of Passage in the Neighbourhood of Carlisle. 1 1 1 



apparently very irregular, as it has occurred during the above 

 period in almost every month from October to April. On the 

 eleventh of April 1828, I saw one near Stainton ; and on the 

 seventh of March it was observed close to Brugh-by- Sands, 

 and pursued nearly the whole day, but without success. 



_ Bohemian Chatterer (Bombycilla garrula). — Several spe- 

 cimens of this beautiful species were killed in the month of 

 January, two of which were brought to me. It would appear 

 that these birds feed greedily upon the fruit of the wild briar 

 Rosa canina), as well as upon the berries of the mountain ash 

 {Sorbus aiicuparia), the thorn [Cratcegus oxyacantha), &c. The 

 stomach of one was completely filled with these berries {11. ca- 

 nina), and I was somewhat surprised to find that several had 

 been swallowed quite whole, although very large. The other 

 had been also feeding upon the same fruit, although killed after 

 an interval of several days and in a different part of the county. 

 Both these birds proved to be males ; yet one had but five, 

 and the other only four waxen appendages attached to the se- 

 condary quills of each wing. Temminck, and indeed almost 

 all writers on ornithology, state that the number of these ap- 

 pendages is one of the characteristics by which the sexes may 

 be distinguished ; yet I have reason to think they are a very 

 doubtful criterion, and will in all probability eventually prove 

 to be more indicative of age than of sex. — As the following ob- 

 servations upon this subject are but little known, I have been 

 induced to extract them from Hutchinson's History of Cum- 

 berland, a work only in the possession of few individuals*. 

 " This beautiful bird {Bohemian Chatterer) only visits Cum- 

 berland occasionally, and then only in the winter season. In 

 the beginning of the year 1787 great numbers were killed in 

 the north of England. What distinguishes this from all other 

 birds, are horny appendages from the tips of the secondary 

 feathers, of the colour of the very finest red sealing-wax. The 

 females are said to be distinguished from the males by the want 

 of the appendages and yellow marks in the wing feathers ; 

 which, however, is not the case, as will appear from the fol- 

 lowing account. One of these birds was found dead, in Fe- 

 bruary 1784, near Brugh-on-the-Sands: It had six crimson 

 appendages at tiie end of the secondary quills; the tips of the 

 (juill feathers ratiier a dirty white than yellow. I could not 

 distinguish, upon dissection, whether it was male or female. 

 On the eighth of February 17«7, Mr. Story sent me a speci- 

 men, which was killed near Keswick : on the right wing were 

 six of the horny appendages, on tiie left only five: five of the 



* Sec Catalo^jiic orCuinNtTlaiid Aniiiialh, vol. i. pafjc 11. 



riuill 



