7352 Birds. 



This was near Comayagua. They are strong on the wing, and high flyers. Their 

 brilliant plumage and long tails have a splendid effect in tropical forest scenery, 

 forming a strong contrast to the deep green of the foliage, and a brilliant addition 

 to the landscape. I have seen them up in the pineridges, and recollect riding 

 beneath a pair sitting so close together on the branch of a pine tree overhanging the 

 road that I could have killed both at one shot. They were abundant in Tigre 

 Island.— (?. C. Taylor, in the ' Ibis,' ii. 120. 



The Yelloiimaped Green Parrot (Chrysolis auripalliata) of Honduras. — Very 

 plentiful in Tigre Island, but I did not observe it elsewhere; nor did I see any large 

 parrots after I left the coast until I arrived at Yojoa, where there is a parrot much 

 resembling this in plumage, but rather smaller, with the yellow on the fore part of the 

 head instead of behind. They were flying in great numbers towards their roosting- 

 places, and passed close overhead ; but it was unnecessary to shoot one, as I saw many 

 in the town in a state of domestication. In common with the other Psittacidae they 

 are very noisy early in the morning and in the evening. At these times they feed in 

 the maize fields, and are easily shot. In Tigre Island I have seen them fly so close 

 to the house that I could have shot them from the windows. They sit on the trees 

 like pigeons, and do not appear to be frightened by the report of a gun. When they 

 are in the tree-tops it is difficult for any one standing beneath to perceive them, as 

 their green plumage cannot be distinguished from the foliage. I have often stood 

 beneath a tree full of them without being able to see one. They roost in flocks. They 

 have favourite roosting-places among lofty trees, where they assemble just before dark, 

 and may be seen making for these common centres in great numbers, chattering and 

 screaming as they fly. — Id., ii. 121. 



Note on the Alpine Chough as observed in the Ionian Islands. — I only observed 

 once a pair of this species in Epirus ; this was in May, 1857, when I was chamois- 

 hunting in the Acroceraunian Mountains, above Khimara, about forty miles north of 

 Corfu. I have since had many opportunities of observing closely the habits of this 

 very graceful bird in the mountains of Nice and Piedmont. Often, when I have been 

 crouched behind a rock waiting for a shot at chamois, they would settle on a point of 

 rock or ice within a few yards of me, and hop fearlessly about, occasionally whistling 

 and chattering, as if to inquire of each other what possible business brought me up to 

 their haunts. I was on one occasion surrounded by a party of about a dozen of this 

 species, which kept up an incessant noise for about half an hour, when one of them 

 suddenly turned his head towards the sky, uttered a very peculiar croak, and the whole 

 party immediately crouched close down on the rocks and snow. I looked up, and a 

 golden eagle came whizzing past me with wings nearly closed, in pursuit, I think, of 

 a marmot ; the choughs immediately sneaked off, and paid me no more visits that 

 day. I have seen a pair of these birds go throu),'h a sort of game of catchball with 

 a small pebble, tossing it up from one to the other, and catching it in their bills. 

 I have been informed on good authority that the Cornish chough {Fregilus Graculus) 

 is not rare on Parnassus and the Pindus range, but I have never seen it in Turkey 

 or Greece. — Hon. T. L. Powys, in the ' 7iw,' ii. 136. 



Occurrence of the Little Bustard (Otis tetrax) in Essex. — A female specimen of 

 the little bustard was shot on the St. Osyth marshes, by Mr. Denne, of St. Clair Hall, 

 on the 17tb of the present month, and was shown to me in the flesh by Mr. Cater, the 

 bird-preserver of Priory-street, in this town, to whom it was sent to be set up. The 

 distal ends of the wing and tail-feathers were rubbed. Mr. Denne, who was good 



