202 Crossbill, Pratincole, Roller, Grebe, Osprey. 



The Crossbill [Loxia curvirostra) . — Walking by a plantation 

 of Mr. Brookes's, at Horringer, I heard a peculiar twittering 

 from several birds, but could not get a sight of them ; but, 

 on returning from my walk, on the same spot, I observed a 

 bird quite new to me busily engaged on a fir cone. I had my 

 telescope with me (which, indeed, I always takeout on my 

 rambles), and had the opportunity of examining it for some 

 time very minutely; so that I am quite certain of its identity. 

 As I have said, this is the first I have seen living; but its 

 colours are brighter than those of any stuffed specimen I 

 have met with. I never carry a gun, or I could easily have 

 obtained it, as it was very near me. — J, S. Brown. Bury St. 

 Edmunds, Nov. 11. 1835. 



The Pratincole (Glareola Pratincola). — An individual was 

 shot on May 21. 1835, in the parish of Quy, Cambridge- 

 shire, and is preserved in the collection of James Thomas 

 Martin, Esq., of Quy Hall. Only four specimens of this 

 species are recorded as having been killed in this country. 

 As Mr. Jenyns, who lives within three or four miles of this 

 place, has not noticed this fifth in his Manual of British Ver- 

 tebrate Animals, he, of course, could not have been aware of 

 it. — E. Ventris, Clk. M.A. Cambridge, Jan. 18. 1836. 



TJie Roller (Cordcias garrula), a beautiful individual of, was 

 lately shot at Oakington, Cambridgeshire, and is now in the 

 possession of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. [Cam- 

 bridge Chronicle, Oct. 30. 1835. — The notice sent to this 

 Magazine by H. Turner, Bury St. Edmunds.) 



Feathers in the Gizzard of the Larger Species of Grebe, and 

 why ? (VI. 519.) — On Jan. 5., 1836, a male grebe was sent 

 to me ; I think a young bird of the species Podiceps cristatus 

 Lath., but it had been much injured about the head. The 

 first stomach contained three perch, one 5 in. long and quite 

 perfect, and the colours almost as bright as if just taken ; the 

 gizzard, which was very muscular, contained a great mass of 

 feathers, and among them two or three perch partly digested, 

 one of them 3f in. long, another 1 J in. I washed the feathers, 

 and, on comparison, found that they corresponded with those 

 on the sides of the bird under the wing, or with those on the 

 thigh. They were chiefly in a half-digested state, and, as 

 there were no traces of them in the lower intestines, it appears 

 extremely probable that they may finally be assimilated with 

 the food : or, is it necessary, in the economy of the larger 

 species of grebe, that the gizzard should be always full ? Has 

 any one known it to contain food without feathers ? — T. K. 

 Toomavara, Ireland, Feb. 12. 1836. 



The Osprey. — A very large bird was recently observed 



