3028 Birds. 



from Norwich. A second specimen was seen in company with it, but was not obtained : 

 the one which was killed was shot whilst preying on a hare. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, 

 Norfolk, November 20, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Gyrfalcon (Falco Gyrfalco) in Norfolk. — Whilst shooting at 

 Frimlingham, on the coast of Norfolk, on the 17th ult., several gentlemen and myself, 

 saw a gyrfalcon. He must have been an old bird, as he seemed to us to be almost 

 of a snowy whiteness. This is the second that has been seen in the neighbourhood 

 within the last three years ; the other was killed at Beeston, on the 24th of February, 

 1848, and is now in the possession of Mr. J. Gurney Hoare, of Hampstead. A few 

 days after we had seen the gyrfalcon, two ospreys were seen at Frimlingham, one of 

 which, a very fine bird of this year, was shot, and is now in my possession. — T. Fowell 

 Buxton; Truman's Brewery, Brick Lane, November 19, 1850. 



Falcons hiding their Prey. — I do not know whether it be a general, or if so, a well- 

 known habit of the falcons to hide their prey ; if not, my remarks may, perhaps, be in 

 some measure interesting to ornithologists. I have a young kestrel {Falco tinnunculus), 

 which, when not out in the air, I frequently allow a perch in my own room, where he 

 is sometimes very amusing. Having, about a month since, given him a mouse, he 

 did not eat it all as I expected, but after killing it and eating the head, began to carry 

 the body about the room, and in a few minutes hid it very carefully under one of the 

 window-curtains, which hung down to the floor ; he then left it, and I took him up and 

 set him on his perch ; when in order to satisfy myself as to the cause which induced 

 him to leave his breakfast, I offered him a small piece of meat (his usual food), but 

 he would not take it. He remained tolerably quiet for about two hours, when he sud- 

 denly became restless, and looking across the room flew to the curtain and putting his 

 head underneath drew forth his store and ate it. A few days after this he killed and 

 hid another mouse in the same place, and, when he felt inclined, found it, eat the 

 head and hid the body as before : I have no doubt he would have finished this also, 

 had he been allowed, but I then turned him out, and when he was again admitted, it 

 was too dusk for him to find it. I have had no opportunity of making subsequent 

 observations, but should these be of any value, it will be a source of pleasure to me. — 

 T. S. Carte ; Sidney College, Cambridge, December 16, 1850. 



The Lanner. — I have lately procured the bird mentioned in the notice (which I 

 enclose) extracted from the ' Bedford Times.' I perceive that Mr. Yarrell considers 

 the specimen hitherto procured and called lanner, to be young female peregrine. 

 With regard to the bird here mentioned, Mr. Mantel, bird-preserver, Bedford, informs 

 me it exactly answers Bewick's description of the lanner, with the exception of the 

 mark over the eye to the back of the head being of a kind of sandy instead of white 

 colour. He does not consider the specimen a young bird. 



" Shot, near Bedford, in the neighbourhood of Hawnes, a fine specimen of that rare 

 and valuable bird, the lanner {Falco lunarius). It weighed two pounds and a quarter ; 

 near four feet in the stretch of the wings, and twenty inches length of the body. This 

 highly-prized bird is a native of the south of Europe, and is said by Montagu to fly 

 at the rate of one hundred and fifty miles an hour. Colonel Thornton, an expert 

 falconer, estimates the flight of this bird in pursuit of a snipe to have been nine miles 

 in eleven minutes, without including the frequent turnings. Anderson, in his ' Birds 

 of America,' states that he has seen the falcon come at the report of a gun, and carry 

 off teal not thirty yards distant from the sportsman who killed it, with a daring as- 

 surance as surprising as unexpected. The above specimen is preserved by Mr. Man- 



