NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 267 



that I came away from office forgetting the bird was lying 

 on my table. 



The following day, being Sunday, I brought it home, 

 compared it hastily with Wilson, made a note of its measure- 

 ment, plumage, &c, and erroneously concluded that it must 

 be a somewhat larger specimen than usual of the female 

 Pigeon Hawk (Falco columbarius) ; under that impression I 

 allowed my little twin daughters (nearly four years old) to 

 carry it into their nursery, where it remained as a plaything 

 for two days. On the evening of the 22nd, further investi- 

 gation discovered to me the error I had committed ; but on 

 seeking for the bird it was nowhere to be found ; and it was 

 only by rummaging the dung-hill by candle-light, that I re- 

 gained possession of it. It proved to be a female specimen 

 of the Sharp-shinned Hawk (Astur fuscus of Audubon; 

 Astur velox of Wilson) ; and, consequently, a new bird to 

 the ornithology of the Bermudas. Wilson's description is 

 very accurate. Succeeded in making a very good skin of 

 this Hawk. 



March 16th. — Mr. Fozard sent me from Somerset, a 

 clean killed specimen of Picus varius, the Yellow-bellied 

 Woodpecker. 



March 22nd and 24th.— Observed an Osprey soaring over 

 White's Marsh. 



April 8th. — While attending my office this morning, my 

 attention was called to two Herons, which had alighted 

 upon a low ledge of rock at the northern end of White's 

 Island, in the middle of Hamilton Harbour. They were 

 of large size (probably Ardea herodias); and, from the cir- 

 cumstance of their allowing boats to pass at no great dis- 



