BIRDS. 145 



In the preceding observations on the characters and habits of our native 

 birds, I have frequently referred to summer and winter visitants, to polar 

 and equatorial migrations, and to stragglers. The reader who wishes to in- 

 vestigate the laws regulating the distribution and migration of birds, with 

 which the above mentioned terms are connected, may consult my " Philoso- 

 phv of Zoology," vol. ii. chap. 2. It may be proper, however, to bear in 

 mind that birds, in reference to these islands, maybe contemplated under the 

 following divisions. 



1. Birds, which are permanently resident, and able to remain in their ordi- 

 nary stations, independent of the changes of the seasons,— such as the Com- 

 mon Partridge, Blackbird, and Sparrow. 



2. Summer Visitants. — Birds of this class arrive in spring, and depart in 

 autumn. During their residence amongst us, they pair, build their nests, 

 and bring forth their young. They retire to spend the winter in regions 

 nearer the Equator, — such as the Swallow, Turtle Dove, Nightingale, and 

 Corncrake. 



3. Winter Visitants. — These come to us in autumn, and depart in spring. 

 Their breeding-places are in regions nearer the pole, — such as the Snow- 

 Bunting, Wood-Cock, and Wild-Goose. 



4. Stragglers Under this division species are included, individuals of which 



have occurred in this country at distant and uncertain intervals. They 

 usually appear after boisterous weather, and seem, in such circumstances, to 

 have been driven from their ordinary haunts, or course of migration, by the 

 fury of the wind. Many birds belonging to the Continent of Europe, have, 

 in this manner, made their appearance amongst us, and have been inconsider- 

 ately ranked as native birds by systematical writers, — such as the Bee- 

 eater, the Great Black Woodpecker, and Nutcracker, and <t host of other spe- 

 cies. North America has furnished a few species under similar circumstan- 

 ces, such as the Falcofurcalus, and the White-winged Grossbill. To this division 

 1 have to add the occurrence of a single individual, of a species hitherto un- 

 known, even as a straggler, to European ornithologists, and which I have re- 

 ceived since the preceding sheets had passed through the press ; the Passen- 

 ger Pigeon, Columba migratoria, JVilsoti's American Ornithology, vol. v. p. 102. 

 tab. xliv. fig. 1. It was shot, while perched on a wall in the neighbourhood 

 of a pigeon-house at Westhall, in the parish of Monymeal*, Fifeshire, 31st 



" Length from tip of the bill to the oil-bag 8 T 8 5 th inches ; to the end of the 

 tail 8 = 16 T 8 5 th inches. Breadth 24^ inches ; weight 9 ounces. Bill an inch, 

 black, lengthened, slender ; nasal scale wrinkled ; a slight flexure in the line 

 of the gape, immediately under the nostrils. Upper mandible longer than 

 the under, and bent downwards, with the rudiments of a notch ; symphysis 

 of the lower mandible short, subascending, slightly prominent retrally, with 

 a shallow mesial groove ; inside of the mouth livid. Tongue blunt. Bare 

 pace round the eyes, livid. Irides reddish-orange. Feet reddish, paler be- 

 hind than before. Tarsus l^gth ; the middle toe, exclusive of the nail, the 

 same. Claws black, arched and grooved below. Chin, cheeks, head, back, 

 and rump, bluish-grey ; shoulders with a tinge of yellowish-brown. Side of 

 the neck, and behind, rich reddish-purple, iridescent. Fore-neck deep ches- 

 nut, becoming paler on the breast, or rather salmon-coloured, and passing to 

 white on the belly and vent. Thighs like the breast. Quills brownish-black, 

 the grey colour of the margin of the outer web increasing at the base of the 

 secondaries, and towards the ends of the inner ones. Bastard wing and great- 

 er covers of the primaries brownish-black ; greater covers of the secondaries 

 grey. Lesser covers and outer scapulars tinged with yellowish-brown, with 

 black spots. The second quill the longest, the first and fourth equal, but 

 these not at full growth. Tail of 12 feathers, the two middle produced, the 



VOL. I. K 



