7848 



Birds. 



from here, by my friend the Rev. A. Matthews, on the 9th of November. — A. H. 



Hildebrand ; Kibworth, Market Harborough. 



Note on the Goosander. — On Friday, the 6th of December, I walked along 1 our 

 " Beck" for some distance, for the chance of meeting with a duck or two. At a point 

 not far distant from Viscount Downe's " shooting-box," D.inby Lodge, I came 

 quietly upon the bank of the river at a point at which I could command a sight of the 

 water in both directions, at the same instant that I became visible myself to any 

 occupant of the surface. As it happened, immediately below the small bush on the 

 bank, which was immediately below me, was a "dun diver" who did not see me before 

 I saw her. On catching sight of me, already as still as if a statue and not a man, she 

 swam out into the stream quite deliberately, and moved on and on, down wiih the 

 current, watching me as she went. Fearful she would dive if I moved hand or foot, 

 I remained perfectly motionless until, at last, about tifteeu to eighteen or twenty yards 

 from me, she took wing ; and then I shot her. On taking her from the water a good 

 deal of coagulated blood issued from the throat, but nothing else. About an hour 

 after, on removing her from my pocket, I felt some large substance in the gullet, and 

 on extracting it it proved to be a trout of from 7 to 8 inches in length, which had been 

 swallowed tail first, — at least it came up head first, and the last inch and half of the 

 tail and body had a bend in it, — and which T believe had been taken the very instant 

 previous to my appearance on the bank. — J. C. Atkinson. 



Little Anki at \Sudbury. — A little auk was brought to me this morning alive, 

 having been picked up yesterday, in an exhausted state, about a mile from this town; 

 probably it had been driven so far inland by the late severe storms. The bird has 

 died in the course of the day, for want no doubt of its proper marine food, but is 

 in good plumage for preserving. — S. King ; Sudbury, November 18, 186L. 



Occurrence of the Iceland Gull and Rednecked Grebe at Plymouth. — On the 27th 

 of November, when walking through Pljmouth after dark, my attentiou was attracted 

 to some boys swinging about something, which, on nearer inspection, proved to be a 

 gull, and which I immediately recognised to be an immature specimen of the Iceland 

 or lesser whitewinged gull (Larus leucopterus). I, of course, at once secured it, and 

 it is now in the hands of the birdstuffer. In October last a specimen of the red- 

 necked grebe (Podiceps rubricollis) was obtained in the neighbourhood of Plymouth : 

 of late years this species has become very rare. — John Galcombe ; Wyndham Place, 

 Plymouth, December 16, 1861. 



Chit-chat, chiefly Ornithological, from the Isle of Man. — The mole, the toad, the 

 viper and the snake are unknown here, thanks to a pop visit from St. Patrick. 

 Weasels are common, and hedgehogs abound now throughout the island, though 

 quite a recent introduction, and, in spite of an increasing persecution waged against 

 them by the natives, under the strange idea that poor piggie is "veminous!" The 

 noble peregrine still breeds on Manghold Head, and even nearer home (I know one 

 of his nurseries full well), as he did centuries ago, when a cast of hawks ** from 

 Ramsey Bay, in the Isle of Man," was reckoned no mean gift; witness Sir Walter 

 in 'The Betrothed.' The raven, too, is far from scarce, and pert "mag" is every- 

 where. The song thrush and blackbird are abundant indeed, but the former almost 

 entirely deserts us in winter, in company with the skylark; the blackbird remains 

 lingering wistfully over the last of his darling blackberries, and consequently, in a 

 severe winter like the last, endures such hunger-pains as force him, in spite of his innate 

 misanthropy, to have recourse to the crumbs strewn for poor robin on our window- 



