Natural Histm^y in the Eiiglish Counties. 435 



time mentioned to be an early appearance, and always having observed the 

 first appearance to be on the river, I take the opportunity of noting it. — 

 D. Brentford, Middlesex, April 13. 



Kent. 



Birds (some of them rare^ shot and collected in the immediate Vicinity of 



Dartford, during the last Winter : — 



Strix O'tus, Long-eared Owl. Shot in Dec. Tantalus igneus, Ibis. A beautiful specimen, 



brachybtus, Short-eared Owl. Shot in Oct shot in Blendon Hall Park, Bexley, on the 



C6rvus Comix, Hooded Crow. The only spe- banks of the fishpond. 



cimen I have seen in this locality. Hsemdtopus ostr&Iegus, Oyster-catcher. 



L6xia Coccothraustes, Hawfinch. Rather nu- X^rus marinus, Black-backed Gull, 



merous this winter and the last. naeVius, the Wagel. 



Fringilla Montifringilla, Brambling. Several ridibundus. Black-headed Gull. 



came under my observation. cinerkrius. Red-legged Gull. 



Motacilla alba. White Wagtail ; and ikf^rgus Merganser, Goosander. Erith marshes, 



Bo^rula, Grey Wagtail. Both these remain Castor, Dun diver. Dartford marshes. 



all the winter with us. alb^Uus, Smew. Dartford marshes. 



Rubdtra, Whinchat; and .4'*nas Cygnus, Wild Swan. 



Ri^bicola, Stonechat. Both found on Dart- fftspa! Velvet Duck, 



ford Heath every month in the year. nigra. Scoter. 



Charkdrius pluviklis. Golden Plover. Male and Marilla, Scaup Duck. Male and female. 



female. Tadorna, Sheldrake. 



A'xAea. major, Heron. A fine full-plumaged acuta. Sea Pheasant. 



male.* The last all shot on Dartford marshes, 

 stellkris. Bittern. Scarce with us. 



P.S. — Although I have personally, for the last three years, anxiously 

 sought after, on Dartford Heath, Bexley Heath, and elsewhere in this neigh- 

 bouring locality, the ilfbtacilla provincialis, or Dartford warbler, it has been 

 without success. The local cognomen of this little bird evidently resulted 

 from chance, and the more indefatigable research of that eminent ornitho- 

 logist and my late townsman Dr. Latham. On Saturday, April 3., I observed 

 three swallows earlier than usual; and to-day heard the wryneck (Funx 

 Torquilla). — April 8. The ilibtacilla Z^uscinia (nightingale) enlivened us 

 with its song for the first time, last evening, in serene moonlight; the 

 -fTirundo riparia (sand marten) appeared to-day. — James C. Hurst, Dart- 

 ford, April 8. 



Orobanche ccBrxllea. — The account of the spontaneous appearance of the 

 -Epipactis latifolia in your Magazine (Vol. II. p. 70.), leads me to send vou a 

 statement of a similar fact respecting what I suppose to be the Orobanche 

 caerulea, and which, in the year 1821, I found abundantly in some of the 

 low pastures, and also some specimens in an elevated dry chalky situation, 

 at Bishopsbourne, in Kent. I had for many years preceding been an assi- 

 duous collector of plants in this and various parts of Kent, and never 

 before saw it, nor have I since met with it again, although my attention has 

 been directed to the fields in which I found it. — Anon. Bishopsbourne, 

 March 26. 1829. 



* I particularly enumerate this bird (which was run down by a boy, and 

 captured in Bexley marshes), from discovering in his stomach a very large- 

 sized mature male M(xs amphibius Linn, (water rat). It had been lately 

 swallowed, occupying, even to distension (with portions of partially digested 

 fish), the ventriculus of the heron. The only injury apparent to the animal 

 was, a puncture made by the beak of the bird in the frontal part of the skull, 

 by which life was destroyed. On referring to the only works I have in my 

 possession on ornithology, no mention is made in any of so large a creature 

 as the rat constituting the food of the J^rdea genus. I think it appears evi- 

 dent (as the bird was in good condition, and other food in the stomach), 

 that, although the winter has been severe, yet necessity did not enforce such 

 means to satisfy its hunger. The size of the oesophagus would also elicit a 

 contradiction to its capability of such distension, if the proof were not posi- 

 tive. No evident cause of its easy capture existed, but the probable one 

 of repletion. 



