Birds. 301 



copv of a letter to a lady, a friend of mine, from her dairy-woman. " Madam, — I am 

 very sorry to inform you one of the peacocks is dead. Yesterday he was spreading liis 

 tail, and a hen with a brood of young ducks was near him ; and he caught one of the 

 ducks and carried it several yards in his mouth ; and when the hen heard the duck 

 cry, she flew at the peacock, and struck him on the head, and he fell down and died 

 in ten minutes. He is about five years old." — Thomas Bell; Hornsey, Aug. 26, 1843. 



Anecdote of a Pheasant and Fox. A friend of mine shot at a pheasant and winged 

 it, when his spaniels ran in pursuit of the wounded bird, which he saw running on the 

 ground ; but the pheasant had not gone far, before a (ine fox caught it and ran off 

 with it in his mouth across an open field, and although my friend rated him hard, and 

 the spaniels followed in pursuit, the thief got clear off with his prize. — Wm. Hewett. 



Note on the occurrence of Quails in winter. Whilst hunting on East Ilsley downs 

 on the 12th of February, 1840, I put out a quail from a furze-bush, a most singular 

 occurrence, as these birds generally emigrate in the autumn. This, I suppose, was 

 some wounded straggler. I have, however, known other instances of these birds hav- 

 ing been seen during the winter, and I have heard my father say that he has caught 

 ihem under sieve traps in severe weather about Christmas, at Spoden, Oxfordshire. Id. 



Anecdote of the Partridge. I lately met with a covey of young partridges in a turn- 

 pike road, one of which I caught ; when the old bird, hearing the cry of the young one 

 in my hand, flew fiercely at my legs, and struck at me as a common hen will do when 

 she has chicken. — Id. 



Anecdote of a Partridge and Fox. A sporting gentleman in this neighbourhood 

 has informed me of an amusing anecdote, connected with a fox, which is somewhat 

 similar to that mentioned in one of my former letters; and as the event occurred in the 

 same copse, this was undoubtedly the very fox that exhibited his audacity on the pre- 

 vious occasion. My friend was shooting with a large Newfoundland dog, and killed a 

 partridge in the covert from a covey of four or five : it had no sooner fallen dead to 

 the ground, than a fine old fox seized the wounded bird, and ran off with it in his 

 mouth, notwithstanding that the dog attacked him with great spirit. It is very evi- 

 dent that this animal, which is a fine old dog fox, is immediately on the alert when- 

 ever he hears the report of a gun in the covert, which he has frequented for a long 

 time unmolested. — Id. 



Note on the occurrence of a cream-coloured Grouse. About the middle of last month 

 (August) a cream-coloured grouse was shot in the adjoining county of Northumber- 

 land. The bird, which was regarded as a great curiosity, was sent to be stuffed in 

 Jedburgh, where I saw and examined it. The markings on the plumage were nearly 

 the same as those of the common variety, the ground colour being a cream or light 

 brownish yellow, and the markings of the same colour but darker. The quills and 

 greater wing- coverts were of a bluish grey cast, as was also the abdomen. It was a 

 young bird, and in rather immature plumage; the feathers on the legs just beginning 

 to show themselves, and the head somewhat bare. — Archibald Jerdon ; Bonjedward, 

 September 2, 1843. 



Anecdote of the common Fowl. During the past summer one of our hens chose to 

 " lay away,'' as poultry-women term it, in a neighbouring plantation. Having, as we 

 supposed, completed her number of eggs, she incubated and succeeded in bringing up 

 two chicken. In consequence of having been so long a stranger to the restraints of 

 the hen-house, she became nearly wild, and, with her progeny, which, of course, were 

 completely unaccustomed to domestic habits, roamed the plantations and fields, never 



