Birds. 2771 



pheasant in tbe plumage of the cock. I have often heard of the change in feather, 

 of course, but do not know whether they have been known to assume the white ring 

 round tbe back and sides of the neck; this one has it very perfectly marked. Perhaps 

 some of your correspondents can give me some information as to this ? — Martin Curt- 

 ler ; Severe House, near Worcester. 



Varieties of the Pheasant (Phasianus Colchicus). — At this moment, Mr. Gornal, 

 of this town, has a pair of pheasants under process of preservation, both of them per- 

 fectly white, except that the cock has one coloured feather under the throat. — Joseph 

 Duff; Bishop Auckland. 



Appearance of the Quail (Perdix coturnix) in January. — In a farm-yard, about 

 four miles from me, a farmer last week observed, as he thought, a partridge feeding 

 with the sparrows upon the grain ; he shot it, and on picking it up the bird proved to 

 be a quail : the bird is in perfect plumage, and bears no marks of having been in cap- 

 tivity. — Martin Curtler ; Severe House, near Worcester. 



Occurrence of the Quail (Perdix coturnix) in January. — There have been three in- 

 stances of the occurrence of this bird during the late severe weather. A pair was 

 seen at Parson Drove on the 16th, the ground at the time being covered with snow; 

 one of them, a male bird, was shot; the other escaped. On the 30th another specimen 

 was shot near March, and tbe following day another was caught alive at Guyhirn. I 

 have also heard of others being taken in the neighbourhood. — T. W. Foster ; Curator 

 of the Museum at Wisbeach. 



Occurrence of the Virginian Colin (Perdix Marylandica) near Tunbridge Wells. 

 — Since my last communication (Zool. 2700) I have seen another specimen of the Co- 

 turnix Marylandica (a male), shot about the same time and place. — Walter W. 

 Reeves; Tunbridge Wells, February 8, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Pratincole (Glareola torquata) in Northumberland. — I have just 

 received a specimen of that rare and uncertain visitor, the collared pratincole ; it was 

 shot at Bedlington, in Northumberland. — Joseph Duff; Bishop Auckland, February 

 9, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Crane (Grus cinerea) in Norfolk. — A specimen of the crane 

 {Grus cinerea) was shot at Martham, in this county, about the end of last December. 

 It appears to be a bird of the year ; the sex was not noted. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, 

 Norfolk, March 13, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Bittern (Ardea stellaris) at Walthamstow. — In January a bittern 

 was shot in Walthamstow. It was first observed by a gentleman to rise from some 

 cabbages in his garden ; he marked it down, and informed a neighbour's gardener, who 

 shot it. — Henry Barclay; Leyton, Essex. 



[I have received numerous other records of the occurrence of the bittern : it has 

 been much more abundant than usual. I have published Mr. Barclay's on account of 

 the propinquity of the locality to the metropolis. — E. Newman]. 



The Snipe (Scolopax gallinago) in South Lancashire. — The snipe, as most people 

 know, is a bird living upon suction ; it inserts its bill into soft earthy substances to ob- 

 tain worms, insects, &c. Now, in South Lancashire, there are what are termed 

 " Mosses,'' large tracts of considerable extent, containing within their compass an im- 

 mense quantity of pulpy material, composed chiefly of decayed vegetable matter, with 

 bushes of the heath plant growing thereon. Here and there in the wettest part of the 

 Moss grow reeds, bullrushes, various species of coarse grass, and a kind of low stunted 

 willow, just the sort of locality a sportsman would declare to be a " a magnificent 



