Letters, Announcements, 6^c. 116 



of October last, I went to the shop of Signor Bouomi, the 

 naturalist^ of 7 Via Lagrange^ who told me that a bird 

 unknown to him had been brought in on the previous day by a 

 chasseur, who said he had shot it near Turin, and who wanted 

 it arranged to adorn the hat of his inamorata. Bonomi pro- 

 duced the bird in the flesh : I at once saw that it was a flne 

 specimen of the " Yellow-billed American Cuckoo/' Coccyzus 

 americanus (Linn.). I was of course much interested in the 

 discovery ; for this species has never before been known to 

 occur in Italy, though an example of its near relation, Coc- 

 cyzus erythrophthalmus (Wils.), was shot near Lucca in 1858 

 and is now in the museum of Pisa. 



Anxious to rescue this unique Italian specimen of the 

 species from the ignominious fate in store for it .(for I hold 

 that the basest use to which a rare bird can be put is to be 

 stuck on a woman's hat), I offered Bonomi 10 francs for the 

 bird, and told him to suggest to the young man that a King- 

 fisher, a Golden Oriole, or some bright-plumaged exotic bird 

 would make far more show in the young person's hat. He 

 promised to do so, and seemed to have no doubt as to the 

 success of the proposed arrangement. I called on the fol- 

 lowing day, and saw the bird skinned and nicely made up ; 

 but I was not able to carry ofi" the prize, as the owner had 

 not again been to the shop. I accordingly returned next 

 morning, when Bonomi told me that the chasseur would not 

 give up the bird for any consideration or at any price, saying 

 that he had shown it to his young woman and promised it to 

 her for her hat, and that therefore she must have that very 

 bird and no other; and that he had, in fact, taken it away 

 with him. I then wrote and told Professor Giglioli of Florence 

 all about it, and went and found Count Salvadori of Turin, 

 and took him to Bouomi's shop, and so put him on the scent. 

 Have these gentlemen been more successful than I was ? 

 Chi lo sa'i I hope so ; for if not, this unique Italian spe- 

 cimen of Coccyzus americanus still adorns the hat of the 

 inamorata of the Turin chasseur. 



Yours &c., 



E. Cavendish Taylor. 



