6 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



which appeared to have been imported from other countries, 

 Skylarks, young StarHngs, the Marsh Titmouse, to which 

 De Selys gave the name Panis borealis, Bullfinches (Pyrr- 

 hula curopcva, Leach), Blue-throated Warblers, and Black- 

 caps : and in gunmakers' windows, stuffed specimens of the 

 Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Eagle Owl,* Snowy Owl, 

 Black-throated Diver, Shelduck, and Curlew. 



Not far from, the Millionaya Street there is a small game 

 market, and at one shop a Whooper or Wild Swan, and a 

 Nutcrackerf (Niicifraga caryocatactes L.), were hanging up. 

 An attempt had been made to stuff them, so I dare say 

 they had been suspended there all the summer. 



Shooting commences on the I5tli (27th) of July, but 

 Capercaillie are not in season so early as that. A freshly- 

 killed young bird is of course far superior to what are 

 brought over and vended in Leadenhall market. Old ones 

 would hardly be considered fit to eat in Russia. The 

 Tcterka (Blackgrouse), and RiabcJiick (Hazelgrouse), are 

 also capital birds for the table. It is said that considerable 

 numbers of the Grey Partridge (Pcrdix cinerea Lath.) have 

 been turned off in the vicinity of the metropolis. There 

 are a great many stories about the Capercaillie ; one is that 

 after death it swallows its tongue. Like many other fables 

 it is founded on fact ; for the organ is sometimes retracted 

 so far as to become quite invisible. | 



'"' I find that in a tame Eagle Owl of ours, when exhausted with long 

 incubation, the pupils of the eyes become almost white. I also find that 

 the iris in this species becomes very much lighter with age. 



t The middle tail feathers are so abraded at the end in a Nutcracker 

 of mine, killed at Christchurch in Hampshire, as to leave the shafts 

 almost bare, and they are worn in the same way in a specimen of my 

 father's, killed at Rollesby in Norfolk. 



{ The number of Scotch Capercaillie sent up to Leadenhall Market 

 is very large, perhaps 200 in a winter, exemplifying the remarkable hold 

 which this species has again taken in North Britain, particularly in 



