27^4 Natural History in the English Counties, 



dily taken in baited steel-traps placed near their haunts, and in this man- 

 ner the bird here introduced to notice was captured in the North Riding of 

 Yorkshire. 



Cinereous Shrike (Lanius excubitor). — J. Moore, Esq. of Sale Hall, Che- 

 shire, shot this bird in the neighbourhood in which he resides. 



Golden Oriole (Oriolus Galbula). — This bird, which is a female, was shot 

 by Mr. James Hall, of Manchester, in the month of July, 1811, in Gorton 

 Fields, near Manchester. 



Rose-coloured Pastor (Pastor roseus). — The sex of this specimen, which 

 was shot many years ago, near the Crescent, in Salford, Lancashire, was not 

 ascertained by dissection, and the plumage, perhaps, scarcely affords a suffi- 

 cient criterion for determining it with certainty. 



' Bohemian Wax-wing (Bombycivora garrula). — This beautiful specimen, 

 which, on dissection, proved to be a female, was shot at HuUand Ward, in 

 Derbyshire, on the 15th of January, 1829. Its food was found to have 

 consisted chiefly of the fruit of the wild rose, which it had swallowed en- 

 tire. Bohemian Wax-wings have been unusually abundant this winter four 

 having been killed near Derby, and several in the vicinity of Middleton in 

 Lancashire, and Leeds in Yorkshire, in the month of January last. About 

 the same period, some of the northern and midland counties of England 

 were visited by large flocks of Siskins and Snow Buntings. 



Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa luctuosa). — The Pied Flycatcher has been 

 regarded by several distinguished ornithologists as indigenous to England, 

 while others have considered it as an occasional visitor merely : this latter 

 opinion, however, must be abandoned, as I know that it breeds annually in 

 the woods in the vicinity of Ullswater. The prevalence of the idea, that 

 this species does not migrate, may be attributed principally to the assertion 

 of Montagu, that it " rarely, if ever, makes its appearance in the southern 

 parts of the island" (see the Supplement to the Ornithological Dictionary) ; 

 but Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in their Catalogue of the Norfolk and 

 Suffolk Birds, published in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. xv. 

 part 1 ., state that they have " seen a specimen of this bird, which was killed 

 near Cromer ; " that " two others were caught by Mr. Downes, in his gar- 

 den at Gunton, in Suffolk ; and a fourth was shot at Keswick, near Nor- 

 wich." Mr. Selby also, in his lllusti^ations of British Ornithology, informs 

 us that he has seen specimens from Dorsetshire. Montagu's observation, 

 therefore, loses much of its force ; indeed, from the general habits of the 

 bird, and the nature of its food, there can scarcely be a doubt that it with- 

 draws from this country in autumn. The specimen in the Manchester col- 

 lection is a male, and was procured on the 3d of June, 1828, in the woods 

 on the western bank of Windermere. 



Mr. Sweet (Vol.L p. 100.) expresses a desire to possess a living male Pied 

 Flycatcher, and entertains the hope, that persons who have opportunities of 

 supplying this desideratum in his aviary, will lend their assistance towards 

 accomplishing his object. If I resided in a district where this species breeds, 

 I should be happy to use my best endeavours to meet his wishes in this 

 matter ; and, as it is, should I be able to obtain a bird or nest, it shall cer- 

 tainly be forwarded to him. The eggs and young of the Pied Flycatcher 

 might be procured, without difficulty, in the neighbourhood of Ullswater, 

 if Mr. Sweet has any acquaintance in that part of Cumberland, who has a 

 knowledge of the bird. Fresh-laid eggs, carefully packed in wool, as Mr. 

 Sweet suggests, might be sent to him, without the least inconvenience, from 

 almost any part of the kingdom, and if placed under the Spotted Flycatcher, 

 or indeed any of the sylvan warblers, I doubt not, would be incubated, and 

 there is every reason to believe that the young, when extricated from the 

 shell, would be nourished by the foster parents. 



Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra). — There are several specimens of this species 

 in the museum, both males and females, adults and young. They were shot 



