302 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



Magpie^ on account of the different positions which they may chose 

 for nesting. In Northamptonshire, where his home lies, he tells 

 me he has observed them very accurately, and they used to abound 

 there, it not being an unusual thing for him to find six or seven 

 nests in a daily excursion, and he distinctly recognizes two sorts, 

 one of which is nearly three inches larger than the other. Both of 

 these sorts would build indiscriminately in trees high or low ; but 

 the thing which he had noticed, and which had most effect in con- 

 vincing him of the distinction between the sorts, was that he never 

 found an instance of the two varieties mating with each other. He 

 never found one of the long-tailed sort mating with the smaller 

 bird, or vice versa. 



Fregilus Graculus. " The Chough." A very handsome bird is 

 the Chough, but I fear one of which it will not be much longer true 

 to sing 



" Tte Chough and Crow to roost are gone," 



as being seen in each other^s company, in many of our counties. 

 They used to visit our downs occasionally in former years, though I 

 know of no recent instances of their doing so ; but King informs me 

 that he remembers one of these birds being killed by a shepherd lad 

 at Battlesbury, on the downs about a mile-and-a-half from War- 

 minster, but the bird was, unfortunately, not preserved. I have a 

 fine pair in my collection, which came from Tintagel, on the Cornish 

 coast, some six years ago. But even then the person who procured 

 them said they were very scarce, and were not commonly seen about 

 there. Hart, however, tells me that they still breed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Swanage, and that he has specimens not unfrequently 

 brought him from that district. Thus he had a pair from thence in 

 1869 ; three, in 1873 ; a pair from Hengistbury Head, in 1871, and 

 another pair from Swanage, in 1875, and from what he told me I 

 gathered that they were not considered altogether as such great 

 rarities in that district; and perhaps now the Bird Act may enable 

 them to hold their own better than formerly. 



Garrulus Glandarius. " The Jay." This bird is as cunning as it 

 is handsome, as well as being an audacious thief. I noticed one of 



