Birds. 723 



Garden warbler May 18 Martin May 28 



Nightingale 18 Peewit 29 



Kestril 19 Cuckoo 31 



Spotted flycatcher 19 Turtledove June 5 



Water rail 25 White owl 19 



Snipe 25 Bunting 19 



Wryneck 25 



The short-eared owl's eggs were laid in the fens of Cambridgeshire. — Alfred Newton ; 

 Elden, Essex, July 29, 1844. 



[There is scarcely any subject connected with Natural History, more interesting 

 than the nidification of birds, and a statement of dates upon this subject, from 

 different localities would be highly valuable. The compilation of such lists requires 

 very great care. In Mr. Newton's list, some of the days appear to me very unusual, 

 and rather exceptions to the general rule than indications of that rule. Thus, expe- 

 rience leads me to consider the swift due (so to speak) as an arrival about the 3rd of 

 May, and it surely is a rare occurrence to find it nesting on the 2nd of that month. 

 The nightjar is equally aberrant in Mr. Newton's list ; I have often found its eggs five 

 or six weeks later, and never before June. I cannot consider Mr. Newton's dates in 

 these instances attributable to localities, but rare and noticeable deviations from the 

 usual habits of the birds. — Edward Newman]. 



Anecdote of a Battle between a Hawk and a Weasel. As Mr. Compton, of South- 

 field, Wilts, was walking through a field in the parish with his gun, his attention was 

 engaged by a hawk hovering over what he imagined to be a mouse. After due deli- 

 beration, the bird suddenly made a dart at its intended victim, which proved to be a 

 weasel. The old adage, " Catch a weasel asleep," held good in this instance ; the wea- 

 sel saw his danger, and instantly seized the hawk by the head. A severe struggle here 

 ensued, but at last the hawk succeeded in disengaging himself, and got away. No- 

 thing daunted, however, he returned to the conflict, as game as at first; the struggle 

 then recommenced, and very soon after the weasel was seen dragging the dead hawk 

 towards the hedge, wh^n Mr. Compton shot the weasel, and found the hawk as before 

 described quite dead, and his head bitten entirely through in several places. — Hamp- 

 shire Advertiser. 



Note on the Grey Crow. While ascending the Elbe last winter, I observed a ra- 

 ther singular trait in the habits of the grey crow (Corvus Comix), which, although not 

 previously remarked by me, I can scarcely believe to be confined to individuals of 

 Prussian origin. Great numbers of these birds frequent the banks of the river, and, in 

 company with gulls of various species, explore its shores and skim its surface for sub- 

 sistence. It was the latter circumstance which chiefly excited my surprise and drew 

 my attention. I many times saw these crows, while hovering over the surface of the 

 water, suddenly balance themselves, descend, and while their feet were outstretched to 

 meet the yielding fluid, secure their prey with their bills. These are the birds which 

 in Germany retreat most slowly in the open districts before the rigours of a continen- 

 tal winter, and not before they are driven by its severity into habits of much greater 

 familiarity with man and his dwellings than they ever venture to manifest in this 

 country. For the benefit of your zoological nomenclature I may mention that the lo- 

 cal name of this bird in the County Wexford, among the peasantry, is scald crow, and 

 it is one which not unaptly describes his appearance, which is as if his back and breast 

 had been scalded, and all the feathers had fallen off". It is, at least, as much to the 



