158 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Circus cineraceus. The grass in the neighbourhood of the nest was much 

 damaged and trodden down. The birds frequented the neighbourhood for 

 some days afterwards. Three were seen in a field of sainfoin a quarter of 

 a mile from the clover-field before and after the 24th, and during the course 

 of cutting it, in the month of July, the mowing-machine disturbed 'a large 

 brown hawk.' No nest was found, though Mr. Besent thinks there was 

 one destroyed by the machine. Some time afterwards I saw two Harriers 

 on the wing leisurely beating a stubble-field within half a mile of Kingston ; 

 either birds of the year or females." 



The Great Black Woodpecker is included (p. 64) on the 

 authority of Pulteney, who writes, " Body black, cap scarlet. 

 Shot in the Nursery Garden, Blandford ; also at Whitchurch 

 and other places in Dorset," and Mr. Mansel Pleydell adds : — 



" Considering the wide geographical range of this bird, which inhabits 

 the pine forests of Northern and Central Europe, and occurs also in Spain 

 (fide Lord Lilford), there seems nothing improbable in its reported 

 appearauce in the British Islands ; although recent authorities, notwith- 

 standing the numerous records of its appearance and capture, demur to its 

 claim to be regarded as an occasional visitant to this country." 



In the last number of ' The Zoologist,' as our readers will 

 have observed, Capt. Savile Keid gives a very circumstantial 

 account of the occurrence of a Great Black Woodpecker in 

 Berkshire, seen by one who is familiar with this bird's appearance 

 from having two stuffed specimens of it. 



A curious instance of the instinctive capacity displayed by a 

 pair of Kingfishers in discovering fish which had been introduced 

 in a locality far removed from their usual haunts, and so placed 

 as to necessitate a considerable journey through woods and across 

 downs, is thus described by Mr. Mansel Pleydell : — 



" At the Down House, which stands about a hundred and twenty feet 

 above the valley of the Stour, and a mile and a half distant from the river, 

 the water supply being dependent upon a deep well, the owner, Sir William 

 Marriot, remedied the deficiency by a ' ram ' erected on the Stour, which 

 pumped up the water and conveyed it by underground pipes to the house. 

 This not only satisfied the requirements of the establishment, but enabled 

 him to have some ornamental waterworks and a fish-culture apparatus, from 

 which the fry as soon as they were hatched were removed to a pond of no very 

 large dimensions. It was to this pond the Kingfishers found their way, and 

 committed great havoc amongst the young fish. It is difficult to account 

 for their presence at a spot so far removed from their natural hauuts, uuless 



