The Zoologist— April, 1868. H 77 



tlfVe™l°1:: nd ha<1 JUSt em . Plied b ° lh *** at S ° me ducks tbat P-e d over- 

 bhd had , Ln ' y ^T SW °° Ping ° Vei ' him ' Wkhin eas ? sb00ti "S disLnoe. The 

 P men J Z T S6Ve t,,BeS Wilh US matC arOUUd the neighbourhood, but a 



mZ \ ,868. " cau asce, ' taln, has fununate,y evaded -»*r« * ^ 



Kestrelfeediiyjn a Slo W -worm.-I have just read Mr. Gunn's interesting note on 



ave » e 17 ' f, '°f (S - ^ 113,) - AS hG askS if «* ° f the «**« of the'lo logi t 



the W tie f H S ' n ' 1DSt3DCe ; aUh ° Ugh l mUSt "* iD the ™**«™ ™* "garf to 

 the frog the follovv.ng extract from my 'Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire ' 



a matllirr h0 f * I*"'" 1 ' m ^ DOt bC --teresting :-» Some timet L 

 a male kestrel was shot 1B the act of grasping a slow-worm, which it held so tightly 

 th when ,| arrived a t Cookham, from Reading, its feet still retained their hol^n ! 

 withstanding that the victim wis al™ » ti mi ■ , ' 



the kestrel ■-«« *f / sU 7k , I \ iMo ™»S note touches on the food of 



tne kestrel - M.. Sharpe thinks that 'his hawk feeds chiefly on small birds • I think 

 nnce constitute its principal food, although it has occasional been seen cany off 



Lond T ? f P 6S ' SiSklDS a " d g ° IdfiDcheS; and > as a P™ f of its voracity, a 

 London bird-faucer once exhibited a young kestrel which had been killed and p 



devoured by others of its own species." C Birds of Berkshire and Buckingham**' 

 p. 2. Peibaps some gentlemen may wonder why this species appears so early as in 

 he second page of my work, so I may as well now state that my arrangements 

 although followmg Yanell's classification, is based on the admirable plan prop sed y 

 Mr. Newman, in his Appendix to the • Letters of Rusticus on Natural History,' and 

 Re!i e t" t T bild "° tiCed lD "' W ° rk - M ' •"»ge-"»t is as fol.ows:- 



vkifors a d ! ,\ " e , r V1Sit r ; ^ WiDter Visit ° rS; 4 - S ' rin * and autu ™ 

 visitors and 5 Rare and accidental visitors. No less than 230 species will be 



included ,n my ,st,-a fair number for an inland county.-although doubtless many 

 Zruar7l 9 %Z e "*"* ^ ^™- Al ™^ C lark- Kennedy ; Eton, Buck!, 



An Early Thrush's Nest.-On the 12th of March I discovered a song thrush's 

 nest containing two eggs, in a holly tree in Windsor Home Park. It has been a very 

 imld winter, but still it must be admitted that it is an early date for eggs. Nor was 

 th,s the only nest I found, for, at the distance of about two hundred yards from the first- 

 menuoned tree, I lighted upon another nest containing three eggs, upon which the 

 female bird was sitting ; and as I suppose the eggs were laid at the rate of one a day, 

 I take the date of opposition of the song thrush for 1868, in Berkshire, to be the 10th 

 of Match.— Id.,- March 13, 1868. 



Scarcity of the Redwing.-In the 'Zoologist' for March (S. S. 1131) I perceive a 

 communication from a Devonshire correspondent noticing an unusual scarcity of red- 

 wmgs this winter in the neighbourhood of Barnstaple. I have observed the same 

 scarcity in this district, having only once during the season, and that early in 

 November, seen these birds where they have never, within my recollection, been so few. 

 We generally have, in the park here, several flocks all through the winter and early 

 spring. I am disposed to account for their absence by the fact of severe frost and 

 deep snow having last year caused numbers of redwings to perisb.-CYermon* ,• Ravens- 

 dale Park, Newry, March 17, 1868. 



Scarcity of the Redwing.-l can fully corroborate the remarks of Mr. G. F. 

 Mathew on the scarcity of the redwing during the past winter, at least in Bucks and 

 SECOND SERIES — VOL. III. x 



