Birds. 521 



and shrubberies near the house for some time; and others 

 had been seen, but were not killed. On February 21., another 

 male was brought to me, shot at Chastleton, a village about 

 three miles from Daylesford House. I have preserved all 

 these birds. Upon examining their stomachs, I could find 

 nothing but the kernels of the pomes or fruits (unbotanically 

 called berries) of the hawthorn bushes which they had been 

 frequenting. — T. G. Chipping Norton, Oxon, March 6. 1833. 



Notices of the occurrence of the hawfinch in Ireland are 

 given in Vol. V. p. 582. note %, p. 734-.; Vol. VI. p. 81. 

 The remarks in Vol. V. p. 582. note %, describe the structure 

 of this bird's powerful bill, and are valuable. Mr. Hewitson 

 states, in his British Oology, t. 43., that his friend Mr. 

 Doubleday, during May and June, 1832, discovered several 

 nests, with eggs, of this bird in Epping Forest; " in some 

 instances in bushy trees, at the height of five or six feet, and 

 in others near the top of firs, at an elevation of twenty or 

 thirty feet." Mr. Hewitson adds, — " This bird has before 

 been said to breed in this country, but the instances are very 

 rare, if not altogether doubtful ; " overlooking, possibly, the 

 instance given in our Vol. I. p, 374. by T. F., who describes 

 the nest and eggs as he observed them. — J. D. 



The Chiffchqff Pettychaps [Sylvia loquax Herbert), and the 

 Biifous Pettychaps [S. rufa Latham), (p. 447.) — I have, in the 

 Field Naturalist's Magazi?ie [for Oct. 1833, p. 423— 447.]> 

 endeavoured to extricate the several species of Sylvia, as the 

 genus is now very properly restricted to the pettychaps or 

 willow wren group, from the confusion in which they have 

 been involved. I should not, therefore, have here offered the 

 following observations on this subject, had not Professor Ren- 

 nie's paper (published in the Field Naturalist's Magazine for 

 February, 1833) on the Sylvia rufa and S. hippolais of the 

 Continent been, in p. 447., adduced as a correct elucidation of 

 the species of this genus. 



The common chiffchaffof this country (S. loquax Herbert, 

 S. hippolais of other British authors) is a distinct species from the 

 S. rufa ; and perfectly distinct also from the S. hippolais of the 

 Continental writers. I have now before me specimens of all 

 three ; but the skins of the two latter, unfortunately, have 

 been taken from individuals that had died in the cage, and 

 are, in consequence, so much injured, that it is impossible to 

 draw up from them a minute technical description; the spe- 

 cific differences between them are, however, very obvious. 



The Common Chiffchqff {Sylvia loquax Herbert) most closely 

 resembles the willow wren, or garden pettychaps (S. Zrochilus 

 of authors, but might, from its charming melody, be more 



