Miscellaneous. 157 



termediate forms between the two, and am convinced that this enor- 

 mous fossil is but a full-grown 0. compressirostra. — From Silliman's 

 American Journal for July 1842. 



EGG OF THE BRAMBLING FINCH. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — A gentleman of this city has presented me with the 

 egg of a Brambling Finch, laid in his aviary towards the end of last 

 month. There was only one egg laid, which, when taken, appeared 

 to have been sat upon about ten days, and contained a young bird. 



The egg is a little larger than that of the goldfinch : the ground 

 colour is a gray-blue like that of the whinchat, but round the shoulder 

 of the egg there is a belt of thickly scattered cloudings and minute 

 spots of a "lie de vin" or light dull puce colour; these are also 

 scattered (but very much more sparingly) over the other parts of the 

 egg, and in some instances they are collected into larger spots of a 

 rust colour, much like those of the chaffinch, except that the spots 

 on the Brambling's egg are smaller, and less exclusively of a rust 

 colour, being clouded with lie de vin about the edges. 



The most curious thing about the egg is the smallness of the size, 

 but this may be in consequence of its being laid in confinement. 



The nest was of course made of the materials incidentally supplied, 

 and chiefly dry grass on the outside and deer's hair on the inside. 



The nest was thick at the bottom and the cavity somewhat shallow, 

 the whole size intermediate between the nests of the chaffinch and 

 greenfinch. 



About ten days since I received a specimen of that rare bird the 

 Baillon's Crake, killed near Yarmouth : it is a fine adult male. 



I am, respectfully, 



Norwich, August 23, 1842. J. H. Gurney. 



LOCUSTA MIGRATORIA. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



1 beg to inform you, that on the 3rd instant, aspecimen of the mi- 

 gratory locust (Locusta migratoria) was captured at Mickleover, near 

 Derby, by a labouring man, who pursued it over several fields, being 

 allured to the chase by its great size and immense leaps ; and on the 

 13th a fine female was taken, near Burton-on-Trent, by a gentleman 

 who was out shooting, and who disturbed it by getting over a hedge 

 near to which it was reposing. This gentleman informs me, that, 

 when first discovered, the insect sprung a distance of at least four- 

 teen yards : he immediately followed it and secured it in his hat. 



The first example above mentioned is now in the possession of my 

 friend, R. I. Bell, Esq., of Mickleover; the other was given to me 

 for the use of the Burton-on-Trent Natural History Society, in whose 

 museum it will be placed. I have satisfactorily identified the spe- 

 cies, and on dissecting it I discovered a large ovarium, containing 

 from forty to fifty eggs, apparently ready to be deposited. 



In the 'Sheffield Mercury' of the 10th inst., there is a descrip- 



