[LETTER XXXVII* 



TO THE SAME 



SELBORNE,ya: 13, 1772. 



DEAR SIR, I sent you by the return of the Alton 

 waggon last week such birds of my last cargoes as you had 

 not seen before : some of which, I think, will not displease 

 you ; & of others I shall beg your friendly information, not 

 being able to ascertain them, especially the larks, & the 

 motacillcs. You will, I hope, also give me your opinion of 

 the last cargo ; & especially of the white rumped bird, & 

 the duck; the former of which, I trust, is a turdus, & a 

 rare bird, & perhaps a nondescript ; & as to the latter I 

 should be pleased to know whether it be the red-breasted 

 shoveler of the Brit : zool : or not. My present cargo is 

 as follows : 



Ptuznicopterus ruber Mas : 

 Larus fidipes alter Willughbcei : N : VI ? 

 Lanius collurio, pullus ? 

 Lanius collurio, wood-chat from Tetuan : J 

 Sturnus niger from Tetuan : an nova species?* 

 Oriolus galbula : 

 Oriolus .... young or variety : 

 Alauda cristata : 



Alauda N i. 2 specimens : bills long & slender ; breasts tinged 

 with yellow : 3 



1 Lanius pomer anus, Scop. [R. B. S.] 



2 Sturnus unicolor, Temm. [R. B. S.] 



3 Probably the Spanish Crested Lark (Galerita theckla, Brehm). One of 

 the Larks was identified by John White (see his Letter, p. 164) as a Skylark, and 

 therefore must be the Mediterranean form of our Skylark (Alauda cantarella). 

 The other species would doubtless be the Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachy- 



157 



