Fishes. 3579 



of Derndale, near Hereford, was going his rounds, he came to a spot in the 'Welling- 

 ton ' cover, near to the mansion, where a hawk had plucked some small bird. Shortly 

 afterwards a bird, which he took to be the hawk, rose and darted into the wood. The 

 keeper fired and tilled it, and then discovered that he had shot a woodcock. Retra- 

 cing his steps, he found four young ones, apparently about a week old, and much re- 

 sembling young lapwings, running through the brushwood. The dead bird proved to 

 be a female ; and as her consort could not be discovered anywhere in the neighbour- 

 hood, the keeper took the young ones home, and tried to rear them, but without suc- 

 cess ; they died on the third day. The parent bird and her young were preserved, 

 and are yet in Mr. Clarke's possession." — W. F. W. Bird ; 5, Kings Road, Bedford 

 Row, August 4, 1852. 



" Woodcock's Nest. — A pair of these wanton [sic, ? winter] visitants took up their 

 summer quarters in one of Mr. Cherry's woods at Pilstye, this year, when the hen bird 

 sat upon four eggs, bringing forth three young ones, which ran as soon as hatched. It 

 is rare for these migratory birds to breed in England ; but we suppose they were left 

 behind by the convoy, and preferred staying rather than risk the journey alone." — ' Sus- 

 sex Express,' July 31,1 852. 



Nesting of the Woodcock in Staffordshire. — Within the last few years the woodcock 

 has commenced building on Cannoch Chase. They are like the common snipe, dou- 

 ble brooded, the first laying taking place the latter end of March, the second in June. 

 They choose a similar situation to the pheasant for their nests, near the root of a tree, 

 or the shelter afforded by a small patch of brushwood, the immediate vicinity of water 

 or marshy ground not being considered a necessary qualification. As a matter of 

 course they are strictly preserved. — R. W. Hawkins ; Rugeley, Staffordshire, August 

 7,1852. 



Curious want of Instinct in young Ducks. — I have been always led to imagine that 

 the instinct of animals is never at fault ; I was therefore much astonished to find fif- 

 teen ducks, belonging to a clergyman in this neighbourhood, which had been hatched 

 under one of their own species, and brought up for a short time in a farm-yard, refuse 

 to enter a pond when they were brought to it, and when thrown in, instead of swim- 

 ming, as one would naturally expect, actually running across the water and scrambling 

 up the bank! — E. I. R. Hughes, Curate of Runctonholme ; August 16, 1852. 



Capture of the Sun-fish (Orthagoriscus Mola) at llfracombe. — It may be worth 

 while to record another instance of the capture of this somewhat rare, and in many 

 respects curious fish. One was caught this morning, about 10 o'clock, a quarter of a 

 mile off the mouth of llfracombe harbour, and has been exhibited through the day. 

 It was slowly moving at the time of its discovery, with a waving motion from side to 

 side, "like a man sculling a boat,'' to use the comparison of the sailor who helped to 

 take it ; the back-fin appearing above water. The fish permitted the boat to come 

 close up without exhibiting alarm, nor was he even disturbed when her side came into 

 contact with his bulky person. The fellows made a bowline-knot, and slipped it over 

 his head, tightening it before his dorsal and anal, so that the knot came in the middle 

 of his side. Thus they hauled him in, not without a wetting, for with a flapping ac- 

 tion of his ample fins (again a sort of sculling) he scooped up the water and threw it 



