44 



THE NATURALIST. 



upon the previous field day, in the 

 neighbourhood of Solihull, Earl's 

 Wood, and Moseley. At the same 

 meeting an interesting paper was 

 read by the president (Mr. A. Frank- 

 lin), on "Feathers, — their adapta- 

 tions," noticing them as a means of 

 flight — for clothing and ornament 

 to birds, and calling attention to 

 their minute construction. In elu- 

 cidating the subject, specimens 

 of Cygnus olor, Machetes pugnax, 

 Dqfila caudacuta, Cuculus canorus, 

 &c., were exhibited. 



May 18th. — Mr. Bettridge read 

 an interesting paper upon the 

 " Landrail," illustrated by a speci- 

 men of the bird and its egg. In the 

 course of his paper the writer referred 

 to the anatomical construction of the 

 bird, and its nicely adapted form for 

 running. At this meeting several 

 interesting Silurian fossils were ex- 

 hibited, collected in the vicinity of 

 Great Bare. Among others were 

 specimens of Astrea, or Star coral, 

 portions of crinoidal stems, and 

 shells of the genera Lingula, Orthis, 

 Murchisonia, &c. In Ornithology 

 there were laid upon the table spe- 

 cimens of various kinds of Petrels 

 from the vicinity of the Cape. In 

 Entomology several species of Lepi- 

 doptera and Coleoptera, collected the 

 previous day at Sutton Coldfield, a 

 locality well known to Entomologists 

 generally through the country, were 

 exhibited. 



Additions to the Zoological Society's 

 Collections. — Some of your readers 

 will be glad to hear that the Earl of 

 Seafield presented to the Zoological 

 Gardens, in the Regent's Park, a very 

 fine specimen of the Wild Cat {Fells 

 catus, Linn.) which had recently 

 been captured on his Inverness 

 Estate. Many persons are of 

 opinion that the species had become 

 extinct in the British Islands. The 

 Society have also added a very fine 

 pair of Orang-Utans (iS/mrt satyrus, 

 Linn.) from Borneo to their already 

 magnificent collection of animals. — 

 Louis FiiASER, the Green, Knights- 

 bridge. S.W., May 9, 1864. 



Notes on Ornithology. 



Norfolk. 



Kestrel (Falco tinnunculits.) — A 

 very nice variety of this hawk was 

 obtained on the afternoon of the 

 12th inst., at Brooke, a village, a 

 few miles from Norwich, The back 

 and upper surface of its wings are 

 of a light buff colour, marked with 

 blotches of darker tint; throat 

 white ; head, neck, breast, belly and 

 under surface of the wings of a 

 light ash grey, marked with very 

 light brown streaks and blotches ; 

 beak, legs, &c., being of their usual 

 colours ; male bird, and was in good 

 condition when shot. 



