Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/459

Rh Northrepps on the 2nd May, all passing southward, at a con- siderable height; and on the 27th, in the same locality, a Buzzard was seen pursuing the same course, and another on the 30th. On the 6th a Common Buzzard, a very dark bird, was shot at Sprowston, near Norwich, and on the same date a large white- headed hawk, supposed to be a Marsh Harrier, flew over the Selbrigg pond at Hempstead, and excited much alarm amongst the fowl. As late as the 26th a Short-eared Owl was seen at Northrepps, and a bird of this species, flushed from some rough ground in the same parish on the 13th April, flew out to sea, after circling round at a great height. The note by Mr. J.H. Gurney, in 'The Zoologist' for May last (p. 228), respecting Partridges attacked on the ground by a Short-eared Owl is somewhat similar to the fact recorded by myself, in 'The Zoologist' for 1876 (p. 4896), of one of these Owls being taken in the act of killing a Lapwing. One instance occurred in March, the other in April. Would not rats and mice be less accessible at that time than, during the autumn and winter, in the closely-mown marshes ? Two Ospreys were also killed in this county about the same date (May 12th) — one, an adult bird, at Morston, and a younger specimen on Breydon.

Cuckoo in Reddish-brown Plumage in Spring. — Mr. J.H. Gurney, Jun., recently referred, under the above heading (p. 230), to the occasional appearance of individuals of this species, on their return to this country in spring, in a peculiar ruddy state of plumage, differing much from the ordinary autumnal tints of the young birds, I recently examined a young specimen of this kind, which was shot in May, near Cantley, on the River Yare, and it was, certainly, the most vivid in colouring of any 1 have seen.

The Green-backed Porphyrio in Norfolk. — I am glad to find that Mr. Gurney has corrected my note (p. 228) on the Porphyrio killed at Tatterford, in this county, last October, and identified it as P. smaragdonotus and not P. hyacinthinus. I had not seen the bird when I wrote on the information of a friend. I have since learnt that one of the specimens kept in confinement at Northrepps by Mr. J.H. Gurney, Jun., has escaped; but as yet it does not appear to have turned up again, either as a genuine migrant or an acclimatized vagrant.

Little Owl. — On the 9th of this month one of these small Owls (Carine noctua) was brought to me in the flesh, having been shot