MISCELLANY. 
47 
stone, &c., in great plenty, 1795.” As regards 44 Mergus cucullatus (258) 26*3,” 
I cannot explain without seeing my MS. Qu., 44 M. castor , Dun Diver (?), 
common near Poole and Wareham,” and 44 several near Blandford, 1776.”— 
J. C. Dale, Glanvilles Wootton , Dorsetshire , Nov. 3, 1837. 
Rough-legged Buzzard ( Falco lagopus) near Scarborough.— We now and 
then receive a visit from this very able forager. A few specimens have 
recently been entrapped in the Rabbit-warrens about Hackness. The keepers 
find it destructive amongst game. It also seems to possess a very lickerish 
tooth, preferring the young game. — Patrick Hawkridge, Scarborough, Aug. 7, 
1837. 
White Variety of the Garden Ouzel ( Merula hortensis). —Mr. John 
Turle, animal-preserver of this town, has in his possession a curious species 
[yarietg. — Ed. WoA] of the Blackbird, the plumage of which is perfectly white. 
The bird had been seen in the neighbourhood of Churchingford for the last two 
or three weeks ; various arts were in vain tried to take it alive, and it was at 
last shot. It is a remarkably fine male, with beautiful yellow bill and legs.— 
Taunton Courier. —[We are, in law-phrase, much indebted to the 44 person or 
persons unknown,” who forwarded us the newspaper containing the above notice ; 
but probably the said individuals are not aware that a fine is imposed for making 
crosses or marks of any kind inside a newspaper transmitted by post. No fear 
need be entertained that we shall overlook these paragraphs in the papers we 
receive.— Ed. Nat.^ 
On Toads being found imbedded in Stone. —In looking over your last 
number (Vol. II., p. 450), I noticed an account of a Toad being found alive 
imbedded in a quantity of dislodged limestone. By the term dislodged lime¬ 
stone I suppose is understood fragments of stone lying together, and the Toad 
found in the middle or at the bottom. Taking this to be the case, I do not 
think it very extraordinary, considering the habits of the animal. I have a lime¬ 
stone quarry in the lower green sand at Maidstone, worked to the depth of eighty 
feet, and in the lowest strata are many cracks and fissures, in which I have 
frequently seen several young Toads, and a small species of Lizard or Eft. 
The Toads are very little larger than a shilling, and seem to live entirely in the 
situation mentioned. There is no communication upwards for air, as the beds 
of stone are covered with loam and gravel; but as some of these cracks are old 
water-courses, there is most likely a circulation of air through them. I think 
they are a different species from the Common Toad. Their colour is chocolate 
brown. I believe no authentic instance of a Toad imbedded in solid stone is 
known, at least in any of the old formations containing fossils of a marine ori¬ 
gin ; but that they have been found enveloped in dislodged fragments with sand, 
&e., hardened around into a substance like stone, is probable. My opinion is, that 
