In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 231 



occasionally seen. Hart has two nice pairs in his collection, killed in 

 the harbour. One pair was killed by a gunner on September 25th, 

 1872, the other pair being shot by Stride, on November 28th, 1879. 

 Besides these a specimen was obtained from the harbour on May 

 4th, 1865; another, on March 20th, 1867, by a fisherman ; and a 

 third, on January 3rd, 1869, by a Capt. Bretton. They are said to 

 be plentiful in Holland, so that it is a wonder they are not oftener 

 met with on our side of the Channel, but perhaps the universal 

 persecution they meet with is sufficient to account for it. 



Himantopus Melanopterus . " Black-winged Stilt." A great 

 rarity, and such a one as nobody could certainly mistake for any 

 other species. Its length of leg is unparalleled in any bird of its 

 size, and is as peculiarly characteristic in flight, as when the bird is 

 on the ground, for, carrying them as it does straight out behind it, 

 they look like some appendage tied on to its body. Hart has a good 

 specimen in his collection, but cannot give date or circumstances, 

 although he has but little doubt that his father obtained it some- 

 where in the neighbourhood. The bird has also been seen in Poole 

 Harbour. 



Limosa Melanura. " Black-tailed Godwit." An occasional 

 visitant in the spring months to Christchurch. Hart tells me they 

 were to be seen in unusual numbers there in 1875, and on May 10th 

 of that year he shot five himself in the Solent. Another was picked 

 up wounded, on the same day, by Montague Baily, Esq., on the 

 shore ; and he was so struck with the beauty of the bird that he 

 made a little grave for it on the shore, and heaping up a little cairn 

 of stones over it, left it there, saying it was too beautiful a bird to 

 molest. Another pair was killed on April 2nd, 1872, in the harbour, 

 but they are not common. I examined an unusually large skin of 

 this species last summer at Mr. Cecil Smith's. I never saw any 

 approaching it in size ; the beak along the upper ridge was more 

 than 4Jin. long ; the wing from the carpus to the tip of the longest 

 quill was 8 fin. ; and the tarsus 3 J in. 



Limosa Rufa. "Bar-tailed Godwit." Much more numerous than 

 the last-named species. It is seen every year in the harbour at 

 Christchurch. About the year 1875 an immense flock of some 



