Calendar of Natural Phenomena. 4731 



on the 21st, and is stuffed and placed with others in the hall of this 

 house. 



Pochard (Fuligula ferina). Six of these delicious birds, only in- 

 ferior to the canvas-back duck of America, were killed in one after- 

 noon, on the 16th, by a gentleman, a quarter of a mile from this 

 house. There have been other species, but these are all I have myself 

 seen. The genus Fuligula, to which the last three belong, consists of 

 marine ducks of diving habits, which are not usually seen inland, unless 

 pressed by strong necessity. 



The occurrence of the bittern (Botaurus stellaris) should be noticed, 

 as it is a bird fast becoming rare; and, moreover, in the part of the 

 river where it was shot, the cover of reeds, &c, is very scanty for so 

 large and shy a bird. 



It will be seen, in my Calendar for the past month, that from the 

 7th to the 1 7th but one observation was registered. This was to be 

 expected during such a dead season, and, in default of other and more 

 active sources of remark, I found not a little interest in the study of 

 what may be called the " Ichnology of the snow/ 1 In so soft a 

 material the gentlest footfalls, though unheard, leave an impression 

 which betrays the track of many a watchful animal. Of all the im- 

 pressions thus produced, by far the most numerous, and by far the 

 most universal, were those of the wild rabbit (Lepus cuniculus), with a 

 sprinkling of hares (L. timidus), the two hind-feet parallel, and one 

 fore-foot a little advanced before the other, thus goo. There is 

 not a spot, however exposed, where these wary animals do not venture 

 at night: their marks were almost as numerous at the threshold of my 

 door and under my window as among their burrows in the copse. 

 Out in the open fields the cautious grimalkin had stalked, in search, I 

 suppose, of feathered prey; and pairs of minute depressions at regular 

 intervals showed where the little hardy shrew (Sorex araneus) had 

 made a short journey ; but the birds presented by far the greatest 

 variety of footsteps. The marks of the passerine birds in the shrub- 

 beries were comparatively rare : they seem to have confined themselves 

 more to the trees; but in the stubble fields, for acres in extent, not a 

 square inch was left unimpressed by the busy feet of flocks of larks. 

 Almost as numerous, but more circumscribed, were the foot-prints of 

 the starlings. Some few largish footmarks were left by the rooks, but 

 very few, considering their numbers. A zigzag series of impressions, 

 for nearly a furlong in extent, showed where a covey of partridges 

 had been feeding ; while perhaps a dozen impressions of three large 

 spreading toes here and there by the river-side, betrayed the spot 



