^879.] PROF. NEWTON ON SYLVIA NISORIA. 219 



1 uf^f'"",^?' ¥\^-' ^•^•^•' ^''c<^-President, exhibited (on be- 

 half of Mr. John Robinson, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge) a specimen 

 ot bi/lvia ntsoria, remarking : — ' 



" This specimen was formerly the property of INIr. Germany, for 

 rnany years the highly-respected porter of Queens' Colleae, who in 

 the course of a long life formed a considerable collection of birds 

 nearly all obtained by himself in and near Cambridge, and also 

 stuffed by himself. At his death, more than twenty years a^o it 

 passed, with many others of his specimens, into the possession of'an 

 old friend of his, Mr. Elijah Tarrant, of whom Mr. John Robinson, an 

 undergraduate of Trinity Hall, bought it about a twelvemonth since. 

 Up to this time no one seems to have known what the bird wa^ 

 though some ingenious person had hazarded the suggestion that it 

 was a variety of the Nightingale. Soon after, it was seen by Mr. 

 J^reclerick Bond, F.Z.S., who at once recognized it as Sylvia nisoria 

 and w;as good enough to advise its being shown to me. It was 

 accordingly brought to me by Mr. Doggett, a bird-stuffer at Cam- 

 bridge, in whose hands Mr. Robinson had placed it for remountiuo- • 

 and I immediately made all the inquiries I could about it. It 

 appears that it was shot by Germany, a long time before his death, 

 m a garden at a place known as " Paradise," not far from Queens' 

 College. larrant tells me that he remembers seeing itdirectly after 

 It was mounted, if not before the skin was taken off, and that Germany 

 said he had much difficulty in shooting it, owing to the thick foliage 

 in which the bird kept, being obliged at last to fire when it was so 

 close to him that it was greatly damaged bv the shot. Any one who 

 examines the specimen will see that its condition corroborates this last 

 statement, as it has lost a considerable number of feathers from the 

 head especially near the gape, and several rectrices are wanting. 

 Uut 1 see 110 reason for doubting any particular of the story as told 

 to me. 1 have satisfied myself that on the part of no one has there 

 been an attempt to make money out of it ; and in further confirma- 

 tion thereof I would call attention to the glass eve which has been 

 inserted into the specimen. This has the iris of a pale yellow 

 which we kncAv to be the colour in Sylvia nisoria, but a colour so 

 uncommon in species of the family that an English bird-stuffer 

 would hardly have thought of using it had he not been prompted by 

 finding an ins of this colour in the bird when fresh. I may add that 

 the specimen, from its plumage, seems to have been a male; and, so 

 tar as J arrant recollects, it was shot in spring or early summer; but 

 as Its death took place possibly forty years ago, he cannot be at 

 all certain on this point." 



The following papers were read : — 



