STATUS OF THE WOODCHAT IN GREAT BRITAIN. 351 



case, in Mr. Bond's handwriting, " Shot by Mr. H. Rogers, 

 Freshwater, Isle of Wight, September, 1856"), is now in Mr. R. 

 W. Chase's collection, where I have seen it. " As some pairs 

 are sometimes to be seen [in the New Forest] in the summer, I 

 should not be surprised to hear of its breeding, more especially 

 as Mr. Bond has obtained the eggs in the Isle of Wight " (Wise's 

 * New Forest '). The late Mr. Braikenridge had a nest and eggs 

 from the same source (' Yarrell, Brit. Birds,' vol. i. p. 216). 



Dorsetshire. — Pulteney says, " I have not seen the Wood- 

 chat, but am assured it has now and then been shot in Dorset- 

 shire " (Mr. Mansel Pleydell's 'Birds of Dorset,' p. 17). One 

 was killed at Bloxworth {fide Rev. 0. P. Cambridge, ' Birds of 

 Dorset,' p. 17). Some eggs of the Woodchat in the county 

 museum are stated to have been taken from a Dorsetshire nest 

 ('Birds of Dorset,' p. 17). In June, 1876, Mr. Arthur Lister, 

 " being on the Lyme Regis undercliff with a companion, both 

 provided with good telescopes, observed a male Woodchat perched 

 on one of the bushes which abound on that vast tract of tumbled 

 ground." He made a sketch of the bird while watching it, and 

 carefully noted the colours, which he correctly described in ' The 

 Field,' 8th July, 1876. 



Somerset. — One shot near Bristol, in Somerset, is preserved 

 in the collection of the Rev. A. C. Smith (' Birds of Wiltshire,' 

 p. 123). Another, in the collection of the late Mr. Charles 

 Prideaux, of Kingsbridge, Devon, is stated to have been killed in 

 Somersetshire (' Zoologist,' 1852, p. 3474). 



Devon. — One was shot at Mutley, by Pincombe, of Devonport 

 (Bellamy, ' Nat. Hist. S. Devon,' 1839, p. 200). Another, imma- 

 ture, was obtained at Kingsbridge (' Zoologist,' 1852, p. 3474; Mr. 

 D'Urban's ' Catalogue of Birds of S. Devon '), and was preserved 

 in the collection of the late Mr. Prideaux of Kingsbridge. The Rev. 

 Murray A. Mathew informs me that in the collection at Millaton 

 Hall, Bridstow, he noticed a case containing an adult and imma- 

 ture example of this Shrike, which had been mounted, evidently 

 some years before, by an Exeter birdstuffer named Tucker (MS. 

 notes). A female Woodchat in moult, with plumage much worn, 

 was caught near Plymouth in October, 1866, and was purchased 

 by the late Mr. Gatcombe (' Zoologist,' 1867, p. 557). It is now 

 in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney. Mr. D'Urban, in his 

 ■ Catalogue,' adds, "Another specimen is said to have occurred 



