1124 The Zoologist— March, 1868. 



the stubbles. To-day, December 17th, I saw a flock numbering not 

 less than 150, crowded together along the the top of a close-clipped 

 quick fence. They may be readily distinguished from the house 

 sparrow, even at a distance, by their smaller size, white collar, and the 

 two white bars on the wing ; indeed they more nearly resemble in size 

 the blackheaded bunting of our drains, and at a distance have a certain 

 general resemblance to the male of that species. They are altogether 

 a smaller and weaker bird than the house sparrow : this is very 

 apparent when we compare the feet and claws of these species. Theiv 

 flight is weak and undecided, and their note peculiar, and not as 

 strong and clamorous as that of the common bird. The mingled 

 notes from a flock remind one more of a chorus of linnets than the 

 noisy, rattling gabble of the domestic bird. During severe weather I 

 have seen them in the stack-yards, not associating with the common 

 species, but keeping apart. In the fields the flocks keep together, 

 feeding alone, and not mixing with other birds. Montagu appears 

 to have been the first to note the similarity in the plumage of the 

 sexes. 



Little Grebe. — The fish-keeper brought me, this evening, a little 

 grebe captured on the " beck." It is a bold and fearless little bird, 

 and struck fiercely and repeatedly at my hand when I lifted it out of 

 the basket. The next morning I put the little fellow into my shooting- 

 coat pocket, and went down to the stream, turning it loose in a quiet 

 corner near the osier-beds. The little bird went off at once in a direct 

 line, flying along the surface of the water, its wings moving rapidly, 

 and its feet at the same time working alternately like paddles, the tip 

 of each foot catching the water at every stroke — exactly the same 

 motions as it would have used in diving. It is seldom we have an 

 opportunity of seeing the little grebe fly. 



Herons. — Occasionally I see seven of these birds together on the 

 grass lands in the marsh. My idea is that they spend the winter in 

 the marshes, fishing during the night in the drains, in almost any of 

 which we may see their foot-prints, and sleeping, during the short time 

 they devote to that purpose, near the centre of some fifty-acre field, 

 where it is impossible by any stratagem to get any where near them ; 

 and, indeed, they will hardly permit anyone to stand for a moment and 

 look in their direction without rising and flying off to the " flats," where 

 they are not likely to be disturbed. 



Bernicle Goose. — Small flocks of these geese — here known as 

 " Spanish geese " — seen on the flats and neighbourhood during the 



