Birds. 4253 



the winter, and I have had dozens together upon the lawn, but being much shot at, 

 they will not readily allow any one to come near them. I was, therefore, one 

 day much surprised* to find myself within a few yards of a stock dove, which was so 

 much engrossed by its novel occupation as not to notice my approach. It was busy 

 picking up acorns, one or two of which it swallowed ; but placing its head backwards 

 till the crown touched its back, as I have seen storks do, and leaning back at the same 

 time, so far as sometimes to have to raise its wings to maintain its equilibrium, 

 it dropped the acorn over its own tail. This it did repeatedly, till, tired of watching it, 

 I walked close up to it, when it made a very clumsy effort to fly away, and did not 

 recover itself before it had come forcibly in contact with two trees. The bird had the 

 appearance of being intoxicated. — W. C. Hewitson ; Oatland, March 4, 1854. 



Note on a Hybrid between a Black Grouse and Pheasant. — To the thirteen 

 examples of the black grouse having bred with the common pheasant, I have now the 

 pleasure of adding a fourteenth. At the beginning of the present month, a bird was 

 shot in a large wood, called " Staunton Springs," near Melbourne, by the keeper in the 

 service of the Earl Ferrers. It came several mornings to feed with a number of phea- 

 sants which haunted the wood, aud was very tame. Upon examination, I find it to 

 be a hybrid between the [species which I have mentioned. It resembles in form 

 almost precisely that of the bird represented at page 311 of Yarrell's ' British Birds.' 

 It is somewhat pheasant-like in shape, more especially about the head, but has white 

 tips upon the shoulder of the wings, and the legs are partly feathered. The tail is a 

 sort of compromise between those of both birds, being shorter than the pheasant's and 

 longer than that of the grouse, and fan-like in figure. But how can this union of spe- 

 cies have taken place? The black game is an entire stranger in these parts, no ex- 

 ample, probably, ever having been seen here nor within dozens of miles of us. I should 

 mention that this specimen has been beautifully preserved by Mr. Cook, of Derby, 

 for the Earl Ferrers. — John J. Briggs ; King's Newton, Derby, February 20, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Little Bustard (Otis tetrax, Linn.) in Dorsetshire. — On the 26th 

 of December a fine old female specimen was shot on Fosshill Common, Winfrith, a 

 village situated between Weymouth and Wareham ; it was brought to a bird-stuffer, 

 of Weymouth, for preservation. I do not find any record of this bird having hitherto 

 been obtained in the county, with the exception of a notice supplied me by my friend 

 O. Pickard-Cambridge, Esq., of a female, which was shot some years since in a turnip- 

 field, at Warmwell, about five miles from Winfrith : this bird was sent to Bullock's 

 Museum, and from thence to the British Museum. — William Thompson; Weymouth, 

 February 10, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Little Bustard (Otis tetrax, Linn.) in Lincolnshire. — B. H. 

 Brown, Esq., shot a specimen of the little bustard, in a turnip-field, on Welbourn 

 Heath, Lincolnshire, on the 30th of last January. He brought it to Newark to be 

 mounted, when I had the pleasure of seeing it in the flesh. I may take this opportu- 

 nity of mentioning that a little bustard was shot within eight miles of Newark, in the 

 county of Nottingham, about eight years ago, by Banks Wright, Esq., of Shelton. — 

 W. F. Foottit; Newark, Notts, February 3, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Little Bustard in Norfolk. — I had lately the pleasure of examin- 

 ing, in the flesh, a fine male specimen of this rare visitor ; shot on the 29th of Decem- 

 ber, in a turnip-field, on the road leading from Winterton to Yarmouth. This bird 

 was in good condition, the stomach being literally crammed with vegetable matter, 

 apparently fragments of some large leaf, with a rough surface and serrated edge. The 



