.VOTES AND QUERIES. 29 



expected to occur." The present announcement, therefore, is of much 

 interest to ornithologists. — Ed.] 



Nesting of the Magpie, — In the last volume of ■ The Zoologist ' 

 (pp. 351, 430) there were notes as to Magpies building in low bushes and 

 hedges. In Norway they nearly always prefer bushes, if procurable. 

 Whilst travelling, in 1890, in the Saetersdal, I observed that — as noticed 

 by Mr. Saunders in his * Manual of British Birds ' — very often the nests 

 were built under the eaves of the houses. In some cases the peasants had 

 placed large props under the eaves for the nest to rest upon ; in others the 

 nest appeared to be built half inside the house, between gaps in the timbers. 

 The Magpie is regarded as a bird of good omen, and it is consequently en- 

 couraged as much as possible to nest near the houses. In one place I saw, 

 in a low fir-tree close to a house, no less than nine Magpies' nests. I never 

 heard before of Magpies nesting in colonies, — S. A. Davies (The College, 

 Winchester). 



Raptorial Migrants in East Anglia. — An unusual number of raptorial 

 migrants have appeared in East Anglia during the past autumn. Short- 

 eared Owls have been more abundant than for some years past, and such 

 a visitation of Rough-legged Buzzards has not occurred since 1876. Mr. 

 Howlett, of Newmarket, has had one from Cambridgeshire and four from 

 West Suffolk. One of these was obtained on Nov. 27th in a singular 

 manner : — " A brace of Greyhounds (writes Mr. Howlett) had been slipped 

 at a Hare, and were racing her along the side of a fence, when between 

 them and the hare a Rough-legged Buzzard flew out of the fence. This 

 took the greyhounds so aback that, losing sight of their hare, they dashed 

 at the Buzzard, and one dog, seizing it by a wing, broke it ; the bird, however, 

 showed fight, and punished its captor severely with beak and talons until the 

 keeper came np and knocked it on the head." The Buzzard was a male bird, 

 in fine plumage, and seemed to me to be very dark in colour. Two more at 

 least were shot in West Suffolk, one at Troston, about Nov. 1st, forwarded 

 to the National collection, and another at Gislioghani. Mr. Travis, of 

 Bury, showed me the latter bird in the flesh, on Nov. 25th ; side by side 

 with it, on his counter, was a female Hen Harrier, shot near Newmarket. 

 The rich fawn and creamy tints of the freshly-killed Rough-legged Buzzard 

 were most beautiful, but they had considerably faded when I saw it again 

 a week later, after it had been skinned. The change was so marked that I 

 was reminded of the difference between a half-open " Gloire-de-Dijon " 

 rosebud and the fully expanded flower. A handsome young Peregrine, 

 which came into my possession, was caught in a trap near Bury on Nov. 

 17th. But the most noteworthy visitant last autumn was a male Spotted 

 Eagle, shot at Sudbourne, in East Suffolk, on Nov. 4th, of which full par- 

 ticulars were given in ' The Field ' of Nov. 28th. — Julian G. TucK(Tostock 

 Rectory, near Bury St. Edmunds). [See Messrs . Pratta note, p. 25. — Ed.] 



