270 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Notes from the Avon Valley, Hampshire. — Last autumn and 
winter were very unprolific in incidents of bird-life worth recording. 
In the early part of September two or three Greenshanks were shot, 
and at the same time two other birds were killed, which from descrip- 
tion were Bar-tailed Godwits, but I did not see the latter. The wild- 
fowl shooting opened with very fair prospects of sport; home-bred 
ducks were in fair numbers, but as the season advanced the frequent 
rains and weed-encumbered streams caused the river to be in a 
flooded condition most of the winter, so that a near approach was 
often impossible. When a suitable occasion presented itself fairly 
good “bags”’ resulted, but nothing of any rarity was met with, 
such species as Golden-eye, Pochard, Gadwall, &c., being entirely 
absent, on account of the comparatively mild weather. The most 
abundant visitors were Wigeon, of which one very large flock was 
seen during the highest water, but comparatively few were obtained. 
On another occasion a large number of Teal visited the locality, and 
nearly two hundred were killed, but generally these beautiful little 
ducks were scarce, although a number of nests—in their season— 
were reported from a few miles distant. That the Shoveler nested 
in the locality is a certainty, as more than one brood were seen when 
quite unable to fly. Snipe were not so abundant as they were the 
previous winter, and Jack-Snipe were decidedly scarcer. A rather 
large specimen of the Common Snipe was reported as a Great Snipe, 
but I may confidently say it was referable to the commoner species. 
T heard of a single Bittern in two or three places, but possibly it was 
the same bird visiting different localities (although my experience 
points to this species abiding generally in the place selected, if quiet 
and suitable), as I did not hear of its occurrence twice in the same 
neighbourhood, and on careful inquiry I could not learn that a speci- 
men of this handsome species had been killed. 
In the autumn a fine dark female of the Common Buzzard 
(Buteo vulgaris), measuring over four feet across extended wings, and 
weighing nearly three pounds, was killed on an estate where the 
Falconide are supposed to be strictly protected. I suppose if a 
gamekeeper in his rambles with the gun chances to see a large hawk 
within range of his weapon, the temptation to kill becomes irresistible, 
and is not always made known in the country-side generally, except 
through the gossip at the village inn. In this case the facts reached 
the ears of the proprietor of the estate, who casually reprimanded 
his man, whose excuse for murder was that he had seen the hawk 
pounce upon a young Pheasant, and had partly devoured it when 
