572 Swallows kept alive through the Winter. 



mingo bred in the marshes in the neighbourhood; but this, I 

 feel very much inclined to think, must be a mistake, as they 

 certainly take their departure for their native land early in the 

 spring, from the Alfaques of Catalonia, and the Albufueras 

 of Valencia and Majorca, places further south, and in every 

 way much better adapted to their habits. Nismes, however, 

 is so frequently visited by tourists nowadays, that I make no 

 doubt some of your readers will be able, from their own ex- 

 perience, to corroborate or disprove this assertion of the cura- 

 tor. The flamingo, I learnt from an old sportsman in Cata- 

 lonia, whom I requested to shoot for me a pair, is a very shy 

 and wary bird, flies high, and carries off" a vast deal of shot ; 

 it is, therefore, no very easy matter to get specimens. To 

 complete this sketch of the geographical range of this remark- 

 able bird, I beg to add, from Temminck {Manuel oV Ornitho- 

 logies torn. ii. p. 589.)j that it is tolerably abundant in Sicily 

 and Catalonia ; is met with in large troops on the marshes and 

 small lakes of Sardinia, especially near Cagliari ; is but seldom 

 and only accidentally found on the rivers in the interior of 

 these countries ; and has been occasionally, though very rarely, 

 shot on the banks of the Rhine. — W. Perceval Hunter. 

 Sandgate, July 10. 1835. 



Birds of the Sxvalloxv Kind : Means conducive to the keeping 

 of them alive in Britain through the Winter. (VI. 270.) — J. C, 

 in speaking (VI. 270.) of his not being able to keep the 

 swallow he has told of through the winter, says, " Surely, it 

 must be climate which killed him." But I have heard of se- 

 veral swallows being kept through the winter by covering the 

 perches with soft baize, as it is the hardness of the perch, and 

 its want of warmth, which prevents the birds from using their 

 feet in the natural way. I have no doubt that, with J. C.'s 

 preparation of vermicelli, and baize-covered perches, birds of 

 the swallow kind might be easily preserved alive, even in the 

 severest winters. — Beverly R. Morris. 



Earliest and latest Dates of seeing the Swallow in Britain. — 

 In 1834, April 1., Nov. 3. In 1835, April l. — Id. 



A wild Blackbird, which sings like a Blackbird, and crows like 

 the Male of the Bantam Fowl besides. (IV. 433.) — At Lindsil- 

 town, amongst the trees close to Mr. BoxwelPs house, there is 

 a blackbird that is in the habit of flapping his wings and crowing 

 exactly like a cock. He crows three or four times, and then 

 sings like a blackbird, and then crows again. The crowing 

 resembles that of a bantam cock, and is full as loud. The 

 bird does not differ in appearance, in the least, from the cock 

 blackbird. Great numbers have been going for some days 

 to see the phenomenon. (A correspondent of the Wexford 



