Birds. 575 



ter having penetrated the pan ; but at the very moment, the bird dropped from its wing 

 breaking, as my friend discovered when his dog had caught it. Had the gun gone 

 off, the pheasant would most probably have been killed outright, as the gentleman was 

 an excellent shot ; but in such a case any one would naturally believe that he had hit 

 his game, although he had actually missed it entirely. — Arthur Hussey ; Rottingdean. 



Anecdote of Young Partridges. A very late nest of partridges was brought to me 

 by a labourer last autumn, having been cut out in reaping ; the person who manages 

 the chicken managed to rear eleven of the birds. As they were very small in Septem- 

 ber, I did not turn them out, but thought I would keep them till the shooting got a 

 little slack, and they would be stronger and better able to take care of themselves. At 

 the end of October they were carried in a close shut-up hamper, and turned out in a field 

 of Swede turnips about a mile as the crow flies, but by the way they were taken, a mile 

 and a half from their former home. In less than a week the person feeding the chick- 

 en, when calling them, was astonished to see seven of the partridges out of the eleven 

 turned out at a short distance off, and afraid to come too near. They were rough in 

 their plumage and in bad keep, and evidently the same birds, as they allowed her to 

 walk up to them, and ate the barley she threw for them. She has seen and fed them 

 ever since, till within the last month or five weeks, when no doubt they began to pair 

 ' and wandered off. These birds had been separated from the hen that reared them a 

 long time, so that she could not have assisted in recalling them, even had they wan- 

 dered towards home by chance, which was not likely, as they must have crossed a rail- 

 road, a public road and a river, and in any other direction they could have wandered 

 without crossing anything to frighten them. — J. W. J. Spicer ; Esher Place, Surrey, 

 May 14, 1844. 



Correction of a previous error in describing the colour of the Heron's Egg. In stat- 

 ing the colour of the eggs of the heron found in Calder wood by Mr. Walker (Zool. 

 364), I find that the single word blue has been inadvertently written by me, instead of 

 pale blue green, or some phrase to that effect. — R. Dick Duncan. 



Note on the occurrence of the Night Heron in Cornwall. A splendid male night 

 heron {Nycticorax europcsus) in full plumage, was shot on the 28th of last month in 

 the fish-pond of my friend the Rev. J. C. Crowley, at St. John's, in the county of Corn- 

 wall. This bird, thanks to the liberality of the above gentleman, is now in my collec- 

 tion, and agrees, with one exception only, with Yarrell's description. The discrepancy 

 is in the colour of the legs, which when fresh were yellow and not green. The num- 

 ber of the elongated occipital plumes does not exceed three. — W. S. Hore ; Stoke 

 Devonport, A'pril 8, 1844. 



Note on the Water Rail. Mr. Yarrell, in his ' History of British Birds,' speaks 

 doubtfully as to the water rail remaining in this country during the winter. The bird 

 is so very retiring in its habits, skulking in the ditches, and if disturbed creeping into 

 the very thickest part of hedges or bushes, that it seldom comes under observation ; 

 never under common observation. From my own experience formerly as a sportsman, 

 I should pronounce it as much at home in England as the water hen, though certainly 

 far less numerous. When in pursuit, during hard frosts, of woodcocks and snipes in 

 the springs and open ditches, I generally, if not always, found one or more water rails 

 if hedges or other cover were contiguous to the water ; from which situations it was 

 difficult, if not impossible, to compel the bird to take wing. I have memorandums 

 of having killed the water rail in December, January and February, besides the dis- 

 tinct recollection of its having been seen (sometimes obtained by others) on other occa- 



