b« THE ZOOLOGIST* 



rubbish thrown up by the tide on the edge of the saltings, invariably in 

 company of Larks, the flocks sometimes containing a few Snow Buntings, 

 Greenfinches or Reed Buntings. They appeared to perch even less frequently 

 than the Snow Bunting, and I only once saw them alight on a hedgerow. — 

 G. H. Caton Haigh (Grainsby Hall, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire). 



Ostriches taking to the water voluntarily. — In your review of the 



I Dictionary of Birds," you quote Darwin and Dr. Cunningham in support 

 of the fact of the American Rhea taking to the water voluntarily. I can 

 give another instance of its doing so. On the 25th November, 1892, 

 while riding along a river in Uruguay, which just there was free from 



II monte " in places, I saw about a dozen Rheas swimming across a broad 

 laguna, perhaps rather wider than the Isis at Oxford. The habit is not 

 common, I believe, for a river boundary is usually looked upon as an 

 effective check to the bird's wanderings. The weather was very hot and dry 

 at the time, and this little flock of Ostriches had probably crossed the river 

 in the hopes of finding better pasture, and were going home again 

 disappointed, as I know they belonged to a camp on that side of the river 

 for which they were making. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Early Mention of the Waxwing in England.— Although well known 

 to Sir Thomas Browne, who (as pointed out by Professor Newton in the 

 fourth edition of Yarrell's ' Birds ') noticed this species in a letter to Dr. 

 Merritt, dated Sept. 13th, 1668, the earliest record of its appearance in 

 England seems to be that of two specimens which were killed near York 

 in January, 1680 (old style), and which are described and figured in the 

 4 Phil. Trans.' 1685 (p. 1161, fig. 9), by John Ray, from information sup- 

 plied to him by Dr. Martin Lister. It is interesting, therefore, to find a 

 record almost as early, if indeed it does not refer to the same year, no pre- 

 cise date being given, in the recently published Thirteenth Report (Append. 

 Pt. 2) of the ' Historical Manuscripts Commission.' In that portion which 

 relates to the MSS. at Welbeck Abbey (pp. 295-6) we find that Thomas 

 Baskervill, in some notes on a journey from Oxford to Gloucester, in 

 January, 1682-3, referring to Hosbury Bridge, four miles from Gloucester, 

 writes: — " Here Thomas Stevenson did kill a strange bird [date not men- 

 tioned], which none in the country hereabout or elsewhere had seen before. 

 This strange bird having another by it on the tree where we killed it, is 

 near upon as big as a Wind-thrush ;* upon the head and bill, which some- 

 thing resembles that of a Bull-finch, it hath a fine tuft of feathers of a 

 cinnamon colour ; the feathers of the neck, breast, back, and part of the 



* ' Wind-thrush,' the Redwing ; so called in Ireland (Rutty, ' Nat, Hist. 

 Dublin,' 1772) and ' Winnard ' in Cornwall (Couch, 'Hist. Polperro '). 

 Doubtless a corruption of Wine-thrush (Germ. Wein-drossel), from its fond- 

 ness for frequenting the vineyards. — Ed. 



