Birds. 2703 



will be a very dark green, like the green Ibis, which at a distance looks like dingy 

 black, the head and neck excepted, which is not altered in colour. 



" I am, my dear sir, 



" Most truly obliged, yours, 

 " To Robt. Anstice, Esq." " G. Montagu." 



" Knowle, December 4, 1814. 

 " My Dear Sir, 



" Friend Stork is well and very tame, but does not moult kindly : he is be- 

 coming much darker, and will, I expect, by the spring be all over a green-black. I 

 have been waiting this change, in order to give in a paper to the Linnean Society 

 concerning him. 



"G. Montagu." 

 " To Robt. Anstice, Esq." 



" Bridgwater, December 6, 1814. 

 " Dear Sir, 



" I am glad to find the Leptocephali Morrisii which I supplied you with 

 prove so interesting. 



" I am also pleased to hear that the stork is well, and hope he will put on his 

 best dress before the spring, to enable you to make a favourable report of him. 



" Yours affectionately, 



" Robt. Anstice." 

 " To Geo. Montagu, Esq." 



" Knowle, April 4, 1815. 

 "My Dear Sir, 



" The stork is so much changed in plumage that it would scarcely be known 

 by the drawings taken when first captured. It now better accords with Ardea nigra 

 than heretofore, for at a distance the whole upper parts appear black, but on a nearer 

 view are found to be dark glossy green, except the upper part of the back, which has 

 a resplendence of purple, each feather margined with dark green. As its plumage is 

 now completed, as to the usual moulting, I have sent in a paper to the Linnean 

 Society, with an account of its capture and natural history, as far as I have been able 

 to ascertain them. I have described three intermediate or successive changes. * * 



" G. Montagu." 

 " To Robt. Anstice, Esq." 



Occurrence of the Great Snipe (Scolopax major) at Lewes. — A specimen of this 

 scarce bird was shot in the Levels, near this town, in October last. — /. B. Ellman ; 

 Lewes, December 10, 1849. 



Occurrence of Scolopax Brehtni (?) near London. — On the 27th of December last 

 I shot a snipe exactly corresponding with Scolopax Brehmi in the relative length of 

 the tail-feathers ; and on Saturday (January 5th) I shot another, having the two outer 

 tail-feathers exactly of the same length. In all other respects both of these specimens 

 exactly corresponded with the common snipe. Now supposing the first to be Scolo- 

 pax Brehmi, what is the second ? However, as soon as the skins are dry, I will give 



