702 Birds. 



constantly fed them throughout the day. Her parental care was, however, impru- 

 dent, and her pains ill-bestowed, for her charges would have been much safer where I 

 had placed them. As bad luck would have it a cat found out the houseless family, 

 and quickly destroyed one of the little ones ; and though my servant was in time to 

 rescue the other, it had been so much worried, and possibly injured, that it died the 

 following day. — Edward H. M. Sladen ; Warnford, near Bishop's Waltham. 



Note on the occurrence of the Golden Oriole in Kent. You solicit notes of the 

 occurrence of rarities in Britain. I heard of the specimen of the golden oriole re- 

 corded by Mr. Bartlett as shot at Sandwich ; and last year I rescued another from 

 the dust of a cottage shelf in the village of Ripple, near Walmer. It had been given 

 to a child by a gentleman's servant, but I was unable to trace its history any further, 

 in consequence of the servant having accompanied his master into Scotland. The 

 plumage was much soiled, but on being placed in the hands of Mr. Leadbeater, and 

 cleaned, the bird turned out a fine male specimen. I allude particularly to this bird, 

 from having been told by a friend in Kent, who gave me the authority of the curator 

 of the Museum, Dover, for his statement, that the golden oriole had a nest in the same 

 neighbourhood, (the Oxney plantations, by Kingsdown), two or three seasons ago. I 

 have not had an opportunity of making inquiries, but perhaps some Kentish ornitho- 

 logist may be able to furnish information on the subject. — Id. 



Note on the occurrence of the Waxen Chatterer in Sussex. The only specimen that 

 I ever remember seeing of this native of Terra lgnota in private hands, was at the 

 George Inn, Littlehampton, Sussex, where I met with it in 1839, and was informed it 

 had been obtained in the neighbourhood. — Id. 



Note on the rarity of the Swift at Uppingham during the past season. — This summer 

 the swift has been a mere straggler in this neighbourhood. In a district of villages 

 wherein it is usual to see at least twenty pair, I have observed only one, and that 

 apparently not belonging to the neighbourhood, as they were winging their way across 

 the fields, at some distance from any village. — Wm. Turner ; Uppingham, Rutland, 

 October 16, 1844. 



Note on the late departure of the Swift. On the 1st October last I saw a swift 

 flying near St. Ann's Hill, Chertsey. It was flying about taking its food in the usual 

 manner, not seeming inclined to go to its winter quarters. — F. A. Chennell ; Stoke, 

 Guildford, October 3, 1844. 



Note on the Migration of the Swallow. The following note was made at Catsfield, 

 October 20, 1839. — " In the evening I took a walk, and went as far as Crowhurst, to 

 the hill which overlooks the church. It was a fine evening, and the moon shone mer- 

 rily. I saw a flight of swallows, which passed me in quite an unusual manner, 

 dashing by, almost like a flash of lightning, and darting ahead without any of their 

 customary wheelings and other evolutions ; though they did not move in straight 

 lines, but in a series of curving waves. Were they in the act of departure ?" This 

 was the question that occurred to me, and the above phenomenon does seem to bear 

 upon that often discussed topic, as to the time and manner in which swallows take 

 leave of us. You will, perhaps, be able to give some opinion on this subject. On 

 mentioning what I had seen to a gentleman resident in the village, he agreeably sur- 

 prised me with the information that I was in the parish where formerly lived one of 

 Gilbert White's correspondents, Mr. Markwick, (a name, by the bye, still to be met 

 with among the rural population of that Saxon locality) : and I understood him to 

 say that the same phenomenon had been witnessed there before. I may add, that the 



