271 



HI. — OrnitJwlogical Notes. — By E. H. Eodd. 



Read May, 1876. 



FOE several montlis after the last Spring Meeting there was 

 no oceiirrence of Ornithological interest worth recording in 

 the county ; a passing reference was made to one or two Golden 

 Orioles having made their appearance in the Scilly Isles at the 

 usual time in the middle of May, and this has been the case so 

 often and almost year after year, that their occurrence in more 

 or less numbers may be looked for as a matter of course. They 

 appear to be earlier in their arrival with us this year, for on the 

 2nd of May, a male and female in adult plumage were sent from 

 the Lizard district to Mr. Vingoe for preservation, and a third, in 

 a mutilated state, was also sent to Penzance on the same day from 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood. I am not aware of any 

 instance of the nest of this bird having been found in Cornwall, 

 but they have been observed in the shrubberies of Tresco Abbey 

 at Scilly so thoroughly paired that they seemed certain of breed- 

 ing there, but it has always happened that just at the time when 

 the fact was looked for, they suddenly disappeared and never 

 returned. They appear in the western counties, at least merely as 

 birds of passage to some other and probably eastern countries. 



The last year has been remarkable for Cornwall having given 

 a second example of the curious species or variety of snipe called 

 " Sabines Snipe " (Scolopax Sabini), and which has afforded no 

 ordinary amount of interest to naturalists from its doubtful claim 

 to specific value. Some half a dozen or more specimens only 

 have been obtained, and those of comparatively recent period, 

 and what is singailar, all these examples have occurred in the 

 British Isles, the bird being wholly unknown in other countries, 

 and no record of its ever having been seen in the new or old 

 world, except our islands, made by Ornithological authors. 

 Cornwall claims to have afforded two out of these half dozen 

 specimens, and the last was obtained from the neighbourhood fo 

 Penzance, shot by Mr. J. Dennis, Jun., and the particulars duly 



