1866 Thf. Zoologist— October, 1869. 



rarely seen in England, a sp.ecinien captured in this country was living in the Zoo- 

 loffical Gardens in 1866. The serin is a common cage bird in Germany.— (From the 

 ' Field:) 



White Sparrow in Norfolk. — An entire white sparrow {Passer domesUcus), imn)ature, 

 was shot at Cromer on the 2lsl of August. — T. E. Giinn. 



The Plague of Sparrows. — Spare your kestrels ; that is the best advice I can give : 

 1 believe that hereafter there must be a" Hawk Preservation Act;" the complaints of 

 the increiise of wood pigeons and sparrows are becoming general: this increase is 

 entirely owing to the wanton destruction of birds of prey. — Edward Newman. 



Hose-coloured Pastor in Somersetshire. — A specimen of the rose-coloured pastor 

 {Pastor roseus) was shot on the 29ih July in the garden of the Rev. A. B. Russell, 

 R-ctor of Laverton, Somerset. At the lime of being firtd at, ii was apparently feeding 

 on currants {From the ' Field '). 



Rose-coloured Pastor. — II appears from a note in the ' Field' that a specimen of 

 Pastor roseus was shot near Somerset : there is no doubt about its feedin;: on the cur- 

 rants, hs mentioned : its fondness for fruit is well known. I haie avery beautifuljbird of 

 this species, which was shot whilst ft-eding on the berries of the elder tree ; it was com- 

 pletely gorged with them. — J J. Brigjs ; King's Newton, Swarkeslon, Derby. 



Cuckoo in a Swallow's Nest. — In the early part of August four or five young 

 swallows, apparently just hatched, dropped from the interior of a high chimney of a 

 country seat. About a fortnight afterwards, to the great surprise of the inmates, a 

 young bird of considerable size, nearly fledged, dropped down the same chimney and 

 came sprawling on to the kitchen floor. The young cuckoo — for such it was — was 

 brought to me still alive: no doubt it had turned out the young swallows as soon as 

 halclied, and perhaps in altem|)ting to reach the chimney lop had ilself fallen. — 

 Heart/ Nicholls, jun. ; Kingsbridge, South Devon. 



A Ddbij Dove Incubating. — On tiie2lst June a pair of ACricaii turtles {Turtur 

 risorius) produced a single young one, the conlcuts of the other ej,'g being dried up 

 (not addled). On the 22nd July the female was again observed silting, and on the 

 24lh I obsL-rvcd both male and female al liberty, and of course supposed that some 

 casually had caused them to desert; but no! on looking up al the nest — for it is 

 higher than I can look into or reach — I saw the head of the young one, and his bright 

 eye was hioking down on me witii an air of perfectly maternal solicitude and suspicion. 

 On Sunday morning at eight the male dove was on the nest, and the female and 

 young at libeily; but al two in the afternoon the young one again occu])ied the nest, 

 and both the parents were at liberty, billing and cooing with great zeal, as though 

 rejoicing in the precocious propensities of their progeny. — Edward Newman. 



Crane on the Devon Coast. — A specimen of the common ctdue {Grits cinerea) has 

 been frequenting ihe high-level fields near the Start Lighthouse, on five or six suc- 

 cessive days: it was very shy and kepi in ihe middle of the fields, frequently in 

 company with the sheep. A friend of mine shot at it twice, but without efi'ect. — 

 Jl. Nicholls, jun. ; Kingsbridge, South Devon, Sept. 13, 1869. 



Green Smd/iiper on the A^orfulk Coast. — A small flock of the green sandpiper 

 was seen about the Yarmouth marshes on the 13lh of Auf,'usl : it consisted of seven 

 or ei^ht individuals ; one was shot and sent me on that date, and the day following 

 another w.is killed further along the coast, and a third, probably of same flock, about 

 the sjme time near Halesworlb. — T. E. Gunn ; Sept., ia69. 



