Qu a dt upeds — Bi rds. 4761 



Remarkable act in an aged Cat. — There is at the present time (April, 1855) a cat, 

 twenty-five years old, belonging to the Government House, New Brunswick, who has 

 seen three successive Governors : this cat, who, from her venerable appearance, is called 

 " Granny,'' a few weeks since produced a single kitten : she was much delighted with 

 her offspring, and nourished him with the greatest care for one month. Another cat in 

 the house then brought forth six kittens: as soon as Granny became aware of the fact 

 she took up her son in her mouth, carried him to her neighbour's dormitory, and 

 deliberately dropped him into her box. This feat accomplished, Granny began im- 

 mediately to disport herself, gambolling all over the house, and from that time has 

 never taken the smallest notice of her kitten : meantime the other cat gave a warm 

 welcome to the intruder, and has brought him up with the same tenderness as her 

 own. It is a laughable sight to see the foster-mother with her half-grown son and 

 her own kittens. No wonder Granny was tired of a young family, but the anecdote 

 shows she was in full possession of her faculties. — Communicated by a resident at New 

 Brunswick, through G. S. Kett, Esq., of Brooke, Norfolk. 



Occurrence of Honey Buzzards (Falco apivorus) near Scarborough. — A fine female 

 specimen of this bird was shot at Flamborough on the 2nd of June : the stomach was 

 full of frogs, slugs, &c. ; the ovary did not contain eggs in a very forward state. A 

 most beautiful adult male — a remarkable variety of this variable hawk — was also 

 shot about the same time at Louth, in Lincolnshire: both specimens were bought by 

 C. W. Shepherd, Esq., of Luddesdon, Kent, who has forwarded them to me to be 

 preserved. — Alfred Roberts ; King Street, Scarborough, June 14, 1855. 



Occurrence of the Snowy Owl in Aberdeenshire. — Mr. Green has just shown me, 

 in the flesh, a fine male specimen of the snowy owl, shot in Aberdeenshire on the 24th 

 instant, and sent to him to be preserved. — Edward Newman. 



An Owl laying an Egg after twenty years' confinement. — Having kept a female 

 tawny owl (Strix aluco) in my possession nearly twenty years, she is now in perfect 

 health, and, to my great surprise, laid her first egg yesterday. — Henry Spurr ; West- 

 field House, Scarborough, April 24, 1855. 



Ornithology of the Diggings. — We are quite in the Bush, and have innumerable 

 birds of all sorts and sizes flying about; most beautiful parrots, parroquets, cockatoos 

 by hundreds, and magpies by thousands : the noise made by the latter exactly 

 resembles the tune of " Merrily danced the Quaker's wife," but they never get any 

 further than " Merrily danced," and this over and over again, in all keys, is incessantly 

 kept up all day, and sometimes at night too: then there is the laughing jackass, a 

 bird that makes a horrid noise ; bush turkeys, which fly very high ; wild ducks, cranes, 

 swallows, pelicans, crows, curlews, moorpawks, that say "Moorpawk" quite as plainly 

 as our cuckoo says its name ; but my favourite is a black swan with a white neck ; it 

 is all black except the neck, which is a dazzling white, and makes finer swan's-down 

 than our English bird : it is a rare bird, flies very high in the air, and walks most 

 majestically ; one which settled near me the other day reminded me of the second 

 Mrs. Dombey, so proud, firm and dignified; they tried to shoot it, but did not 

 succeed. — F. Woodroffe ; Jeffreys Dairy Station, near Kyneton, Mount Macedon, 

 Victoria, Australia, January 3, 1855. 



