Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/274

248 note that M. raii (the Yellow Wagtail) is not included in the list, especially as it has been recorded from the Reigate neighbourhood with some frequency by other observers. This somewhat inclines me to wonder if the species is really intended to be included as such.

The Chough is a curious addition to the list. It has been obtained on only five occasions in the county as far as I am aware, and it is perhaps more than probable that all these specimens were mere "escapes."

The Bean Goose and the Hooper are interesting species from a local point of view. The former has been recorded specifically from Surrey but once, though noticed in general terms by "A Son of the Marshes" in his local works; the latter, together with the Pintail, may have occurred on some such water in the Reigate district as Gatton Lake, from which a good many of the rarer ducks have been occasionally recorded. I do not think that any of the other species enumerated need any particular comment. Taken as a whole, the list may be regarded as interesting and valuable, although it is not now possible to test its accuracy, and it is a matter of much regret that details, at any rate of the rarer species enumerated, were not given.

It is obviously incomplete, and compared with the one hundred and ninety-five species recorded by "Rusticus" in 1849 from the Godalming district, is of quite second-rate importance. Perhaps the most striking omissions are the Ring-Ouzel, Yellow Wagtail, Dartford Warbler, and Long-eared Owl.

Another publication, which was brought to my notice in the pages of this Journal, is a work by Alfred Smee, F.R.S, entitled 'My Garden.' This is a large work—it was published in 1872—and deals very fully with all forms of life in the author's pleasure-grounds at Carshalton.

In an interesting chapter on birds, Mr. Smee records ninety-six visitors to his grounds, some of which are quite valuable. Mr. Smee mentions one occurrence of the Hooper on his lake during severe weather in winter, and in this connection it is worthy of note that this species was recorded from the Wandle near Carshalton in the winter of 1860–1 by Mr. S. Gurney (vide Zool. 1861, p. 7386). Mr. Smee also records from his lake the Wild Duck, Teal, Wigeon, and Tufted Duck, besides the female