1865, on Osmoor, a large tract of low-lying land some nine miles N.E. of Oxford, by F. Gorum, who is well known in the vicinity of Oxford as a good shot. From him it passed to its present possessor, who preserved it. The Stork was at first mistaken for a Heron.—C.M. Prior (Bedford).
Wild-fowl in Bedfordshire.—Wild Duck, Snipe, Golden Plover, and Lapwing, have been unusually plentiful in this county this winter. The last two species might be counted by thousands, and I saw over fifty ducks reposing on the floods near to the road. There were also occasionally a few gulls. Wherever a green patch appeared above the floods it was literally crowded with Plover: I repeatedly saw a Sparrowhawk, evidently a male from his small size, dash at them, but from their habit of rising from the ground and meeting him, I could not perceive that he was successful. Owing to the extensive floods very few of these birds have been shot.—Id.
Varieties of the Sky Lark.—With the exception of the House Sparrow I think the Sky Lark is more subject to abnormal variation of plumage than any other British bird. The commonest phase is buff, but I once bought a singular slate-coloured one in Leadenhall Market. Another curious Sky Lark in my collection was netted near Stockton-on-Tees by a birdcatcher, and it appears to me that at the time it was caught it was pied, and that a diet of hemp-seed afterwards has, in addition, operated on its plumage, and turned the portions which were brown, black, so that now it is black and white—a much greater anomaly than a brown and white one would be. At one time I considered this a unique specimen, but I believe others have occurred, and one similar one is described by Mr. Hele, as a great curiosity, at p. 95 of his 'Notes about Aldeburgh.'—J.H. Gurney, Jun. (Northrepps Hall, Norwich).
Woodcocks frequenting the Sea-shore.—Mr. Roberts, of Scarborough, tells me that in the winter of 1863–4 Woodcocks frequented the harbour to dig for worms in the mud. As some of the birds were shot there was no mistake about the species.—Id.
Winter Visitants to the Isle of Wight.—Mr. Smith, the Newport naturalist, informs me that he has lately received the following birds for preservation:—A Common Buzzard, shot in the parish of Shalfleet, on the 23rd December; an adult female, measuring twenty inches in length, and fifty in extent of wings. The stomach contained a vast number of earthworms, also a quantity of grass. I am reminded by Mr. Smith that a Common Buzzard was procured at the same date in 1873. A Spotted Crake was shot at Arreton. Two Gray Phalaropes were shot in December, one on the 4th, the other on the 23rd. This is a somewhat late date at which to find this migrant; in former years they have been generally met with early in the autumn. The Gray Phalarope is either more abundant than of yore, or our naturalists more observant, hardly a year passing without some appearing on our shores and inland pools. It
