Anniversary Meeting of the Zoological Club. 213 
since the date of the institution of our club, chiefly by the 
exertions of its members. ‘The past year has not been barren 
in such acquisitions. A female specimen of a species of the 
family of warblers, the Sylvia Tithys of Linneeus, shot near 
London, was exhibited at our last meeting. We are indebted to 
Mr. Ganld of the Zoological Society, for the discovery of this 
addition to our British ‘Fauna. The bird had been sent to 
him as a common Redstart (Sylvia Phoenictrus), to which it 
bears a close affinity; and probably would have passed un- 
noticed as a specimen of that species, more particularly in 
consequence of its sex, in which the colours are less strongly 
marked than in the male, had not the critical knowledge of 
this rising naturalist detected the distinguishing characters. 
At the same meeting, Mr. Yarrell exhibited specimens of the 
trachea of a swan, differing materially from that of the well 
known Cygnus.férus, more "especially by entering the sternum 
to a greater distance, and forming, at the end of it, a horizon- 
tal instead of a Seal fold. One of these specimens belonged 
to a bird now preserved in the collection of the Philosophical 
Society of Cambridge, and which Mr. Yarrell had an oppor- 
tunity of examining in a recent state. ‘The result of this 
examination, as well as of that of one or two other similar 
specimens, confirmed him in the opinion that the bird differed 
equally in external and internal characters from all the other 
known species of the group. He expressed his intention of 
laying before the next meeting of our parent Society a detailed 
description * ; accompanied by plates, of this new and well 
distinguished British species. ‘To Mr. Yarrell, also, we are 
indebted for an accurate description and delineation of the 
structure of the beak and its muscles, in our Crossbill, the 
Loxia curviréstra. I cannot, in this place, omit the expression 
of our thanks to Mr. Blackwall of Manchester, for several 
valuable ornithological observations which he has at various 
times communicated to the Zoological Journal. His notes on 
the natural history of the Cuckoo, on the nidification of birds, 
and on the habits and economy of several British species, 
which came under his immediate inspection, are replete with 
interest and information. 
The advantage which science derives from the publication 
of works illustrative of the subjects of nature, has at all times 
been acknowledged with gratitude. At no period have a 
greater number or a more valuable assemblage appeared than 
at the present. The splendid work of Mr. Selby on the in- 
* This description has been since read, in which the bird is characterised 
under the name of Cygnus Bewickz. 
