68 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Curious Accident to a Kingfisher. — The following ornithological 

 incident may be worthy of record in these pages : — In a letter from Mr. 

 Ernest White, of Wear House, in this city, he states : — " I was walking 

 yesterday (Jan. 5th) by the river near Bow Corner, when I observed a 

 Kingfisher {Alceclo ispida) fastened to a tree about twelve feet from the 

 ground. By carefully bending the branch downwards I was able to 

 release it. It was held by the gummy secretion of a chestnut-bud, 

 which adhered very tightly to the breast-feathers. It had sustained 

 no injury whatever. Having satisfied myself on this point, I placed 

 the bird on the back of my hand, where it sat for three or four minutes 

 before flying away." I have never before heard of such an instance of 

 nature using birdlime to entrap a Kingfisher. I may add that there 

 had been several bright sunny days, and that I found the chesnut- 

 buds exuding their gum freely. — H. B. Tristram (Durham). 



Tengmalm's Owl in Northamptonshire. — A good example of Teng- 

 malm's Owl (Nyctala tengmalmi) was shot on Jan. 8th at Apthorpe, in 

 Northamptonshire, and, being sent by Sir J. Crossley to Norwich for 

 preservation, I had an opportunity of examining it in the flesh at Mr. 

 Roberts's shop, where we endeavoured to see the asymmetry of the 

 ears, which, though strongly marked in this species, is very difficult to 

 detect in the exterior " conch." Tengmalm's Owl is a species not 

 included in Lord Lilford's ' Birds of Northamptonshire,' to which 

 county, I presume, it is an addition. — J. H. Gurney (Keswick, 

 Norwich). 



Shoveler in Herts. — Your correspondent, in stating that Spatula 

 clypeata had not previously been recorded from Herts (ante, p. 27), has 

 overlooked some earlier chronicles. The late Mr. J. E. Littleboy, in 

 his ' Notes on Birds observed in Hertfordshire,' records one killed at 

 Wheathampstead in August, 1882 ; and the report for 1887 states that 

 there were from three to five Shovelers' nests every year at Tring 

 Reservoirs. Since Mr. Littleboy's death in 1888, I have not received 

 the Hertfordshire ornithological reports. — 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, 

 Oxon). 



Red Grouse in Surrey. — In reply to Mr. le Marchant's enquiry 

 upon the subject of attempted naturalization of this species in Surrey 

 (ante, p. 27), I may perhaps inform him that, although the actual date 

 of the Duke of Gloucester's essay was 1829, I do not know the year in 

 which Colonel Challoner's introduction took place ; nor have I been 

 able to find out any particulars beyond those appearing in the ' Field ' 

 in 1871. The discussion which took place at that date was started by 



