Birds. 5277 



uncommon occurrence to meet with it in the retired valleys, hawking 

 some deep and quiet stream, of which not a few are to be found even 

 in that land of brawling torrents and rushing mountain-streams, which 

 so often tear along with almost inconceivable velocity, and some of 

 which (as the Dranee) with a fury which must be witnessed to be 

 understood : such impetuous torrents as these I do not think the king- 

 fisher cares to frequent, but I have come upon it in quieter spots some 

 five or six times, and I always see it in the private collections of orni- 

 thologists, several of which I have visited, as well as in the public 

 museums, among the birds of the locality. 



The Little Bittern (Botaurus mimitus). Though I did not see this 

 bird alive, yet I can vouch for the frequency of its occurrence in 

 Switzerland, as I saw the skin in several places, and heard of it many 

 times : I also procured a recently killed specimen near the top of the 

 Simplon Pass on the Italian side. 



The Common Coot (Fulica atra). This bird may always be seen 

 on the waters of the lake near Lucerne, and while the traveller is ex- 

 ploring the wonders of the three covered wooden bridges, — as he is 

 sure to do, — if he withdraws his eyes from the many curious paintings 

 with which their roofs are garnished, and looks out for a few moments 

 on the lovely lake of the Four Cantons, the most beautiful of all the 

 Swiss lakes, he will not fail to see a whole flock of coots disporting 

 themselves in the shallow water. 



But, in addition to those I have enumerated, there are many more 

 of the commoner kinds to be met with occasionally, though nowhere 

 in great numbers ; and of the rarer birds I brought home skins of the 

 buzzard, the great gray shrike and the alpine accentor, all killed on 

 the S. Gothard. Perhaps at a future time I may find more ornitho- 

 logical notes of Switzerland of sufficient interest to send to the 

 ' Zoologist,' but at present I have not the leisure to look over rather a 

 formidable pile of journals, in which my daily observations were 

 recorded. 



Alfred Charles Smith. 



Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, 

 September 17, 1856. 



Nidification of the Honey Buzzard in the New Forest. — On June 3rd, 1856, a boy 

 collecting wood in tbe New Forest, about three miles from Fordingbridge, saw what 

 he called a " buzzard" fly out of an oak tree, and on climbing to tbe spot discovered a 

 nest which contained two eggs: one of these was unfortunately broken in its descent, 



