extent. They are the first I have seen for the year, and the only arrival of 
spring migrants I have yet seen.— Stephen Clogy ; April 18, 1876. 
Great Bustard in Orkney.—You may be interested to learn that a great 
bustard was shot here on March 29. On that date Mr. W. Stephenson, of 
New Holland, Stronsay, seeing a large number of gulls circling over some 
object in one of his fields, and thinking it might be one of his sheep dead, 
went towards them, and discovered the object of their interest to be a large 
and strange bird. It seemed so tame that he attempted to drive it to the 
farmstead, but it at length took wing, and, after flying for about a mile, 
returned over the same field, when Mr. Stephenson killed it with an almost 
vertical shot, at what he considered to be about one hundred yards from the 
ground. The bird coincided in every respect with the description given by 
Yarrell of the great bustard, and the ill-developed plumes on the chin 
showed it-to be a female bird of mature age. The stomach was perfectly 
packed with partially digested grass and green stuff, and the ovary contained 
several eggs in a very early stage of formation. The body was muscular 
and in good condition, but almost entirely destitute cf fat, the total weight 
being nine pounds and three-quarters. The stretch of the wings was four 
feet ten inches and a half; length from tip of beak to tip of tail, two feet 
eleven inches; circumference over folded wings, one foot nine inches and a 
half; and height, with neck slightly curved backwards, two feet six inches. 
—John Bruce ; Kirkwall, Orkney. (From the ‘ Field,’ April 8, 1876.) 
Great Bustard in Orkney.—With reference to the great bustard recently 
obtained in Orkney, I have much pleasure in informing you that it has 
been stuffed, and is now in the possession of Mr. Stephenson, of Stronsay 
Vale, on whose farm and by whom it was shot. Previous to being observed 
in Stronsay it had been seen on an uninhabited skerry by several people, 
and supposed to be an eagle. Tolerably strong easterly winds prevailed for 
three days before its discovery, which might have assisted it in its supposed 
journey from the Continent. I may add that the body, when skinned, had 
