1642 Birds. 



Godalming, Surrey, on the 8th of December, 1846. — W. W. Spicer ; Puttenham, 

 January 27th, 1847. 



Ducks hatched in Trees. — I observed numerous wood-ducks (Anas sponsa) fly out 

 of the trees : this beautiful bird often hatches in their tops, and conducts its young to 

 the water in its bill. — Feathers tonhaugh's * Canoe Voyage,' ii. 209. 



Occurrence of the Glaucous Gull at Ramsgate. — Whilst staying a few days at 

 Ramsgate, I saw two examples of young glaucous gulls ( Larus Glaucus), one of 

 which I succeeded in shooting. The occurrence of this description of gull is by no 

 means common in this part of the country. — D. Henry Fry ; The Willows, Upton, 

 Essex, December 16th, 1846. 



Occurrence of the Little Auk near Downham. — Four specimens of the little auk 

 have been picked up dead in the neighbourhood during December. — C. B. Hunter, 

 Downham, January 6th, 1847. 



Occurrence of the Little Auk near Durham. — " A fine specimen of the little auk 

 ( Mergulus melanoleucos ) was shot on Monday last by Mr. Hunter, on the River Wear 

 near Durham : it is a native of Iceland, and seldom quits its native haunts except 

 when driven away by storms or severe weather : it has occasionally been met with on 

 the coast, but this is only the second instance that it has been found so far inland." — 

 Newcastle Journal, December 5th, 1846. 



Occurrence of the Little Auk in the Moray Firth. — A numerous flock of these emi- 

 grants of the feathered tribe, from the Polar regions, made their appearance in the 

 Moray Firth last week. Although they must have endured many buffeting storms 

 during their long flight, yet they were by no means exhausted, as birds of their class 

 are when driven far from the spot where they are bred. Every stream and burn 

 falling into the frith was discovered to have some of the active little divers, and so 

 careless were they of the presence of man, that in some instances they were taken alive, 

 while others are said to have been found in the interior of houses. Wilson appears to 

 have seen very few of them in America, yet his description is nearly as accurate as if 

 taken from the specimens before us, which are about nine inches in length, and four- 

 teen in extent of wings ; the bill, the upper part of the head, back, wings, and tail, are 

 black ; upper part of the breast and round the back of the head dusky white (black in 

 summer) ; the whole of the lower parts, and tips of the second wings, pure white, with 

 several bars of the same colour on the back ; legs inclining to brown, and above each 

 eye a spot of white. The beak is short and powerful — somewhat similar to that of 

 black game — and admirably adapted for breaking up small crabs and other Crustacea, 

 its natural food, which abound in the frozen seas. About Davis's Straits and Green- 

 land, the ice birds, as they name them, congregate in great flocks, often amusing the 

 sailors in their dreary task of tracking their ships through the lanes of water, and 

 sometimes flying against the ropes and rigging with such velocity as to fall down dead. 

 — Inverness Courier, December 16th, 1846. 



Occurrence of the Little Auk near Cromer. — I have just seen a specimen of the 

 little auk (Yarrell's Birds, vol. iii. p. 358). It was picked up by the keeper in or near 

 Felbrig Park, the seat of William Windham, Esq., on Saturday night last, greatly 

 exhausted. Upon being taken into the house, aud provided with a basin of salt water, 

 it revived, and dipped and washed itself, but died in the course of the night. The 

 singular small spot, of snowy whiteness, over the eye, was most distinctly developed. 

 There was around the throat a band of dingy feathers, about an inch deep, evidently 

 indicating a state of moult.— S. Edward Fitch ; Cromer, December 14th, 1846. 



