NOTES FROM NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 457 



Nov. 14th. My falconer wrote under this date : — " I have not 

 seen a Swallow since 11th; there are a great quantity of Bram- 

 blings in the neighbourhood, also Coal, Marsh, Blue, and Great 

 Tits, all feeding on beech-mast." Goldeneye near Tichmarsh 

 Mill, and Short-eared Owl mobbed by Books at decoy. 



Nov. 22nd. Decoyman wrote: — "I saw one Golden-eyed 

 Pochard on decoy on 19th ; the frost is set in very sharp, and the 

 fog is very thick." My falconer wrote under last date: — "Ten 

 Teal on park pond on 14th; since that quantities of Plovers 

 (Green and Golden) passing over, and on 18th from twenty-five 

 to thirty Geese going S.W." 



Dec. 3rd. Eight Siskins caught near Lilford. Capt. J. Vipan, 

 writing under this date, states : — "I killed a Great Northern Diver 

 on the Wash, Nov. 18th — the first I have met with there; it 

 weighed ll^tb. On Dec. 1st I shot a Long-tailed Duck, in 

 immature plumage, at the mouth of this river (Nene). On Nov. 

 16th I saw three male and one female Shovellers; they were very 

 wild, and would not let me ' set up' to them." 



To avoid constant repetition, I shall, for the future, only 

 indicate my falconer and decoyman by their respective initials, 

 R. G. and B. S., at the end of my extracts from their letters. 

 Gamekeepers, D. M. and S. J. 



Jan. 13th, 1888. " A pair of Coots made their appearance at 

 Pilton Bridges (close to the house, at Lilford) on the 2nd ; I have 

 seen them there daily since." — B. C. 



Jan. 17th. "I saw four Brent Geese on 12th."— B. S. 



Jan. 20th. " The four geese as I saw were not the black 

 geese ; they are what I call the Scotch Brent Geese ; they have 

 two or three black spots on the breast the size of a penny- 

 piece." — B. S. The writer has since identified these geese from 

 a picture in Meyer's 'British Birds' as the White-fronted, Anser 

 albifrons, not a very rare bird in our valley. 



Jan. 27th. " ] have only seen one Woodcock this winter, 

 but have seen several falcons, also a Merlin hawk yesterday; 

 another Merlin was seen by my watcher near Lowick a few days 

 ago. I have only seen one lot of Wild Geese this winter — that 

 was ten days ago." — D. M. 



Jan. 30th. I received a Woodcock shot at Lilford on the 

 28th inst, which without feet weighed full 14^ oz., and was the 

 heaviest of thirteen received by us from Northamptonshire, 



ZOOLOGIST. — DEC. 1888. 2 N 



