61 



On Oct. 2nd an ash tree was struck by lightning at Thompson, 

 beneath which a full-grown chicken was feeding. The bird was 

 not killed, but all the feathers were stripped off one side of it by 

 the electric fluid, and a straight line made down one leg, as though 

 it had been scratched. It nevertheless recovered, and lived to be 

 fatted and killed in the ordinary way. 



Two white House Martins were observed on the lighthouse 

 hills at Cromer on Oct. 6th, and about the same time ' The Field ' 

 mentioned others in Yorkshire. The cliffs of the hills referred 

 to are the annual resort of Martins at the time of their autumnal 

 gatherings. 



On Oct. 12th an Avocet, Recurvirostra avocetta, was shot at 

 Stiffkey. On the 18th a great number of Books were observed 

 by Mr. Patterson to come in from the sea at Yarmouth. 



Two Grey Shrikes were shot at Cley by the Rev. J. R. Ash worth 

 on Oct. 27th, and on Nov. 1st flocks of Greenfinches were 

 reported from Yarmouth by Mr. Patterson. 



The washed-up remains of several Fieldfares, which had 

 perished in trying to cross the sea, were picked up at Yarmouth on 

 Nov. 8th by Mr. Patterson, and about the same date thousands of 

 these birds were observed on the low lands at Acle and Brundall. 



"VERMIN" PAID FOE BY CHURCHWARDENS IN A 



BUCKINGHAMSHIRE PARISH. 



By Alfred Heneage Cocks, M.A., F.Z.S. 



If not too long, the following summary of " vermin," whose 

 deaths were paid for by the churchwardens of one parish in this 

 county, may be of interest. The parish is Hambleden, chiefly 

 celebrated at the present moment as the last resting place of the 

 late Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith, and as the parish from which his 

 widow has chosen her title. 



The southern boundary of the county of Bucks is formed 

 throughout by the Thames; Hambleden is the most westerly parish 

 along the base of the county, except Fawley, which separates it 

 from Oxfordshire. Directly out of the river valley, the whole 

 parish is of an undulating and even hilly character, and covered 

 to a great extent with beech woods. Langley, whose * History 

 of the Hundred of Desborough' (in which the parish is situated) 



