7710 Binls. 



nests could occasion.illy be traced on the roofs. The same pair appenr to return year 

 after year; and their nest, unless injured by shepherd boys during the winter, will 

 merely require a little touching up to render it again habitable. The fact of the same 

 birds returuing was proved by these caves being untenanted, where the pair had been 

 captured during the preceding year. Several nests with eggs were found towards the 

 end of May and beginning of June, 1859. Four seems about the complement : tliey 

 are quite white, much resembliug eggs of Hirundo urbica, which could be well passed 

 oflF for ihetn in collections. — W. U. Simpson, in ' Ibis,' ii. 385. 



Habits of the Standard-tving. — The Semioptera Wallacii frequents the lower trees 

 of the virgin forests, and is almost constantly in motion. It flies from branch to 

 branch, and clings to the twigs and even to tlie veitic il smooth trunks, almost as easily 

 as a woodpecker. It continually utters a harsh croaking cry, something between that 

 of Paradisea apoda and the more musical cry of Cicinnurus regins. The males, at 

 short intervals, open and flutter their wings, erect the long shoulder feathers, and 

 expand the elegant shields on each side of the breast. Like the other birds of Para- 

 dise, the females and young males far outnumber the fully plumaged birds, which 

 renders it probable that the extraordinary accessory plumes are not fully developed 

 until the second or third year. The bird seems to feed principally upun fruit, but it 

 probably takes insects occasionally. The iris is of a deep olive ; the bill horny olive ; 

 the feet orange, and the claws horny. T have now obtained a few examples of appa- 

 rently the same bird from Giklo ; but in these the crown is of a more decided violet 

 hue, and the plumes of the breast are much larger. — A. R. Wallace, in ' Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society,' 1860, |). 61. 



Young Cuckoo Fed both by a Sony Thrush and Hedyesparrow. — A curious and 

 interesting fact came under my notice a few days ago at Catteshall, near Godalming. 

 A young cuckoo had been caught in the garden and confined in a wicker cage, in which 

 it was fed by a song thrush and a hedgesparrow, both of which birds had continued 

 their attentions for about a fortnight, when the thrush abandoned the foster child to 

 the exclusive care of the hedgesjiarrow. I have since learned that some juvenile 

 thrushes had been confined in the same wicker cage, so thai the thrush possibly sup- 

 posed she was administering to the wants of her own progeny. — Edward Sweetapple ; 

 Hurstbourne Mill, Whitehurst, Hants, July 6, 1861. 



On Certain Changes in the Plumage of the Pheasant. — A good deal has been pre- 

 viously written on those singular changes of plumage which are remarked in old 

 specimens of females among the pheasant and other gallinaceous tribes, attributable 

 in ordinary cases to the eff"ect of age, sterility or other changes of constitution. In 

 two instances within my experience a female of the wild breed of duck {Anas boschas) 

 has assumed the plumage of the drake, one of which specimens will probably be 

 exhibited to the Naturalists' Club on the occasion of this paper being read. Both these 

 examples were known to be birds of considerable age. I shall not dwell longer upon 

 these phenomena in the case of females, further than to state that I have sometimes, 

 though rarely, observedjin female pheasants, where no change of plumage had occurred, 

 another attribute of the male sex in the appearance of spurs. These are always short, 

 and more commonly are found only on one leg, but they are strong and sharp. A 

 specimen shot last week of the hen pheasant, with the spur on both legs, is now in the 

 hands of Duncan for preservation. These instances are more rare than that change 

 of plumage which constitutes what is generally called by sportsmen " a mule bird." 

 But besides these cases I have recently noticed in many instances a change in the plu- 



