Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/499

Rh matter. It is enough for me that Ravens, Choughs, Peregrines, and Common Buzzards still flourish in the district, and that they gladdened my eye by occasionally ranging within view. And, again, not everywhere in England are the Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Wryneck, Nuthatch, and Tree Creeper all to be met with in the course of an hour's ramble! No wonder Clovelly can add rare birds to its other multitudinous attractions; little welcome there, be it known, for collectors and exterminators.— (Ormandyne, Melton Mowbray).

Aquatic Warbler in Hampshire.—My neighbour, Mr. Richards, of Farlington, sent me the other day a small bird that had been killed accidentally by his fox-terrier in Farlington Marsh. Neither of us could identify the species, so I sent it to Mr. Pratt, of Brighton, who pronounced it a male specimen of the Aquatic Warbler, Acrocephalus aquaticus. It agrees with the coloured plate in Borrer's 'Birds of Sussex.' Possibly some of your readers have recently heard of other specimens.— (Havant Rectory).

I should like to add, with regard to the above interesting note, that although this appears to be the first Hampshire Aquatic Warbler mentioned in your pages, there is also a specimen in Mr. Hart's well-known collection at Christchurch, killed, like this one, by accident, and also on the coast, but at the south-western extremity of the county.— (East Boldre, Southampton).

The Alleged Summer Appearance of the Shore Lark in Devonshire.—I notice a paragraph in 'The Zoologist' (p. 365) respecting the presumed occurrence of the Shore Lark in Devonshire during summer. From Mr. H.M. Evans's exact description of the locality and the birds, I have no hesitation in identifying both. I think there can be no reasonable doubt whatever that Mr. Evans has confused Otocoris alpestris with a pair of Red-backed Shrikes that have frequented the spot in question all the summer, and have reared a brood there. I have had this pair of birds under close observation the whole season, and have several times pointed them out to my wife, their haunt forming part of a favourite walk of ours. O. alpestris is an irregular visitor on migration (early spring and late autumn) to the shores of Tor Bay, occurring sometimes in small parties. Lanius colluris is fairly common here in summer, from May up to the middle or end of August.— (Paignton, South Devon).

The Autumn Song of Birds.—I am sincerely sorry to find that Mr. Aplin thinks I misrepresented his meaning when criticising his notes on the autumn song of birds (Zool. 1894, p. 410, and August and September last); but, although having received from him a very kind letter on the