7932 



Birds. 



to by Gilbert While ('White's Selborne/ p. 175): "I observed in my garden that 

 several magpies came determined to storm the nest of a missel thrush." -The editor 

 observes : " In various places in England and Ireland, a reward is given for their 

 heads at Quarter Sessions." Never baring heard of an instance in this division of the 

 county, 1 am inclined to belies e that such a custom, if it ever prevailed, must have 

 long fallen into disuse ; this, together with the less strict, or less general preservation 

 of game of late years, may account for the greater abundance of the magpie, as well 

 as its gregarious habiis becoming more observable. — Id. 



Three Ra vens feeding on a dead f lare at Hiyharn. — On the 15th of October I shot 

 a hare at Higham, in Suffolk, which was not picked up, and our keeper on going 

 round, about three weeks afterwards, found three ravens devouring it, one of which 

 he shot, aud this is now in my possession. — W. L. Barclay ; Knott's Green, Ley- 

 ton, Essex, February 22, 1802. 



Notes on the Spotted Woodpecker. By Henry L. Saxby, Esq. 



In remarking the unusual abundance of this bird in Cambridgeshire 

 last autumn, Mr. Saville inquires (Zool. 7847) whether it has been as 

 numerous in any other neighbourhood. With regard to its occurrence 

 in Shetland during the months of September and October, I beg to 

 offer such information as may be gathered from the following particu- 

 lars : — In a recent number of the' Zoologist' (Zool. 7754) I recorded 

 the capture of two specimens of the spotted woodpecker (Picus major) 

 in the island of Unst. During the next few weeks many more were 

 killed, not only in Unst but also throughout nearly the whole extent 

 of the Shetland Isles : the wind was blowing steadily from the south- 

 east at the time. I am also informed that at about the same time 

 several were killed in Orkney. 



The sudden and almost simultaneous appearance of large numbers 

 of this species in various localities, where it is evidently considered an 

 uncommon visitor, is a fact well worthy of the attention of orni- 

 thologists, inasmuch as a careful investigation might tend to throw 

 considerable light upon the question of migration. It would be inte- 

 resting to ascertain the proportion of the sexes among those spe- 

 cimens which were obtained, as well as the direction of the wind at 

 the time of their arrival. 



Having heard that woodpeckers only attack such trees as are 

 unsound, I was at first unwilling to kill more than the two already 

 mentioned, but as the leaves began to fall, observing that large por- 

 tions of the bark had been stripped from some of the healthiest and 

 most vigorous of the trees in Dr. Edmonston's garden at Halligarth, I 

 at length obtained a very reluctant permission to shoot as many of the 

 unfortunate but mischievous birds as ventured within the forbidden 



