president's address. 217 



One, the occurrence of the great black-headed gull of the 

 CasjDian (La?ms ichthydetos), in Cornwall: the other, of the 

 Thibetian sand-grouse (Syrrhcqjtes paradoxus), in Norfolk and 

 in Wales, last July. Other specimens, doubtless of the same 

 flock, were obtained in Denmark and in Holland. 



At a recent meeting of the Zoological Society, the keeper of 

 the Gardens gave an interesting account of the return, year after 

 year, to the Eegent's Park, of a herrring-gull, which had been 

 bred there, and which was in the habit of disappearing from 

 spring to the end of autumn. An exemplification of a similar 

 instinct has recently been brought to my notice in our own 

 neighbourhood. During the winter of 1858-59, a hooded crow 

 was caught and given to the son of Mr. Vaux, of Sunderland, 

 who turned it into his garden, where it fed regularly with the 

 poultry. At the end of March, the crow took his departure, 

 doubtless to attend to his matrimonial duties in Norway, for he 

 has this winter returned, and remained domiciled in the garden, 

 roosting regularly in his accustomed tree. 



Much curious information on the habits of some of our most 

 interesting birds has been lately published by Messrs Freeman 

 and Salvin in their work on Falconry, to which, as issuing from 

 the press under the co-authorship of a Durham naturalist, 

 it may not be out of place to direct your attention. Mr. Free- 

 man laments the disappearance of the peregrine, "alas! rarely 

 seen. A strange and anomalous civilization is fast blotting out 

 the most complete type of speed, strength, and courage, which 

 belongs of right to these islands, and which the Mightiest Hand 

 placed upon all their cliffs as an index to the hearts and prowess 

 that should protect them." Our authors rightly reprobate the 

 folly of immediately shooting any rare bird, and plead earnestly 

 for mercy to the merlin and peregrine, even from the proprietors 

 of grouse moors. They agree, not only that they are compara- 

 tively harmless, but that they are useful, as destroying the 

 diseased birds which would otherwise propagate the grouse dis- 

 ease. And certainly they are right, for we cannot too often 

 repeat, that it is a mistake to disturb unnecessarily that mysteri- 

 ous economy of animal life which regulates and balances the 



