st sight of it. It was to be met with during the autumn and winter in
bogs scattered over with bog myrtle, on Chobham and the adjacent common; I
never met with it elsewhere. It is solitary. I am unacquainted with its
food, and only in a single instance had I ever one in my hand. Its tongue
is pointed, sharp, and appearing capable of penetration. Its colour
throughout dusky light blue, slightly tinged with yellow about the vent.
Tail about one inch, being rather long in proportion to the body, causing
the wings to appear forward, with a miniature pheasant-like appearance as
it flew, or rather darted, from bush to bush, with amazing quickness, its
wings moving with rapidity, straight in its flight, keeping near the
ground, appearing loth to wing, never passing an intervening bush if ever
so near; and I never saw one fly over eight or ten yards, and never wing a
second time, which induced our dogs (using a sporting phrase) to puzzle
them, causing a belief that they were in most instances trodden under the
water and grass in which the myrtle grew, and which nothing but a dog could
approach. I never saw one sitting or light on a branch of the myrtle, but
invariably flying from the _base_ of one plant to that of another. I am not
aware that any cabinet contains a preserved specimen, or that the bird has
ever been noticed by any naturalist as a British or foreign bird.

Should W. R. D. S. covet farther information as to the probable cause of
its disappearance, and my never having met with it elsewhere, perhaps he
will favour me with his address. I cannot think the bird extinct.

C. BROWN.

Egham, Surrey.

* * * * *

CAPTAIN JOHN DAVIS.

(Vol. viii., p. 385.)

The earliest memoir of captain John Davis, the celebrated arctic navigator,
is that given by the reverend John Prince in his DANMONII ORIENTALES
ILLUSTRES, _or the worthies of Devon_, Exeter, 1701, folio. It is, however,
erroneous and defective in important particulars, and has misled some
eminent writers, as Campbell, Eyries, Barrow, &c.

Despite the assertions of master Prince, I _question_ if captain Davis
married a daughter of sir John Fulford; I am _sure_ he was not the first
pilot who conducted the Hollanders to the East-Indies; I am sure the
journal of the voyage is not printed in Hakluyt; I am sure the narrative of
his voyage with sir Edward Michelborne is neither dedicated to the earl of
Essex nor printed in Hakluyt; I am su