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VIII. — Natural History. — Notes on the OrnitJwlogy of Cornwall 

 from May, 1868. — By E. Hearle Eodd. 



MY last little budget on the bird occurrences in the county 

 duiing the previous year, for the information of your 

 Society, was meagre enough ; and I am sorry that my story this 

 year is not likely very much to enrich the Reports of the Institu- 

 tion in this department of science. 



We can, however, add one British species of Pipit to the 

 Cornish Fauna since your last meeting, by the capture, at Scilly, 

 of the " Tawny Pipit," a species that has been well known on the 

 continent, but it has been added only very recently to our 

 catalogue of British birds. The "Tawny Pipit" (AntJms cam- 

 pestris) forms one of the plates in Mr. Gould's work on "The 

 Birds of Great Britam," now in course of publication ; and its 

 value as an acquisition to our county, which is already so much 

 indebted to the Scilly Isles for rare birds, will increase the interest 

 attached to that locality as a most interesting adjunct to Cornwall 

 in the advancement of the science of Natural History. 



There is another interesting and rare Pipit, not often found in 

 Britain, which also has appeared at Scilly in the last year, viz : 

 " Richard's Pipit " ; and the " Tawny Pipit " may best be described 

 when it is said to be a miniature of "Richard's Pipit." The hind 

 claw, however, is much shorter in proportion ; and it will be only 

 necessary to say in this paper that the specific characters in the 

 general tawny colour of the back, without the centre dark colour- 

 ing of the feather (remarkable in the A. Bichardi) and the spotless 

 tawny breast and under parts, are fully observable in this 

 example. 



Whilst on the Ornithology of the Scilly Isles, I have again to 

 re]3ort the aj)pearance of that beautiful species, the "Golden 

 Oriole." Mr. Smith writes me word that one in brilliant plumage 

 was observed last week; and, about the same time, another 

 example, probably a female, in a duller state of plumage, in the 

 hill plantation, near the Abbey. The frequent appearance of the 



