Birds. 9023 
pied wagtail, and even the little wren), who appeared to look on it as being a stranger 
and having no right here at this season. In one instance the chiffchaff was the 
aggressor, making an attack on a titlark. I remember an instance of a chiffchaff being 
obtained here in January, but I cannot tell in what year— Stephen Clogg ; Looe, 
February 15, 1864. 
Bramblings in the Chilterns.—About the beginning of this month my brother shot 
three bramblings from a flock which he saw in a field close to one of the wooded slopes 
of the above hills. Can any of the readers of the ‘ Zoologist’ give an instance of their 
having occurred in this locality before?—Richard Tyrer ; Weston Turville, Wendover, 
February 18, 1864. 
Pine Grosbeak at Thruxton.—On Saturday, the 30th of January, my brother killed 
a fine male specimen of the pine grosbeak (Lowia enucleator), whilst preening its 
feathers on the branch of a fir tree. Upon skinning the bird, I found the crop filled 
with small seeds, some of which I have enclosed ; they appear to me to be the seeds of 
Pinus sylvestris. I believe this is the first recorded instance of this bird’s appearance 
in this part of Hampshire.—Henry Reeks. 
Hawfinch near Salisbury.—About the first week in December, 1863, a number of 
these birds made their appearance at Britford, a village one mile and a half to the 
south-east of this city. I was informed by a person resident in the village that they 
arrived in parties of about twenty, and at intervals of from ten days to a fortnight: he 
showed me five specimens that he had shot, four males and one female. Altogether 
I have seen not less than twenty that have been killed in that locality, and this, I fear, 
does not include the total number that have been shot there. I much regret having 
to record such wholesale slaughter. Quite three-fourths of those which came under 
my notice were males. I took from the crop of one which I dissected several kernels ; 
they were chiefly from the laurel-berry; a few much smaller appeared to me to be 
from the yew-berry, but I could not quite satisfy myself as to the identity of these 
smaller kernels. I have been in the habit of seeing individual specimens of the haw- 
finch killed in this neighbourhood during the winter for the last few years, but never 
recollect them to have been so numerous as they were this season.—Henry Blackmore ; 
Salisbury. 
Y Bohemian Waxwing in the West Riding of Yorkshire—On the 24th of February 
I shot a fine specimen of the waxwing (Bombycilla garrula) near’ the well-known 
gorge called Gordale, six miles from Skipton. It was settled upon the top of a thorn- 
hedge, and, although I had to go a couple of miles before obtaining a gun, it had not 
moved far from the spot where it was first observed. I believe this is the first time 
of its occurrence within the district of Craven.—H. Roundell ; Coniston Hall, Bell 
Rush, Yorkshire. 
Bohemian Waxwing near Liscard.—A fine old male specimen of the Bohemian 
waxwing was brought to me alive on the 23rd instant, by my nephew, Mr. Thomas B. 
Robson, whose father’s gardener caught it that day in their garden at Liscard Vale, 
New Brighton, under a riddle baited with the berries of the common dog-rose, in the 
usual manner adopted by boys for catching sparrows. He previously noticed it feeding 
on the fallen berries, and it allowed him to approach within five yards before it took 
wing, when it flew to the next garden, a few yards away, but returned and was caught 
within an hour. On dissection I found nothing whatever in its stomach, some hours 
having elapsed between the time of its capture and coming into my possession. 
I killed it because Bechstein, in his excellent work on cage-birds, says it is a lazy, 
