Birds. 4320 



Anecdote of an Eagle. — I beg to forward for insertion in the ' Zoologist ' the fol- 

 lowing curious anecdote, which has been kindly extracted and translated for me, from 

 a Danish newspaper (the ' Foedrelandet ') of the date of April 29th, 1854 :— " A sin- 

 gular circumstance lately occurred at the village of Waab, in South Schleswig. At 

 noon-day a servant-maid was standing at Doctor Dittmann's window, with the youngest 

 child in her arms, when suddenly down came a large bird of prey against the win- 

 dow, smashed it in, and fell motionless on the floor. The Doctor, who happened to 

 be in the room, saw his guest was a dangerous one, namely, an eagle of some species, 

 and twisted his neck for him before he came to his senses. The savage bird, probably, 

 meant to have made prey of the child." — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, Norfolk, May 

 8, 1854. 



Note on the Difference of Weight between the Male and Female of the common 

 Sparrow-Hawk. — A male and female sparrow-hawk were brought to me together a 

 few days since, and it occurred to me that it would be interesting to ascertain the com- 

 parative weight of the two sexes: that of the male proved to be 5 oz., while that of 

 the femaje was 10$ oz., being more than twice the weight of her partner ; so great a 

 difference (though probably not more than usual) is yet, perhaps, worth recording. 

 — Id. 



Note on the Cuckoo carrying its Eggs in its Mouth. — In the Rev. A. C. Smith's 

 interesting paper (Zool. 4285) " On the manner in which parent birds occasionally re- 

 move their eggs and young," that gentleman refers to the Klaas' cuckoo of South 

 Africa, carrying its egg in its mouth, and very naturally infers from analogy, that our 

 common cuckoo may do the same. In proof that such is the fact, allow me to refer 

 to the 'Zoologist,' (Zool. 3145), where a case in point was recorded by Mr. J. O. 

 Harper. — Id. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe at Chichester and Barnes Common. — I am indebted to 

 Mr. Cooper, of 28, Radnor Street, St. Luke's, for the sight of two hoopoes, in the flesh ; 

 the first, a female, shot at Chichester, on the 24th of April ; its crop contained several 

 Aphodii and the small larvae of Lepidopterous insects : the second was shot on the 

 28th of April by a friend of Mr. Atkinson, of Queen Street, Hammersmith. — Edward 

 Newman. 



Occurrence of the Golden Oriole at Godahning. — When riding in a gig by Ockford 

 Pond, on the 10th of April, and looking out for swallows, I was delighted to see a fine 

 male golden oriole pass over my head : although I did not see him settle, there could 

 be no mistake, as the sun shone brightly on his black wings and golden-yellow body. — 

 Waring Kidd ; Ockford Road, Godahning, April 30, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Picus minor), at Turnham Green. 

 — A man, of whom I am in the habit of buying birds, brought me on Saturday last, 

 April 15th, a female specimen of the lesser spotted woodpecker, and to-day he brought 

 the male, which he shot at about the same spot as the other. According to the Rev. F. 

 0. Morris's splendid coloured work on British birds, they are considered rare, but that 

 they sometimes occur in Middlesex. They are pretty little creatures, only weighing 

 about 5 drachms, and measuring 5£ to 6 inches. — John Dutton ; St. Peters Place, 

 Hammersmith, April \9th, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Crossbill near Scarborough. — We have had several of those sin- 

 gular birds, the common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), shot lately in our neighbourhood ; 

 four of them came to me, one male and three females : the male was a very beautiful 



