264 A Fezv Notes on Bird Life, &c. [Sess. 



make their appearance suddenly in April, and actually swarm 

 in some parts of Haddingtonshire. He had seen them arrive 

 at Dunbar about daybreak, and on reaching the shore cling 

 to the rocks and walls in search of insects. They were 

 exceedingly tame after their long flight, and on one occasion he 

 caught one with his hat. He further states that in autumn 

 similar flights are observable coming from the surrounding 

 country coastwards ; and in 1847 a large flock of these little 

 creatures took possession of a cabbage-plot, and looked more 

 like a swarm of bees than a crowd of birds. On every plant 

 there were half-a-dozen or more perched, some busied looking 

 for insects, others bathing in the rain-water collected on the 

 broad leaves. He walked through the plot, and with a 

 butterfly-net caught ten or twelve specimens : some of these 

 lived in confinement for a fortnight, and were supplied regu- 

 larly with insects. They became tame almost immediately, 

 and were allowed the full use of an attic facing the sea which 

 they had intended crossing. They frequently perched on his 

 hand, and were most interesting pets ; but a 'single night's 

 frost killed them all. In the report of the Migration Com- 

 mittee of the British Association there is an account of the 

 enormous numbers of these birds appearing at various times 

 at Heligoland. They are described as being seen there by 

 hundreds upon hundreds, sitting about on every available spot 

 on the lantern of the lighthouse, and preening their feathers 

 in the glare of the lamp. It must be a matter of wonder 

 how these and other birds, to whom, when in captivity, frost is 

 so inevitably fatal, manage to exist in our severe winters when 

 at liberty, and where they get shelter during night. I have 

 observed that bullfinches in captivity often perish from cold, 

 while the goldfinch appears not to be in the least affected by 

 a frost which covers his drinking-water with ice. "We should 

 have thought the bullfinch the hardier bird of the two. In a 

 long life of seventy years, I have only once met that rare and 

 beautiful bird, so nearly allied to the gold-crest, the fire- 

 crested regulus (Rcgulus ignicapillus), and this was at Allesley, 

 in Warwickshire. The crest is a brilliant red, and I thought 

 the bird rather larger than its congener. 



I shall now make a few remarks on the cuckoo. At a short 

 distance from the damaged gold-crest's nest before mentioned, 



