6562 



Birds. 



be distinctly observed. It had a pendant crest falling back, and not erected like 

 the one described in the Plate of the hoopoe in Bewick's ' British Birds.' The white 

 markings on the wings and body were very vivid, there seemed but little black between 

 the white bars, but a dull fawn or reddish brown colour prevailed. After some little 

 time the bird flew to a hedge, and there meeting with a blackbird a fight ensued, the 

 former driving the hoopoe away, who again came and lit where it had before been 

 feeding, and, eventually, went close to the farmhouse and buildings, and then flew off. 

 A similar looking bird, as described by the keeper, had been seen about a month 

 before near a small village about a mile distant, which was probably the same bird as 

 that before mentioned. — W. H. Slaney ; Hatton Hall, near Shrewsbury, May 

 6, 1859. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe near Cambridge. — The other day a labouring man 

 informed me that he saw a gamekeeper shoot, near Foulmire, Cambridgeshire, a 

 curious bird, at the same time asking me to show him a book on Natural History, 

 which I willingly did; he instantly pointed me out the hoopoe (Uupupa Epops), 

 which, upon seeing the bird, proved to be accurate. The same man saw, not many 

 fields off, one of the same birds sitting upon a hedge ; doubtless they were male and 

 female ; the former one when shot was feeding in a ploughed field, and, he says, was 

 very active in its movements. I have since bad one procured near Bottisham, Cam- 

 bridgeshire, April 28th, 1859. — S. P. Saville,Jun., 93, Castle Street, Cambridge, May 

 6, 1859. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe at Dulwich. — A female specimen of the hoopoe (Upupa 

 epops) was shot in this neighbourhood by J. Willis, gardener to Mr. Barclay, of 

 Dulwich Common, in his garden, on the 26lh of last month, and brought to me for 

 the name.— C. Wood; May 10, 1859. 



Extraordinary Situation for a Cuckoo's Egg. — The vestry of my church is 

 a lean-to, the roof running up under the eave of the chancel ; but, as the two roofs 

 are differently inclined, a kind of wedge-shaped space is formed by the eave and wall 

 of the chancel and the coping of the vestry. In this space, on the coping, a pair of 

 pied wagtails (Motacilla alba) last year built their nest, which when discovered con- 

 tained only an unfledged cuckoo. As a projecting rafter closed this space on one side 

 of the coping, and the distance of the eave from the coping was barely 1£ inch, 

 there seemed no room for a cuckoo to enter; but, on examination, I found it might 

 do so on the other side of the coping, which did not extend quite to the next 

 projecting rafter; still it must have been a very confined and inconvenient situa- 

 tion for a cuckoo to deposit its egg in the ordinary way ; and the question mooted in 

 the' Zoologist' (Zool. 1774), "Does the cuckoo carry its eggs?" may fairly be 

 repeated. — William Turner ; Barholme Vicarage, Stainford, May 3, 1859. 



Woodcock's Nest in Norfolk. — A woodcock is at the present time sitting on four 

 eggs in a wood in Runton, near Cromer, on the coast of Norfolk : the nest is among 

 a very few dead ferns, in an otherwise bare spot, under some trees. — T. Foivell Buxton ; 

 Cromer, April 30, 1859. 



Occurrence of the Little Bittern near Cardiff. — A female specimen of the little 

 bittern (Ardea minuta) was run down and captured by some harriers on the moors 

 west of this town, in February last. During its short and miserable captivity, at 

 which period I could not gain possession of it, it was remarkably fierce, darting its 

 beak with extraordinary activity, virulence and pertinacity at anything brought within 

 reach. By its unamiablc disposition and refusal to take food (which, however, was of 



