426 Ornithology of Blackburn 



ascertained, all of which are considerably allied, though pre- 

 senting certain trivial modifications of the beak only, which 

 I perceive have been lately seized upon as characters on which 

 to found generic separation. The distinction of Galbula and 

 Jacamerops, however, among the jacamars, is of correspond- 

 ing value : and we might proceed on the same principle to 

 dismember the great genus Buceros. Any divisions that may 

 be instituted among the motmots will most likely prove to 

 grade into each other, while the group composed of the whole 

 of them continues thoroughly distinct. It is difficult, indeed, 

 to conceive what could have induced even Mr. Swainson to 

 include them in his family Trogonidce I Yet that astute 

 systematist presumes to sneer at the illustrious Cuvier for ap- 

 proximating the hornbills to the kingfishers. 



Art. V. On the Ornithology of Blackburn and the North of Lan- 

 cashire. By John Skaife Esq.* 



It may be convenient to preface the following list of birds 

 with a brief description of the localities whence my specimens 

 were obtained, or where they were seen. Blackburn lies in 

 53* 46" N. lat., 2' 28" W. long., in the county palatine of 

 Lancaster ; situated in a valley surrounded on all sides by 

 hills, on the northern edge of the great coal-field of Lanca- 

 shire. Coal-pits have been sunk and worked, and coal ob- 

 tained, at a very short distance from the town, almost, indeed, 

 in the very suburbs. There is no coal found to the north of 

 this town, at least on the western side of the island, till we 

 reach Whitehaven, in Cumberland. 



One of my principal boundaries is the river Kibble, which, 

 after quitting Yorkshire, directs its course nearly westward, 

 and flows through a beautiful and fertile valley, about six or 

 seven miles north of Blackburn ; at that distance is placed the 

 town or village of Ribchester, once a Roman station, and a 

 place of great importance, but now dwindled down to a mi- 

 serable weaving village, not even possessing a market. It 

 has obtained a little celebrity during the last half century, 

 from a number of valuable Roman antiquities having been 

 discovered there. It is said to have been a sea-port in the 



* I must protest against this article being taken as a complete list of the 

 birds of Lancashire ; the remarks are merely those of an individual, who, 

 however zealous in the pursuit of his favourite science, must, like all indi- 

 viduals, be liable to error : besides, a large portion of the county I have not 

 visited at all. 



