iSgi.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



31 



in all orders. New species were briefly noticed, including Hesperia lineola, and Pliisia 

 moneta. The re-appearance on the Cotswold Hills of Lycana avion was mentioned and 

 the capture of other rarieties. Other orders were similarly dealt with, the changes 

 in Magazine Literature briefly noted, and a most interesting address included with a 

 brief notice of the work and death of the late Owen S. Wilson, F.S.C. — F. N. Pierce, 

 Hon. Sec. 



Notes —Vertebrata. 



The Bittern near Warrington. — On 7th December, a Bittern 

 (Botaiirus stellaris), a bird of considerable rarity here, was shot by my 

 brother in a marshy reed bed at Longford, about a mile and a half 

 from the centre of this town. It was about half-past eight in the 

 morning when he saw it. It had allowed him to come close to it 

 before it flew, and its appearance being so unexpected, he was too 

 much astonished for a moment to fire at it, and it got a considerable 

 distance away before he brought it down. It has proved to be a male 

 bird, and was beautifully clean shot. It weighed i lb., 14 oz., 5 drms. 

 Its dimensions were —44^ inches across the expanded wings, and 37 

 inches from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail. It is now with 

 Mr. J. H. Pickin, of Manchester, for preservation. 



About 10 years previously a Bittern was shot on Sutton rifle range, 

 near St. Helen's. The person who shot it knew nothing about it, and 

 threw it on a manure heap, from which it was picked up by someone 

 more intelligent, taken to a taxidermist's, who would have been glad 

 to purchase it, but its fortunate finder refused to sell his prize. 



There is also a Warrington record in " Morris's British Birds" of 

 a Bittern shot on the banks of the Mersey, at Thelwall, in 1854, some 

 36 years ago. — Jos. Collins, Warrington. 



The Kingfisher at Hartlepool. — I obtained a fine specimen of 

 this bird in the beginning of December. There were a pair of them 

 flying about the " stells," as we call the small, sluggish streams about 

 here. No doubt they had been driven down by the hard weather. It 

 seemed a pity to shoot so beautiful a bird, as it is becoming so scarce ; 

 but 1 consoled myself with the idea that if I did not, someone else 

 would. The other escaped my gun, and I have not heard of it being 

 shot, so perhaps it escaped. — J. J. Cambridge, Hartlepool. 



