3908 Birds. 



the Channel. At all events, the mild climate of our South coast would ensure a 

 supply of insect food during the more rigorous winters of the eastern and inland parts 

 of Europe. — A. G. More; Trin. Coll. Cambridge, May 3, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Continental White Wagtail (Motacilla alba, Linn.) in Sussex. — 

 On the 2lst of this month, I saw and examined carefully five specimens of this bird, 

 four of which— one female and three males — were shot on the 19th of this month, be- 

 tween Shoreham and Worthing - , and the fifth at Hove, near Brighton. They are all 

 in the possession of Mr. Swaysland, Naturalist, Cranbourne St., West St., Brighton. 

 They may be at once distinguished from the pied wagtail (M. Yarrellii) by the fol- 

 lowing leading features : — The head is covered by a distinct hood of pure black, per- 

 fectly defined, and not mixing either with the gray of the back or with the white of 

 the^brehead ; and the white on the cheeks and sides of the neck completely separates 

 the black of the head from that of the throat and breast, there being no black before 

 the shoulders: the sides also are much lighter, and the tail somewhat longer. In the 

 female, there is no mixture of black on the back and nape, which there is in all the fe- 

 males of the pied wagtail which I have examined. This female had the eggs only of 

 the size of an ordinary pin's head, whereas, in the pied wagtail, the eggs are at this 

 time generally as large as or larger than a pea, so that I suppose the former bird to be a 

 later breeder: I have, however, as yet seen but one female. The note is said to dif- 

 fer from that of the pied wagtail. I am not aware of the present species having pre- 

 viously occurred in Britain. — Wm. Borrer,jun.; Con-fold, April 25, 1853. 



Note on the Brambling Finch. — A few days ago T obtained one of these birds from 

 a small flock, which was attending the common chaffinches roosting in some holly- 

 bushes. — J. Johnson; Denby, near Huddersfield, March 8, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Rook (Corvus frugilegus) in Shetland. — I almost forgot to inform 

 you that on the 12th of March (last month) I saw a flock of about thirty rooks feeding 

 on some cultivated land about a mile from my house. Although the rook is a very 

 common bird in England, it is very rare here, as the above are the first I have seen in 

 Shetland. — Robert Dunn; Helister, near Weesdale, Shetland Islands, North Britain, 

 April 11, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe (Upupa Epops) near Selborne. — On Tuesday last, the 

 3rd instant, as I was driving from this place towards Alton, on the very confines of the 

 parish, a fine hoopoe rose from behind a hedge, and flew over it into the road. It con- 

 tinued i's flight before me for about fifty yards, and then disappeared over the hedge. 

 There was a drizzling rain, and I was in haste, so that I could not stop to watch it ; 

 but I shall keep a good look out, in the hope that I may be able to ascertain whether 

 it has a mate, and whether they may possibly breed here. As I am not one of those 

 ruthless collectors who shoot every interesting bird they may find, I shall say nothing 

 about its habitat here, but endeavour to leave it in quiet. You will doubtless recollect 

 Gilbert White's pretty notice of the occurrence of this bird on the very spot on which 

 I can at this moment look out (for I am writing within a few yards of the place where 

 he describes them as as " walking in a stately manner, feeding in the walks, many 

 times in the day"), and which account you will find in his eleventh Letter to Pennant. 

 The whole paragraph is very pleasing. In the very year in which I first came to this 

 place, a pair of hoopoes were seen on the lawn of my excellent friend and neighbour, 

 the Rev. Mr. Snow, of Newton Vallance. Mr. Yarrell, in his * History of British 

 Birds,' mentions Dorsetshire and that line of coast as particularly the haunt of hoo- 

 poes ; and I remember, when I was a very young man, I think about the year 1810, a 



