5278 Birds. 



the other was brought to me, and proved to be a fine specimen of the egg of the honey 

 buzzard, quile recently laid. I subsequently visited the spot and examined the 

 remains of the nest, which was placed in a trifid fork of the tree at some distance from 

 the trunk, easy of access, and about twenty feet from the ground. Externally it was 

 composed of dead oak sticks, some as large as the finger, with lichens adherent; the 

 inner part was formed of smaller twigs, and the nest was lined with dead oak-leaves. 

 The tree, a muldling-sized oak, stood on the outskirts of a wood called " Sloden," 

 surrounded by holly and yew bushes, in a wild and open part of the forest. The egg 

 in question is very similar in its markings to the first figure in the last edition of 

 Mr. Hewitson's valuable work, and is somewhat less richly mottled than the other in 

 my collection, which I believe came from Sweden. Although I have never before 

 known or heard of an instance of the honey buzzard breeding in this locality, and 

 though it is at all times considered a rare bird with us, T have seen several specimens 

 in various states of plumage which have been shot in the neighbourhood of Fording- 

 bridge, a district which, from its proximity to the New Forest, is rich in objects of 

 ornithological interest. — J. Reuben Baker; Fordingbridge, August 26, 1856. 



Occurrence of Montagus Harrier near Penryn, Cornwall. — A male bird of the year 

 of this species was killed on the grounds of J. S. Enys, Esq., last week. The breast 

 and belly of birds of the year of this harrier, both male and female, are of an uniform 

 yellowish bay, but in the male bird there is a deeper tone of red ; the back of the male 

 is of a deeper brown than the female, and in young birds the longer quill-feathers do 

 not always reach to the end of the tail. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, August 26, 

 1856. 



Extraordinary Varieties of the Common Nightjar. — I have just seen a most singular 

 freak of Nature in the plumage of these birds, rarely, if ever, known to vary, which has 

 occurred in a young pair shot on the 27th of July, near Holt, in this county. The fol- 

 lowing description will perhaps convey to your readers some idea of the curious and 

 beautiful appearance of these novel specimens : — The throat level with the eyes on either 

 side, breast, belly, wings, above and below, and the two central tail-feathers, pure white, 

 under tail-coverts partly brown and white; legs and claws flesh-colour; top of the 

 head, back, and remaining feathers of the tail as usual. The birds are exactly alike, 

 with one exception, that the two white tail-feathers are wanting in the female. — 

 H. Stevenson ; Norwich, August 25, 1856. 



Pheasant feeding on Ivy-leaves. — I have received from Mr. King, of Canterbury, an 

 ivy-leaf (which I enclose), taken with many others from the stomach of a hen pheasant 

 on the 18th of January, 1856. They were not all perfect, many being digested : the crop 

 was quite full of them, and the bird smelled and tasted of ivy, though to all appearance 

 in good condition and quite healthy. There was no snow on the ground, so the bird 

 was not pressed for food, there being plenty of wild blue periwinkle and ground-ivy 

 leaves to be had. None of the leaves appear to have been eaten by insects. The bird 

 was shot off a tree by the keeper, who in the dusk mistook it for a wood-pigeon. My 

 friend, who has been been a sportsman since 1818, and who is a careful observer, never 

 remembers a similar instance of pheasants feeding on ivy. The above, I need hardly 

 say, is the result of my questioning him upon this, to me, unusual circumstance. — 

 William Thomson; 11, Dartmouth Villas, Forest Hill, Sydenham; September 3, 

 1856. 



Occurrence of the Great Bus'.ard (Otis tarda) in Cambridgeshire. — I have waited 

 lor sonic time in the hope that one or other of those gentlemen who most diligently 



