Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/172

144 ever been found in England, when Mr. Yarrell says in his work, "This beautiful heron has now been taken in Somersetshire, Cornwall, Devonshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Lincolnshire. In several of the counties named it has occurred more than once." I have seen two preserved specimens, which have been procured near Penzance: one was shot eight or ten years ago, on the grounds of a gentleman of this neighbourhood; who tells me that another bird of the same species was seen at Hayle a few days after. The other example was shot at Scilly, in the autumn of 1842, and is now in Mr. Rodd's collection in this town.—Alfred Greenwood; Penzance, March 10, 1843.

Note on the Ring Ouzel. The ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus) arrives in considerable numbers on our moors at the end of March; usually frequenting the rocky hill-sides, but resorting to the neighbouring pastures to feed. It is exceedingly shy, and on being disturbed rises up to a considerable height, and often flies half a mile before it alights, uttering a note something like that of the blackbird. These birds usually build in crevices of the rocks, rarely in low bushes. I once saw a nest on Thorne Moor, built on the peat of a drain-bank. The nest is formed of coarse grass, plastered with mud and lined with finer grass. The eggs are mostly five in number, of a regularly oval shape, pale bluish green, spotted all over with light brown. The young birds are nearly like the females in colour; they acquire the adult plumage after the first moult. During the fruit season, the ring ouzels are very troublesome in the gardens on the borders of the moors, and occasionally visit those near the town. In July and August they unite in large flocks, feeding on bilberries and other wild fruits until the beginning of October, when they leave us altogether. I have not known a single instance of the ring ouzel remaining here during the winter.—Specimens with white feathers on the head are not of uncommon occurrence.—John Heppenstall; Upperthorpe, near Sheffield, March, 1843.

Note on the occurrence of the Bustard near the Lizard Point. I beg to apprize you of the recent capture in this county of a female great bustard, which was observed for many days in a turnip-field adjoining a large tract of open moor country between Helston and the Lizard Point. In point of dimensions it answers the description given by authors of females; but I observe that the whole of the neck and fore part of the breast is light bluish grey, the upper part of the head being the same, with a few brown marks; the under parts are not of a pure white, nor are the coverts of the wings, the white being