Birds of anomalous Plumage, 593 



course, and traceable by the track of stirred mud which they 

 had occasioned.] 



Birds. — [ShaJcspear^e was an exact Ohserver of Nature : his 

 Notice of the OwVs Manner of Flight, — Mr. Bree had sent us 

 the following note for insertion in the proof of his communica- 

 tion, in p. 54-8., but want of space excluded it there.] 



Though the remark may be here somewhat out of place, I 

 cannot resist the inclination I feel to draw attention to one 

 instance out of very many, in proof of the exquisite accuracy 

 and exactness, with which Shakspeare observed objects of 

 natural history. The passage I allude to occurs in Part iii. of 

 Hemy VI., where Warwick is narrating to Edward the dis- 

 astrous result of the battle of St. Albans, and the little effect 

 which his troops made on those of Queen Margaret: — 



" Our soldiers' [weapons] — Me the nighl-owrs lazy flighty 

 Or like an idle thresher with a flail, — 

 Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends." 



None but a nice observer of nature could have made such a 

 simile (the force of which lies, too, in a single epithet), nor 

 can any reader fully enjoy the passage, who has not noted the 

 owl's flight, and the slow, soft, faint strokes of her wings. — 

 W, T, Bree, Oct. 8. 1834. 



Species of Birds of which Individuals in Plumage anomalous 

 to that of the Species, and permanent, have been known, 



A White Coalhood {Demirostra atricapilla W.). — On Sept. 

 5. 1834, a bird of a very unusual appearance was observed in 

 a hedge near the house, which was at first taken for a canary 

 finch (i^ringilla canaria L.), but on a nearer approach he 

 proved to be a coalhood (Loxia Pyrrhula of Linnaeus). A 

 gun was speedily procured and he was shot. He was pure 

 white, without a single feather of any other colour, not even 

 on the head, the fine glossy black of which gives rise to the 

 expressive name " coalhood." [See p. 148., note *.] Bewick 

 mentions a similar case, and Selby records an instance of one 

 with white wings. There are also instances of 



White Yellowbills \_BlackUrd.s'\ (Turdus Merula Z.).— In 

 our collection here, we have one with as much white as black. 

 I have also seen 



A Wren {Anorthura communis Rennie) Streaked with White. 

 — A friend of mine informs me that some time since he saw 



A Wagtail (Motacilla) pure Snow-White : he joined with 

 me in regretting that he had not his gun with him at the time. 



With regard to the Scientifc Name of the Coalhood, I have 

 ventured to suggest Densirostra atricapilla, as being more de- 

 finite and expressive than either the name of Linnaeus, Loxia 

 Pyrrhula, or that of Temminck, Pyrrhula vulgaris. The 



Vol, VII. — No. 43. Q Q 



