240 SYLVIAS. 



these birds had been occasionally seen climbing the but- 

 tresses of the buildings, or feeding on the grass-plots of the 

 garden, and were so tame, a character peculiar to the 

 species, that one of them, probably a male, was supposed 

 to have fallen a victim to a cat : the other was shot ; on 

 dissection it proved to be a female, and the specimen was 

 prepared and preserved for Dr. Thackeray's collection. 



A second specimen has been killed in Essex ; and the 

 following notice of the occurrence appeared in London's 

 Magazine of Natural History for the year 1832, page 288, 

 in a letter to the editor, as follows : " Sir, A few years 

 since, I shot a small bird in a garden on the borders of 

 Epping Forest, which I did not know, nor could any one 

 tell me what it was, till within a fortnight a gentleman 

 requested me to allow him to take it to London. He 

 accordingly went to Mr. Gould, Naturalist, 20, Broad- 

 street, Golden-square, who sends me an account of its 

 being the Accentor alpinus, or Alpine Warbler, the only 

 one known to have been killed in England, with the 

 exception of one in Dr. Thackeray's garden at Cambridge. 

 If any of your correspondents would like to see it, they 

 can, by calling at my nursery, Wood Street Waltham- 

 stow. I am, Sir, yours, &c. JAMES PAMPLIN. Whips Cross, 

 Walthamstow, January 27th." 



I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Goodenough, the Dean 

 of Wells, for a knowledge of the occurrence of a third 

 example of this rare bird, which was shot in the garden of 

 the Deanery in Somersetshire in 1833. Dr. Goodenough 

 most obligingly offered to send this bird up to London for 

 my use : but the loan of Dr. Thackeray's specimen ren- 

 dered a second example unnecessary. I am not, however, 

 the less happy to record my obligations for the favour 

 intended. 



