Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/228

1394 ing it, I found it to be a robin's, as the old bird was sitting ; I saw the young birds also after they were hatched. In a house-sparrow's nest, among three eggs marked as usual, I found one with the spots of a light red colour, in every other respect it resem- bled the rest. — J.F. Streatfield; Chart's Edge, near Westerham.

Note on Cuckoos. —These birds have been very numerous here throughout the sum- mer : their eggs were found in several nests. In one nest (a titlark's) I found one half-fledged, which I took, to bring up by hand. It was very spiteful, spreading its wings and flying at my finger when offered. During a month it was fed on hard eggs, butterflies, grasshoppers, &c. It now fed itself, and never seemed to have enough food : one day it ate sixty-five butterflies (principally meadow browns) and a whole hen's egg. It lived till winter came on, when it died, without any apparent cause. I obtained one of the eggs, and in another titlark's nest found a young cuckoo, which quite filled the small nest and had turned out the egg and young one of the titlark.—J.F. Streatfield ; Chart's Edge, near Westerham.

Notice of the occurrence of the Virginian Colin in Surrey, and of the Broad-billed Sandpiper and Red-necked Phalarope, in Sussex.—I have lately seen a fine adult male specimen, in the most perfect plumage, of the Perdix Virgiuiana, which was shot near Chelsham Court, Godstone, Surrey, by the bailiff" of Mr. Brown, of Chelsham Court. I had a long conversation with the bailiff", who informed me, that the bird had been heard, and occasionally seen, during two or three months, bu t that owing to its great powers of ventriloquism, and the difficulty of flushing it, it was not till the middle of October, 1845, that he succeeded in shooting it. The bird rose from a broad hedge-row, with underwood and timber (which we in Sussex call a "Shaw"), whilst he was beating with some spaniels for a cock pheasant which had been marked down there. It flew very straight and very swiftly ; something in the manner of the kingfisher. The note was described to me as consisting of two short, low whistles, followed by one long, loud, and shrill ; thus reminding one of a converse to the note which has obtained for the common quail the significant specific title of dactylisonans. It has been suggested to me by Mr. Yarrell, and I think with great probability, that the specimen under consideration be longed to a number turned out near Windsor, by Prince Albert, and which had been obtained in North America. A specimen of the broad-billed sandpiper (the Tringa platyrhyncha, of Gould) was shot on the beach, near Shoreham, Sussex, at ihe latter end of October, 1845. When shot, it was feeding amongst a small flock of the purre {Tringa variabilis). This spe- cimen is in pure winter plumage, with the exception of one scapular feather and a small patch on the occiput. It is now in my possession. About the second week in Sep- tember, 1845, a male red-necked phalarope (Red Lobe-foot of Jenyns's Brit. Vert. An.) was shot on a small pond of fresh water, near Old Shoreham, Sussex. This is in the pure winter plumage. On the 20th of May, 1846, another specimen of this bird was shot, also on a pool of fresh water in a valley of the South Downs, near Falmer, to the north-east of Brighton : the ovaiy contained eggs in an advanced stage. This is in the perfect breeding-plumage, and on dissection proved to be a female ; it had been dri- ven in by some severe south-west gales. It was very tame, and was constantly nod- ding its head, and dipping its bill in the water. — W. Borrer, Jun.

Occurrence of the White Stork near Fermoy, and Note of the Herring-gull breeding in confinement.—A fine specimen of the white stork (Ciconia alba, Ray), was shot about three weeks since in the neighbourhood of Fermoy, in the county of Cork. I am in- formed that three were seen, but this individual only was procured. It is now in the