THE RETROSPECT. REVIEWS. 95 



of a Laburnum tree has just oeeurred (November) in my immediate neighbour- 

 hood. This tree, trained up the front of a house, one of a terrace, is protected 

 by it from the north and easterly winds, and thus far the conditions may be 

 considered favourable; but I believe that such an occurrence is by no means 

 frequent. A friend of mine, Joseph Clarke, Esq., of The Roos, Saffron 

 Waldon, (a well-known Essex naturalist,) informs me of a similar occurrence 

 at Andover, Hants, noticed by him some fifteen years ago. He also states 

 that a bush of Elder, (Sambucus nigra,) which stands near his house, is always 

 clothed with a crop of blossoms after the berries from the first have ripened. 

 Apple and pear trees will also occasionally blossom twice in the year with us, 

 and probably other instances occur, which it would be interesting to know of, 

 would some of your numerous country readers but take the trouble to record 

 them. — Idem. 



The "Great Unknown" Haiok. — Dr. Hobson need make no apology for 

 his remarks on this bird. They are exceedingly accurate; worthy of Mac- 

 gillivray himself, and higher praise cannot be awarded. I have myself 

 little to add to what I before said. The diflFerences in size and colour 

 spoken of as attaching to the Sparrow-Hawk, have reference to ordinary 

 birds of the kind; but the individual in question is certainly an extraordinary 

 one. As to Macgillivray's remark that the scutellce in the Sparrow-Hawk 

 are '^pretty regular," I have already shewn that he lays far too much stress 

 on their number, as distinctive. Besides, even if there were anything in 

 their number as a specific characteristic, a hybrid, (which it is one of the 

 suppositions that the present bird is,) would be expected to share in the 

 double variety of the numbers in each of its ^^component parts." The 

 same remark applies to the length of the legs, the wing feathers, etc. 

 Dr. Hobson certainly now proves, I think, that it is not a variety of the 

 Sparrow-Hawk alone, but that (if not a new species,) it is made up of 

 some two different ones, between which it is a hybrid. 



''Why not allow the Merlin to have a share in his production ?" I am 

 far from denying any such possibility. I can but say that the first impression 

 that the 'tout ensemble' of the bird, its piebald appearance, conveys, is 

 that it is a pied variety; the colour of the claws is in favour of the 

 supposed albinism ; and a closer inspection leads me to the further supposition 

 that it may be a hybrid. — F. O. Morris, February 23rd., 1856, 



tximm. 



The name of the author of the "Entomologist's Annual," was inadver- 

 ;• tently omitted in the notice of the work in the February number of 



