Birds. — Reptiles, 



5921. 



think, even later than he mentions ; eggs of the greenfinch are, however, often to be 

 found in August, and both this year and last I saw young greenfinches which had not 

 left the nest by the end of the first week in September. The barn owl must also, in 

 some cases, be a very late breeder, as this autumn I saw a young bird, taken from the 

 nest early in September, which was still covered with down, and could not fly in the 

 middle of that month. — JE. J. Tuck ; Wallington, Herts, October 22, 1857. 



Notes on the Sivallow. — The last swallows which I have had the pleasure of seeing 

 here appeared on the 4th of this month, and were watched most wistfully until they 

 were out of sight. They have delighted, T dare say, as much as we have in the glo- 

 rious summer which has lately left us. Their increase has been unusually great : two 

 pairs (chimney swallows) came to my outbuildings in the spring, but they had 

 increased to sixteen before they left. I never see a new house rise hereabout which 

 has not its own swallows during the first or second summer. The rising ground on 

 which this house stands, about a mile from the Thames, is one of their favourite 

 trysting-places in the autumn, and here they gather from the neighbouring country 

 round before they go to roost. The muster this autumn was one of the most interest- 

 ing ornithological conclaves it has ever been my good fortune to witness. On one 

 evening especially they came in countless numbers, and I think even surpassed the 

 multitudes which assemble at some of the breeding-places of the sea birds on the coast. 

 The sky was brilliantly blue, and as far as the eye could see they covered the firma- 

 ment as the stars cover the heavens on a winter night, and as far as the telescope 

 could reach its disk was covered with them. Their cheerful chattering was most de- 

 lightful to listen to : it was one unceasing hymn of praise.- Tliey had come in groups, 

 and chiefly from one direction ; but their departure was in a moment : I had turned 

 round to speak to Mr. Hancock and his sisters, who were delighted spectators of the 

 wonderful scene, and, to the astonishment of us all, they were gone ; in a minute 

 there was not a single swallow left. The concourse was chiefly of chimney swallows ; 

 there were few house martins, and a good many sand martins. House martins are 

 scarce here, and I sadly miss them. There is no better climate in England, and the 

 only way in which I can account for their absence is by supposing that they have dif- 

 ficulty on our gravelly soil in procuring clay with which to build their nests. I am 

 told that the swallows sleep on the willow-beds on the river, and one evening, whilst I 

 was in the low ground between this and the Thames, a cloud of them passed over very 

 near my head in rapid flight. — W. C. Hewitson ; Oatlands, November 15, 1857. 



Occurrence of the Avocet (Recurvirostra avocetta) in Kent. — I have just preserved 

 a fine specimen of this bird for Mr. Gateridge, of Faversham, Kent, shot close to the 

 town. A few years since it was to be found in numbers in this neighbourhood. — 

 James Gardner; 52, High Holborn. 



Concerning a venomous Lizard in Gvjerat. — Can any of the readers of the ' Zoolo- 

 gist' who are learned in the Reptilia give me information concerning a venomous 

 lizard said to inhabit the district of Gujerat, in Hindostan ? Is there indeed upon 

 record any well-authenticated instance of the existence of any such reptile anywhere? 

 Yet such I am assured is the case in the instance to which I refer, and I have it 

 vouched for upon such unquestionable authority as appearsto me to leave no room for 

 doubt upon the subject. My informant, an Indian officer of many years' experience 



XVI. K 



