350 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



St. Albans Court, Wingham, writes:— "As to the Woodchat, 

 about three years ago I heard from a birdcatcher at Dover that 

 he had just caught one. I went at once to see it, and learn about 

 it. The bird was in beautiful plumage, all the feathers, tail and 

 wings, perfectly clean. The owner told me that his men had 

 taken it in the warren near Folkestone. That when they saw the 

 bird it entered a dense clump of bramble, going to the bottom, 

 and that they enclosed it in the bramble, and so caught it. I 

 look on it with a certain amount of suspicion." This bird is in 

 Mr. Hammond's collection. Another was seen and shot by 

 Capt. H. W. Hadfield (but escaped wounded by creeping into a 

 hedge) on 14th May, 1857, close to Tunbridge. As it flew past 

 he observed that it had a fly in its beak. The rufous of the 

 head and neck and white underparts were remarked (Hadfield, 

 'Zoologist,' 1857, p. 5685). 



Sussex. — Mr. Edwin Pratt, of Brighton, tells me that he shot 

 an adult male Woodchat on the 4th May, 1866, at Preston, near 

 Brighton. It was seen in the flesh by the late Mr. E. T. Booth, 

 and by Bishop Wilberforce, and was purchased by the latter 

 (' Zoologist,' 1866). See also the 'Birds of Sussex' (p. 39), by 

 Mr. Borrer, who considers that it is the specimen mentioned in 

 • Yarrell ' (vol. i. p. 216). Mr. F. Henniker, of Carcolston Hall, 

 Bingham, Notts, writes me word, " I am quite certain that I saw 

 a pair of Woodchats in the parish of Slaugham (near Crawley), 

 Sussex, in the year 1870, and I think if you knew anyone living 

 in the vale between the Forest Bange of Sussex, and the South 

 Downs, you would be almost sure to hear of one or more pairs." 

 Mr. Thomas Parkin has recorded (' Zoologist; 1892, p. 229) the 

 occurrence of an adult male at Fairlight, near Hastings, in the 

 first week of May, 1892. I am indebted to Mr. G. W. Bradshaw 

 of Hastings for a beautifully executed photograph of this speci- 

 men taken after it was set up. 



Hampshire.—" Jesse quotes from Gilbert White's MS. notes 

 that a hen Woodchat was seen washing at Wellhead, attended by 

 the cock, and that the former was shot." No date is given (Jesse's 

 Gleanings, second series, p. 161). Mr. A. G. More was informed 

 that the Woodchat had bred twice at Freshwater, and that one 

 of the nests with eggs, as well as a young bird shot there in 

 September, 1856, were in the collection of the late Mr. F. Bond 

 (vide ' Zoologist,' p. 6851). The bird (labelled on the back of the 



