2146 Birds. 



the purpose of picking up materials for their nests, as well as such stray seeds of corn 

 as may chance to come in their way. — George Lawson ; 212, Perth Road, Dundee, 

 April 8, 1848. 



Anecdote of a Rook. — In the beginning of the breeding-season of the present year, 

 a rook unfortunately got entangled in the thick branches of a large tree, adjacent to 

 Castle Warren, the seat of Robert Warren, Esq., county of Cork. The other rooks, 

 seeing its hapless condition, attacked it, and soon put an end to its existence, notwith- 

 standing the vigorous but ineffectual efforts of its mate to defend it. Since that time 

 the dead body is daily visited by a rook, which also roosts by it every night : this rook 

 is supposed to be the mate ; if so, it is indeed " fidelity in death." — Robert Taylor ; 

 Clifton Ville, Belfast, May 16, 1848. 



Anecdote of a Magpie (Corvus pica). — A magpie in the possession of Mr. C. Bees- 

 ley, of Summertown, near Oxford, having, from the time it was taken, been allowed 

 to go freely about the premises, was lately — on account of its mischievous propensities 

 in the garden — placed in a spacious cage. Although very talkative before, it became 

 totally silent, and, on a greenfinch being introduced into the cage, instantly seized it 

 and tore it limb from limb. — Thomas Prater ; Bicester, April 18, 1848. 



The Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) singing by Night. — On the 2nd of June, last year, 

 in a wooded district about three miles from Ryde, at 11 o'clock, p. m., I was surprised 

 to hear the cuckoo repeating his well-known note with even more than the usual fre- 

 quency, and as I continued riding on I found it was continued without intermission. 

 From this period, during the space of an hour, I frequently returned to the open air, 

 and he still continued his note ; and persons residing on the spot informed me after- 

 wards that he was still continuing his note when they ceased observing him, at 2 a. m. 

 The moon, four nights past the full, had not risen when I first noticed the fact, but 

 the air was still and warm and the twilight bright, and the light was soon increased 

 by the moon's rising. These circumstances, accompanied as they were by the call of 

 the heron — whose return just then was determined by the rising tide — and the lowing 

 of a calf, made the scene anything but like one of night. During the last week I have 

 been reminded of the fact by hearing the cuckoo, during several evenings, give occa- 

 sional calls as late as nine or ten o'clock, and one night as late as eleven. The nights, 

 however, on these recent occasions were more decidedly moonlight. — T. Bell Salter ; 

 Ryde, May 16, 1848. 



Further Note on the Bustard shot in Lincolnshire. — Since the publication of the 

 note (Zool. 2065), a diligent inquiry has been instituted into the right of this bird to 

 be admitted into our list as a voluntary visitor of this kingdom : the result shows that 

 not one of Mr. Fraser's birds has escaped ; and, therefore, that that mode of account- 

 ing for its occurrence is fallacious : no evidence exists against the supposition that its 

 passage hither was voluntary. I have just received a note from its owner, Mr. Hig- 

 gins, who states, that on examination by Mr. Gould, the bird turns out to be Otis 

 Macqueenii, a native of Persia and Western India. A doubt exists whether these 

 two closely allied birds are really distinct ; but the subject is now under the notice of 

 competent ornithologists, and will be again resumed in these pages. — E. Newman. 



Note on the Great Plover (GEdicnemus crepitans). — Mr. Rodd mentions (Zool. 

 2023) the great plover as occurring in the Land's End district of Cornwall only in the 

 winter months. More to the eastward, in the county of Dorset, I have many times 

 endeavoured unsuccessfully to shoot this bird during the summer months ; and I ne- 

 ver remember seeing it in the winter. It breeds every year, though I was never fortu- 



