Birds. 2879 



writes Mr. C. A. Delinar, " and found only this bird, and my brother has been to the 

 spot every day since, but has not seen or heard another." A still more grievous case 

 of extermination is recorded in your last year's volume (Zool. 2528). Four pairs of night 

 herons had, it seems, established themselves on the banks of the river Erme, in Devon- 

 shire, in the breeding season, when, on the 23rd of May, as ill-luck would have it, 

 Mr. C. J. C. Bulteel wended his way through their haunt, " flushed four of them, and 

 in less than twenty-four hours succeeded in securing the whole." About a week af- 

 terwards he " renewed his search, which resulted in his killing two more ;'' and on the 

 22nd of June, he and a friend beat the river for " what he considered the last of the 

 Jlock," and their efforts did not prove unavailing, as " each bagged a bird, making up 

 the complement of eight adult birds, four males and four females." Could anything be 

 penned more distressing to a true ornithologist than these details ? A probable 

 chance of these beautiful birds being permanently established and naturalized in this 

 country, seems to have been cruelly nipped in the bud by this wanton and wholesale 

 slaughter. If these birds had been allowed to rear a progeny, that progeny would in 

 successive generations have been pretty nigh certain to return to their own cradles to 

 continue their succession : with how much greater satisfaction to themselves, and 

 pleasure to your readers, might these gentlemen then have recorded, that under their 

 fostering care such interesting additions had been made to our permanent Fauna. A 

 desire to extend our knowledge of birds, about which so little remains to be learnt as 

 the golden oriole and night heron, cannot be pleaded in extenuation of this persever- 

 ing extermination of them like noxious vermin ; and I trust your pen will not be 

 wanting to arrest the curtailment of our list of British birds by such inconsiderate 

 destruction. — J. P. Willmot; Manchester, July 13, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Redwing (Turdus iliacus) near Norwich, in June. — On the 3rd 

 of June last, a specimen of the redwing was shot in an osier-ground at Heigham, near 

 Norwich. I never before knew an instance of the occurrence of this thrush in Nor- 

 folk, at this season. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, Norfolk, July 13, 1850. 



White Breasted Partridges. — I quote the following from the ' Cambrian News- 

 paper,' which is worthy of a corner in the ' Zoologist.' It runs thus, " Dr. Phillips, 

 of Hampstead, while shooting near Brecon, sprung a small covey of birds of which he 

 killed two brace ; their breasts were snowy white, and round their head was a ring of 

 the same colour." — J. Mcintosh ; Milton Abbey. 



Occurrence of the Glossy Ibis (Ibis falcinellus) near 'Lowestoft. — On the 27th of 

 May last, a very beautiful adult specimen of the glossy ibis was shot, on Blundeston 

 Marsh, near Lowestoft. The bird was a female, but the ova were not larger than 

 small peas. — /. H. Gurney; Easton, Norfolk, July 13, 1850. 



Habits of the Heron (Ardea cinerea). — Has this remarkable fact in the ecooomy of 

 the Heron ever been noticed, that when they are in the neighbourhood of sands that 

 are flooded by the tide, they always make their fishing excursions at low water, when 

 the holes are sufficiently shallow for them to fish in ? I have often noticed tbem, and 

 although the tide daily varies, they are always exact to the time when the water be- 

 comes fordable. — Edward Peacock, Jun. ; Messingham, Kirton Lindsay. 



Tufted Duck (Anas fuligula) breeding in Malham Water. — I observe that Mr. 

 Yarrell, in the third volume of his 'British Birds' (page 352, second edition), under 

 the head " Tufted Duck," says, " I do not remember to have met with any record of 

 their breeding in a wild state in Britain." I will, therefore, avail myself of your 

 columns to inform Mr. Yarrell and ornithologists in general, that last year (1849) 



