Birds, 879 



ference to the margins of pools. The finding of a moorhen's nest in a tree has been 

 recorded by an old and accurate out-door naturalist, in Loudon's ' Magazine of Natu- 

 ral History. The passage has been often quoted, but I trust the readers of * The 

 Zoologist ' will not object to its introduction here. " The piece of water called Old 

 Pond, about one mile from Godalming, on the London road, is a most attractive spot 

 to water-fowl ; and an island in its centre is the resort of some of them in the breed- 

 ing-season, and also a variety of other birds, which find it a safe and unmolested place 

 for the same purpose. I have often delighted, in years that are gone, to visit this 

 island and its inmates ; the owner, Robert Moline, Esq., used to allow us free ingress 

 to all and every part of the estate ; a liberty any one with an incipient thirst for a 

 knowledge of Natural History would be sure to avail himself of. One day, having 

 pushed off from the shore, and moored the little shallop to some of the osiers which 

 surrounded the island, T began my accustomed examination. The first object that 

 attracted my attention was a lot of dry rushes, flags, reeds &c, enough to fill a couple 

 of bushel baskets. This mass was lodged about twenty feet from the ground, in a 

 spruce fir tree, and looked for all the world as if it had been pitched there with a hay- 

 fork. I mounted instantly, thinking of herons, eagles, and a variety of other wonders; 

 just as my head reached the nest, flap, flap, out came a moor-hen, and, dropping to 

 the water, made off in a direct line along its surface, dip, dip, dip, dipping with its 

 toes, and was lost in the rushes of a distant bank, leaving an evanescent track along 

 the water, like that occasioned by a stoue which has been skilfully thrown to make 

 ducks and drakes. The nest contained seven eggs, warm as a toast. The situation 

 was a very odd one for a moor-hen's nest ; but there was a reason for it : the rising of 

 the water in the pond frequently flooded the banks of the island, and, as I had before 

 witnessed, had destroyed several broods by immersion." In the instance mentioned 

 by Rusticus, it is to be taken for granted that the nest was built by the bird, and was 

 a matter of sheer design, whether to avoid the rising of the water or not, I will not 

 presume to decide ; but some doubt may reasonably be entertained, whether ducks 

 ever do much in the nest-building way, and whether they do not, by preference, avail 

 themselves of the deserted nests of other birds. Be this as it may, the fact as regards 

 oviposition and incubation being frequently performed in trees, at too great a height 

 to allow of the young falling to the ground without injury, and at too great a distance 

 from the water to allow of their falling into it, is not only indisputable, but of too fre- 

 quent occurrence to be regarded as a mere casualty. The parent birds must be im- 

 pelled by some instinct, which would also provide for the safe carriage of the young 

 to their natural element ; and I confess I am quite inclined to adopt the solution of 

 the problem given in the passage cited by Mr. Fisher, (Zool. 767). — Edw. Newman; 

 2, Hanover Street, Peckham, October 17, 1844. 



Occurrence of Rare Birds in Devonshire. During the last two months several va- 

 luable birds have been obtained in this county, an account of which may be interest- 

 ing to the readers of 'The Zoologist.' Two specimens of Sabine's gull (Larus Sabini) 

 in immature plumage, were shot near Brinham, Torbay, about six weeks since, toge- 

 ther with one of the Iceland gull (Larus Icelandicus). The same neighbourhood has 

 also furnished an alpine accentor (Accentor alpinus). A fulmar petrel (Procellaria 

 glacialis) was obtained last month near Plymouth. Mr. Row was fortunate enough 

 to secure a beautiful specimen of Richard's pipit (Anthus Ricardi) in the Government 

 grounds at Stoke : none of these latter birds have been seen since December, 1842. 



