In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 



195 



curate of Teffont Magna, who wrote to me thus on the matter : " I 

 myself never saw the male bird, the female I think I did, but I was 

 by myself at the time, and though I saw it on a tree where the 

 others had also been seen, I never felt truly satisfied in my own 

 mind, that the bird I saw was not a Green Woodpecker, being myself 

 very short-sighted. They were seen, however, last summer in Mr. 

 Wyndham's wood at Dinton, among four or five crab trees, which 

 grew closely together. A gentleman who was staying with me saw 

 them, one on one day, and one on the other, and he felt certain in 

 his mind that they were the Golden Orioles. The female, he said, 

 was greyish-green, while the male had a little black, on otherwise 

 very yellow ground. I have been told that one was again seen 

 this year near the same spot. I at the time said but little for fear 

 of their being disturbed. I do not believe, however, they ever built 

 there, as after a week they seemed to disappear, but I am sure they 

 were not shot." On asking Mr. Wyndham myself about the matter 

 he told me they had been known to breed on Teffont Common, and 

 had undoubtedly been seen there more than once. He has a nice 

 pair of these birds in his collection, but, I believe, not local ones. 

 About the year 1870 a fine cock bird was shot in an orchard near 

 Mere. This bird was stuffed by King, of Warminster, and is now 

 in the possession of Mr. Osborne, of Tisbury. On May 9th, 1870, 

 a beautiful cock bird was seen by Mr. E. Baker, of Mere, an ardent 

 and accurate ornithologist. He observed it in a lane near Bruton, 

 on the borders of this county, between Creech Hill and Cobblesbury 

 Farm. As he was driving down the lane this beautiful bird kept on 

 pitching on a spray of the hedge in front of him, and on his ap- 

 proach it would disappear on the further side of the hedge, and 

 settle again in sight on the sunny side some little way off. In 

 this way he had a perfect sight of the bird, which at last rose and 

 passed directly over his head at a few yards' distance, and he saw 

 it no more. Mr. Hart informs me the bird has not very lately been 

 procured near Christchurch, but it has been known to breed for the 

 last three years in the Isle of Thanet, and Mr. Woodgate tells me 

 he remembers a pair breeding in Enage Park, in Kent, the nest 

 being found with eggs ; the male bird in this case being cruelly shot. 



