The Zoologist— March, 1868. US1 



North g T e Tl Wilh " r^ft gU "- Thl ' S FeUy litt,e hawk is scarce w!lh «• >'n the 

 North of De.on.-G. KMathe*; H.M.S. "Britannia," Dartmouth, February 3, 



JS.lfoTnl'^f v 1 fl " %^7^ n exami ™S the stomach of afemale kestrel, on the 

 J5 h of December last, I found the contents entirely composed of the remains of a fro- 

 .ucludmg the bones of one of the anterior legs almost entire. I think this an unusual 

 occurrence. Have any of .he readers of the 'Zoologist' met with any similar instance? 



I. £.. Orunn; Norwich, January 7, 1868. 



Reply to Captain Hadfield's Note on the Buzzards seen in Kent.-l am very much 



HXl kT\ h adfidd for his , ki ; dness iu offering an opinio - about the « 



t he i, Z r \ , '""!? ma<le fU,ther hiquirieS ' a " d the kee P er •»*. that both 



the birds were ligh ^coloured underneath, and had white feathers on the upper part of 



he tad. Captain Hadfield reminds me that the tad-coverts of the male common 



huzza, are wh.tisb but it is not the tail-coverts that are white in the rough lagged 



buzzard, but the basal part of the tail-feathers, and this white prevails more or l£ a 



d fferen s p e C1 mens, according to the chief writers on Ornithology, but is never absent" 



If the , ai l_eoverts only had been whitish in these buzzards, the white would not have 



.ruck my eye so readdj. No doubt Captain Hadfield is perfectly right in preferring 



the dw .action of the dark bar to that of the white base of the tail, but this la Z 



distinction should not, I think, be set aside. In the two specimens I 'ha Z m Tel 



^ ta P rJlld e b S e a T m0$ \ Str ° ,18,y , mailed - *< is ^ tosee that the white base o^ 

 the ta,l would be observed sooner than the dark bar on the belly, in the case of the 

 hud being seen at a distance, and not immediately over the observers head. All 

 these pent, be.ng considered, I think I am justified in calling these birds rou-h- 

 legged buzzards. It is a pity they did not stay longer to be more closely observed!- 



confn'emenfr' IT^ '" <*>**"»»««-** » »»t unusual for barn owls to breed in 



I bui , To f 7 J r S T' ^ CaUeShaH ' I tept S ° me in a sma11 ™y -hich 

 I bu.I, about four fee by „, feet : three eggs were laid, two of which were hatched, 



and the owlets brought up till full grown.-ZW Svectapplejun.; Eashiny,near 

 Oodalmmy, February 17, 1866. 



field 7 ^'? fl Malf ° rme { B ^-O a the 26th of December I shot a thrush in a 

 field at Lakenham, near this city: the upper mandible of its bill I found was 

 malformed by curving over one side of the lower mandible. Notwithstanding this 

 mishap (which was doubtless caused by some accident when young) the bird was iu 

 good con dition and rather fat.— T. E. Gunn. 



Scarcity of the Redwing in North ZW.-This bird has been remarkably un- 

 common in the neighbourhood of Barnstaple this winter: I do not think I have seen 

 more ban two dozen altogether. I shall be glad to hear if it has been as scarce in 

 any other part of the country, as with us it is usually so plentiful.-^. F. Matkew. 



^ Uff r e 'f ° f Hed9S Accenl0 '- A f™ days since a variety of this familiar 

 species, a female, was brought me for preservation: it was in a rather advanced state 



mid ( ll C p 7n Slt ' "; '"r! bee " kUIed S ° meWhere in this »efcM»urhood about the 



5 coi °, r r? er ; ,le w,10 1 ,e of tbe upper parts of its p ,u,na ^ e were ° f a »««- 



a do" b ,1 H I 6 Sa, " e ; tbr ° at and bre3St gra ^ ish « iDC,inin S t0 dM ^ ile on its 

 abdomen ; bill and legs pale yellowish brown ; eyes much paler than in ordinary 



specimens. Varieties in plumage of this species are, I believe, seldom met with. Two 



