ANDALUSIAN HEMIPODE. " 133 



The evidence upon which the Andalusian Hemipode has 

 been included amongst British Birds is contained in the 

 following letter, published in the 'Annals of Natural History,' 

 xiv. p. 459, and addressed to the editors : — 



" Gentlemen, — I have recently received a bird which 

 appears to me to be new to this country ; it is a Quail, 

 having no back toe, and is not mentioned, I believe, in any 

 work on British Ornithology to which I have access ; but 

 in Dr. Latham's ' General History ' it is described as the 

 Perdix Gibraltarica, with which my specimen appears to 

 agree. The bird was shot by the gamekeeper on the Corn- 

 well estate in this county, about three miles from hence, and 

 has been kindly presented to me. It was found in a field 

 of barley, of which kind of grain, by the bye, hundreds of 

 acres are still standing, with no prospect of being harvested 

 in a proper state. Before I proceeded to preserve the bird, 

 I took the measure of its various parts, the colour of its 

 eyes, bill, and feet, its weight, &c., after which I found its 

 description in the work before alluded to. It was shot on 

 the 29th of October last, since which time another has been 

 killed near the same spot by the same person, but its head 

 was shot off, and otherwise so mutilated as to be unfit for 

 preservation : this might probably complete the pair, mine 

 being a male bird. It had in its gizzard two or three husks 

 of barley, several small seeds similar to charlock, some 

 particles of gravel, and was very fat. It was considerably 

 injured by the shot, but I have set it up in the best manner 

 I could, and consider it a valuable addition to my small 

 collection of British Birds. Should this prove to be the 

 only known instance of the capture of the bird in Britain, I 

 shall feel glad in having saved it from oblivion. I am. 

 Gentlemen, your obedient servant, 



" Thos. Goatley. 



"Chippinf,' Norton, Oxon, Nov. 11, 1844." 



"[The bird in question is the Hemipodius tachidromus of 

 Temminck, which is figured in Mr. Gould's * Birds of Europe,' 



