80 Fishes. 



pointing out the distinctions between this species and the very com- 

 mon and well-known pied wagtail of this country, various specimens 

 of the true M. alba of Linneus have been obtained in the counties of 

 Middlesex, Sussex and Cumberland. 4. Shore pipit, [Anthus aqua- 

 Hcus, Bechstein). It has been ascertained, by a comparison of spe- 

 cimens, that the A. aquaticus of Bechstein is distinct from the rock 

 pipit of British authors ; and we are indebted to Mr. H. Doubleday, 

 for the opportunity of recording the shore pipit as obtained in this 

 country. 5. Short-toed lark, [Alauda hrachydactyla, Temm.) A 

 single example of this species was caught in a lark-net near Shrews- 

 bury, at the latter end of October, 1841. The specimen is in the 

 possession of Mr. H. Shaw, of Belle-vue Villa, near Shrewsbury. 6. 

 The whiskered tern, (Sterna leucoparela, Natterer). One example of 

 this rare tern has been killed near Weymouth.* — Wm, Yarrell ; Ry- 

 der St., St. James's, February, 1843. 



Note on the occurrence of Woodcocks at Twizell House, in July, 

 1842.— 



" Mr. Selby has also communicated the following notice ; — On the 23rd July, 

 1842, when walking through a straggling whin-covert, on the edge of the moor to the 

 west of Twizell, Mr. Selby was surprised by flushing a woodcock from a small patch 

 of ferns, within a yard or two of his feet; and scarcely had he satisfied himself that 

 he was correct in the bird, when another rose from the same place, which he shot, and 

 which proved to be the male in tolerable feather and condition. No nest or young 

 were discovered, though they might easily have been overlooked on the rough ground 

 where the old birds were disturbed, and no doubt they had remained in the locality 

 for the purposes of nidification, the habitat being peculiarly favourable for such pur- 

 poses, dry ground for roosting, and abundance of springy places at hand. Mr. Selby 

 states that this is the first instance of woodcocks remaining over summer in his imme- 

 diate neighbourhood." — Frorn the Annual Address of the President of the Berwickshire 

 Naturalists' Club, September 28, 1842. 



Note on the occurrence of a Woodcock near Torrington, for fire 

 successire years. — 



" In the year 1833 a woodcock with white feathers in the wings was observed in a 

 cover on the manor of Monkleigh, near Torrington, in the county of Devon. The 

 same bird, or one of exactly similar plumage, re-appeared in the same place during 

 the four succeeding seasons, in which period it was so repeatedly shot at by different 

 persons without eff"ect, that at last it acquired among the country-people the name of 

 ' the witch.' In the year 1837, however, it was killed by John Piper of Monkleigh, 

 while following the owner of the property which it frequented, the Rev. J. T. Pine 

 Coffin of Portledge, who has now the stuffed specimen in his possession. 



" The white feathers are the primary quills and bastard winglets of each wing, the 

 remainder of the plumage being of the ordinary hue. These feathers are all of a pure 



* The particulars appear in the December part of Mr. Yarrell's * History of 

 British Birds.' 



