By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 297 



ring round the chest, whence its specific names, Latin and English ; 

 in other respects, such as general appearance, shape, bulk, habits, 

 food, &c., it resembles that well-known songster : it differs from it 

 however in occasionally associating in flocks towards the beginning 

 of autumn, and so migrating in company, but sufficiently resembles 

 it to be called provincially the "mountain," and the "michaelmas" 

 blackbird, alluding to the haunts it loves, and the season when it 

 appears on its way south. I have seen it occasionally in Switzer- 

 land and the Tyrol, and very frequently in Norway, where in one 

 especial locality, at the foot of the highest peak in that land of moun- 

 tains, it would come every morning, and perching on the turf roof 

 of an adjacent chalet, sing most melodiously, while its mate was 

 sitting on the nest among some rocks hard by : but the spot it 

 seems of all others to prefer, is the copse on the sloping foot of a 

 mountain, shelving down to some quiet tarn. I have never seen it 

 alive in Wiltshire, nor has Mr. Marsh been more fortunate : I have 

 however numerous records of its occurrence here. Mr. E. Sloper 

 speaks of it as often seen in flocks of five or six, and of two being 

 killed near Devizes in 1851; another (now in Mr. Marsh's collec- 

 tion) was killed at Compton Bassett by the Rev. A. Austin : it has 

 often been taken in Clarendon Park : and scarcely a spring or au- 

 tumn occurs, but Mr. Withers sees and generally captures some in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of Devizes : it is however much more 

 common in the wild mouBtainous and stormy districts of the north 

 than in this county. 



"Golden Oriole" (Oriolm galhula). This splendid bird, with its 

 bright yellow and black plumage, so conspicuous from the striking 

 contrast of the two colours, is a rare visitant in Britain, but once 

 seen, it can never be mistaken : it is a denizen of warm latitudes, 

 Asia and Africa being its proper habitat, and it is only occasionally 

 that a straggler finds its way to our coasts, and therefore I think 

 myself especially fortunate in being able to record the capture of 

 two male birds in the neighbourhood of Tidworth in this county: 

 one wa« observed and killed in a small fir plantation, and carried 

 to the Rev. F. Dyson, who thinking it probable that the bird was 

 not without its mate, immediately employed a man with a gmi to 



X 



