Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/201

Rh this it fortunately flew in my direction, passing within twenty yards with an undulating jerky flight, much like a wagtail's; it was apparently a bird of the year. I followed it for some distance along a double post and rail fence, the shrike keeping about five and twenty yards ahead, flitting from post to post—but always in a very dodgy manner—on the off-side of the fence, and in each flight, short as they were, dropping near the ground and rising suddenly to the post-top: when perched the tail was never still for a moment. Mr. Bailey, of Flamborough, has informed me of a Goshawk in his possession, an old female, shot by the gamekeeper to the Rev. Lloyd Greame, of Sowerby Hall, Bridlington, about the 24th of January. Mr. Bailey says the bird measured four feet one inch from tip to tip of wing, and was two feet one inch in length; it was seen by the keeper to kill a full-grown rabbit and carry it twenty yards or more.— (Great Cotes, Ulceby).

—On the 18th November, 1876, I was in Henry Shaw's shop in Shrewsbury, and found he had just commenced skinning a fine specimen of the White-tailed Eagle, which had been received that morning from Berrington, near Leominster, the beautiful seat of Lord Rodney. The bird had been trapped a day or two previously, and, having been caught by only one hind-toe and not in the least degree injured, it was a thousand pities it was destroyed. It was a female, probably of the second year, as although the plumage was very handsome, being a dark mottled brown, there was no indication of the "white tail." This eagle was a very powerfully made bird, full of flesh, very muscular, and altogether in high condition. As Berrington is situated nearly in the centre of Herefordshire, and as I believe the nearest sea coast is about eighty miles distant, it is very difficult to conjecture from what locality so remarkable a bird could have wandered.— (Clungunford House, Shropshire).

—A fine pair of Peregrine Falcons have been lately trapped near Wareham, one about the 26th February, and the other—of unusually light colouring about the head and neck—on March 9th or 10th. They are apparently birds of last year, in the characteristic plumage of the first year, with longitudinal markings down the breast. It has been asserted that certain strains of this falcon, from different districts, retain their first plumage for two years sometimes, or even more. I should be glad if any of your readers can substantiate this.— (Britford Vicarage, Salisbury).

—In the last week of December four specimens of the Rough-legged Buzzard were trapped by the keeper in a large wood at Fonthill, near Tisbury, in this county. One, a male bird, was of a light colour; two others were females, and much darker. There was a fifth bird of the same species seen about the place