340 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The Quail used to breed about East Bourn, and Markwick 

 once fell in with three or four brace one morning in the middle 

 of winter (about Christmas) in a field of turnips (p. 19). To the 

 statement (p. 7) that the Bustard "is sometimes seen on our 

 South Downs," we might add "near Brighthelmstone," on the 

 authority of Gilbert White (' Selborne,' p. 156, ed. J. E. H.) ; and 

 Markwick's statement that he had known one instance of the 

 Thick-knee having been killed in his neighbourhood in winter 

 (p. 20) may be supplemented by inserting the precise date, 31st 

 Jan. 1792, which is mentioned in his note to White's Observation 

 on this bird (Selborne, p. 334, ed. J.E.H.). 



It is not until we come to the Water Birds, however, that 

 any important additions or corrections are furnished by the 

 MS. note-book, which is now before me. 



The first species mentioned in this MS. is the Heron, 

 concerning which Markwick observes : — 



" I have reason to suppose that the Herons, which are frequently seen 

 fishing in the marsh ditches near Pevensey, and all along our sea-coast, 

 convey their prey from thence to the heronry at Penshurst for the support 

 of their young, a distance of, I suppose, thirty miles at least." 



But if the heronry at Hurstmonceux then existed, as pro- 

 bably it did, the Bexhill Herons may well have journeyed thither, 

 or even to Parham, without going so far as Penshurst, in the 

 adjoining county of Kent (see ' Zoologist,' 1872, p. 3265). 



The story of his shooting a Bittern, which, being only 

 wounded, on the ice, none of his spaniels would retrieve (p. 20), 

 is given in greater detail in the MS. The precise locality is not 

 mentioned, but it is said to have been " near a pond which had 

 formerly been a decoy." The nearest decoy to Markwick's 

 home of which we have any information was Katton decoy, at 

 Willingdon, three miles N.W. of Eastbourne, on the property of 

 a Mr. Thomas ; but as this decoy was only " given up about forty 

 years ago,"* the site of the ancient decoy visited by Markwick 

 remains to be determined. 



Of the Woodcock he writes (MS. p. 22) : — 



" Though there are a few instances of a pair having bred here, owing, 

 I suppose, to accident, they undoubtedly leave us in the spring, and repair 



* About 1846, fide Sir B. Payne Gallwey, 'Book of Duck Decoys,' 1880, 

 p. 173. 





