122 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Teesmouth, in August, 1828, so that it would appear to be as much an 

 autumn as a winter visitor. — Hugh A. Macpherson (3, St. James Road, 

 Carlisle). 



Honey Buzzard caught at Sea. — On the 25th November last I 

 received from Great Yarmouth a live Honey Buzzard, which had been 

 caught two days previously on board a ship at sea, upon which it had 

 settled, tired out probably on its migration to our shores. It appeared to 

 be in good health, and showed no sign of fear or wildness in its captivity. 

 I gave it meat, liver, "lights," and the heads of chicken and pheasant, 

 which for the first week or ten days it ate freely, so that I hoped to be able 

 to keep it alive. Its appetite, however, seemed to fall off, and. though 

 tempted with rats, mice, birds, and a worm, it refused to eat, and on the 

 morning of December 19th I found it dead. Mr. W. Lowne, of Great 

 Yarmouth, to whom I sent it for preservation, found the liver affected, part 

 of it being as black as ink. The plumage was a uniform dark rich brown, 

 the legs, toes, and base of the beak a bright yellow, the iris a greyish 

 hazel. The bird frequently raised the narrow-pointed feathers at the back 

 of the head, which formed a crest, a peculiarity I do not find mentioned by 

 Yarrell. When approached it often made a noise in its throat somewhat 

 resembling that made by a hen. — Hugh Turner (Ipswich). 



Birds of the Banbury District. — Under this title the Banbury Natural 

 History Society has recently published in pamphlet form (pp. 28) a list, 

 by Messrs. Aplin, of the birds which have been procured or observed 

 within a radius of six miles of the head-quarters of the Society. The 

 district consists for the most part of land in a high state of cultivation, 

 small fields with thick hedgerows, fairly well timbered ; but, although it 

 lacks the wild character of some more favoured localities, it embraces such 

 features as Tadmartou and Wigginton Heaths, the valley of the Cherwell, 

 with its numerous tributaries so attractive to aquatic species, and Clatter- 

 cutt Reservoir, where the Great Crested Grebe breeds. The list com- 

 prises 180 species, of which the most noteworthy have been already at 

 various times reported on by Messrs. Aplin in the pages of' The Zoologist.' 



Hobby in the Co. Tipperary. — As the Hobby is a rare bird in Ireland 

 (see ' Zoologist,' 1877, p. 471 1, it may be worth while to communicate the 

 following note which I received from Mr. W. Corbet, of Green Hall, 

 Rathcormack, whose passion for falconry and for keeping various birds and 

 animals in confinement is well known in this country. He writes: — "I 

 shot a wild Hobby and saw another some years ayo. I have had trained 

 ones which I got from Castang, of Leadenhall Market, London, and could 

 not be mistaken as to the species. I have been practising falconry for 

 fifty years, and have had all the hawks used in falconry — the Greeuland, 

 Iceland, Saker, Lauuer, Peregrine, Hobby, Merlin, Goshawk, and Sparrow 



