Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 431 



known to breed in Britain, those whose eggs have been disco- 

 vered elsewhere, and those whose niditicatiou is still unknown. 

 When the birds are only accidental or occasional visitors to our 

 shores, a mark might be attached to signify from what con- 

 tinent they are most probably stragglers ; and there might be 

 no objection to the addition of a supplementary list specifying, 

 as in Mr. Doubleday's * Nomenclature,' such birds as " have been 

 placed in the British list, but rest on slender evidence, or have 

 been introduced by mistake.^' 



If you consider these suggestions worth submitting to your 

 contributors and readers, I trust we may, ere long, be enabled 

 to welcome the appearance of 'The Ibis' list of British birds, 

 which, by its authenticity, may, I hope, remove or lessen the 

 confusion and uncertainty produced by the various catalogues 

 now published. Yours, &c., T. Beaven Rakes. 



To the Editor of ' The Ibis.' 



The Elms, Camp Hill. 



Sir, — On Sept. 26th, 1860, at a meeting of the Birmingham 

 Natural History Association, Mr. A. Franklin, taxidermist, exhi- 

 bited a magnificent hybrid of the Capercailzie {Tetrao urogaUus), 

 with the Black Grouse (7". tetrix). It was shot this season in 

 Perthshire by a gentleman of our town, and placed in Mr. 

 Fi'anklin's hands for preservation. 



The leading characters of this bird are those of the Caper- 

 cailzie ; the bill, however, is black. In 1852 a similar hybrid 

 was shot in the same county. 



In 1857, a nest of nine eggs of the Capercailzie was recorded 

 in the 'Perthshire Courier^ as taken near Logielmond. 



Associating these facts, it seems evident that the extirpation 

 of this bird, which was reintroduced by the Marquis of Bread- 

 albane in 1838-9, is not yet completely effected. 



Yours, &c., Geo. R. Twinn. 



We believe, on the contrary, that the Capercailzie is rapidly 

 extending itself in Perthshire, and that, in some of the well- 

 preserved parts of that county, both the pure bird and the 

 hybrid between it and the Black Grouse are far from uncommonly 

 met with. — Ed. 



