The Zoologist — July, 1874. 4047 



whose appearances in Europe and Britain are purely accidental, 

 or is otherwise governed by laws of which we are profoundly 

 ignorant, I shall proceed to enumerate the published records on 

 this subject. 



At p. 100 of his valuable ' Handbook of British Birds,' Mr. 

 Harting has, with his usual care, enumerated twelve records of the 

 occurrences or appearances, real or supposed, of White's thrush in 

 the British Isles ; and I have made this my guide in the following 

 notes, adding particulars for which he had no space, and also in- 

 troducing two very important records — one of Dr. Tristram having 

 observed the species at Greatham, the other of Mr. Rodd having 

 obtained a specimen in Cornwall. 



1. The first known British specimen is that described and named 

 by Mr. Eyton ; it was a male, and was shot in January, 1828, by 

 Lord Malmesbury at Heron Court, his lordship's seat, near Christ- 

 church, in Hampshire : this is also the specimen figured and 

 described by Mr. Yarrell. 



2. The second specimen is introduced to us by Mr. Yarrell, 

 whose note on the subject I extract entire, appending a doubt by 

 Professor Newton, which will cause ornithologists to hesitate in 

 accepting this specimen as British. Mr. Yarrell's record runs 

 thus: — "To Mr. Jesse I am indebted for an introduction to his 

 friend Mr. Bigge, of Hampton Court, who has allowed me the use of 

 a specimen of a thrush which appears to be identical with Dr. Hors- 

 field's thrush from Java, and also with specimens from Australia, 

 which are certainly very closely allied to the Javanese thrush. 

 Mr.Bigge's bird is said to have been shot in the New Forest, Hamp- 

 shire, by one of the forest keepers, who parted with it to a bird- 

 preserver at Southampton, of whom Mr. Bigge bought it for his own 

 collection. * * * * Mr. Bigge's specimen is eleven inches 

 and a half long ; the wing five inches and a half; the first feather 

 short; the second as long as the sixth ; the third, fourth and fifth 

 of equal length and the longest in the wing." — History of British 

 Birds, third edition, vol. i. pp. 203, 204. Professor Newton's com- 

 mentary on the above runs thus : — " It will be observed that no 

 notice has been taken of a thrush mentioned in former editions of 

 this work as being the property of Mr. Bigge, then of Hampton 

 Court, but now of Debden Hall, Essex, who, about the year 1825, 

 bought it of a birdstuffer at Southampton. This specimen was said 

 to have been shot in the New Forest by one of the keepers. It was 



