Characteristics of a Kind q/Trigla. 463 



be then heard at all hours of the day; and he who loves to 

 study nature in the fields may observe them, now on soaring 

 wing, high above in the blue expanse of heaven ; now hover- 

 ing near the earth, ready to pounce upon the luckless mouse ; 

 and now inspecting the deserted nests of crows and magpies, 

 in order to secure a commodious retreat, wherein to perform 

 their approaching incubation. Allowing, on an average, four 

 young ones to the nest, there must have been bred here ninety- 

 six windhover hawks last summer : add the parent birds, 

 and we shall have, in all, one hundred and forty-four. Scarcely 

 five of these birds were seen here from Michaelmas to the latter 

 end of January. 



The periodical disappearance of the windhover from its 

 breeding-place might give rise to much ornithological enquiry; 

 but I suspect that, when every circumstance shall have been 

 duly weighed, we shall still be in the dark with regard to the 

 true cause of its departure. The want of food cannot be sup- 

 posed to force it away; for food the most -congenial to its 

 appetite is found here in great abundance at the very time 

 when it deserts us. Neither can supposed inclemency of 

 weather be alleged in support of its migration, as the tem- 

 perature of England is remarkably mild long after the sun has 

 descended into the southern hemisphere. 



Walton Hall, Yorkshire, June 3. 1836. 



[A few days ago, a sparrowhawk, the most deadly to the 

 small birds of the whole tribe, darted against a half open win- 

 dow of a house in High Street, drew the head of a favourite 

 canary through the wires of his cage, held the grip with all 

 the force of a smith's vice, and busied itself in picking out the 

 eyes and brains. The mistress of the family, who happened 

 to be sitting in an adjoining apartment, heard a noise or flutter, 

 and hurried to the spot, under the impression that all was not 

 right with a bird endeared to her by many tender recollec- 

 tions : but she was too late, and, in the first burst of emotion, 

 seized the intruder, and dashed it to the ground with such 

 force, that it instantly expired. (Dumfries Courier, quoted in 

 the Morning Chronicle, July 14. 1836, and communicated to 

 this Magazine by G. E. Dennes, 12. South Square, Gray's Inn, 

 July 14. 1836.)] 



' 



Art. V. A Description of the Characteristics of a Kind ofTrigla 

 hitherto confounded with the 'Yrigla Blochu, with Figures. By 

 Jonathan Couch, Esq., F.L.S. 



The British species of the genus Trigla, though few in 

 number, and sufficiently well marked in their characters, were 



