THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



Tyrannus, Cuv Muse, audax, Gm. 



Platyrhynchus, Desmar. — Todus cancroma, Lath. 



Muscipeta, Cuv Muscicapa paradisi, Linn. 



Dicrurus, Vieill Edolius, Cuv E. retifer, Temm. 



Ceblepyris, Cuv. — Muscicapa cana, Gmel. 



Order II Insessores, Vigors. 



Fam. I. Hirundinse, Vigors. 



Cypselus, Illig Hirundo leucorrhoa, Shaw. 



Acanthylis Hirundo spinicauda, Temm. col. 726, fig. 1. 



Chelidon.— Hir. viridis, Wils. pi. 38, f. 3. 



Cotyle Hir. fucata, Azz. Temm. col. 161 H. rupestris, Gm — H. 



riparia, Linn. 



Progne Hir. purpurea, Gm Wils. pi. 39, fig. 2. 



Ceeropis Hir. capensis, Gm H. rustica, Gm. 



Fam. II. Pipridae, Vigors. 



Ampelis, Linn — Pipra, Linn. 



Phibalura, Vieill Ph. flavirostris, Vieill. col. 118. 



Procnias, Illig P. ventralis, Illig. 



Ampelis, Linn. — A. Pompadora, Linn. 



Bombycilla, Briss. — B. japonica, Liebold. 



Casmarhynchus, Temm. — Ampelis nudicollis, Gm. 



Coracina, Vieill Coracias scutata, Lath. 



Pipra, Linn P. pareola, Linn. 



Pythis, Vieill Pipra leucocilla, Gm. 



Fam. III. Meropidae, Vigors Merops, Linn. 



Merops, Linn. 

 Fam. IV. TrochilidEe, Vigors. — Trochilus, Linn. 



Trochilus, Linn. 

 Fam. V. Nectariniada?, Vigors Certhia, Linn. 



Cynnyris, Cuv Certhia violacea, Gm. 



Nectarinia, Illig. — Certhia caffra, Linn. 



Ccereba, Briss Certhia spiza, Gm. 



Arachnothera, Temm. — A. longirostris, Temm. 

 Fam. VI. Sylviadae, Vigors. 



Ficedula, Cuv Motaciella Phoenicurus, Linn. 



Curruca, Cuv Mot. Luscinia, Linn. 



jEdon. — Sylvia galactodes, Temm. 



Pericrocotus Muscicapa miniata, Temm. col. 156. 



Chloris Sylvia americana, Lath. 



Hylophilus, Temm Sylvia vermivora, Lath. 



Calamoherpe. — Sylvia arundinacea, Lath. 



Dicoeum, Cuv Certhia cruentata, Gm. 



Accentor, Bechst. — Motacilla Calliope, Pall. 



Phylloscopus. — Sylvia Trochilus, Lath. 



Brachypteryx, Horsf. — B. montana, B. sepiaria, Horsf. 



Pigeons in Petersburgh The following notice is extracted from a 



paper on the Natural History of the vicinity of St Petersburgh, by Charles 

 Drosier, published in the Naturalist for February of the present year. 

 The Common Dovecot Pigeon swarms in the city and the country ; it is 

 esteemed sacred, and called God's Bird by the Russians, from the circum- 

 stance of the Holy Spirit assuming that form when it descended upon our 

 Saviour. To kill and eat it is considered an act of profanation. It is so 

 tame and incautious in the city, that vehicles have been known to pass 

 over it while engaged in picking up the scattered corn which falls in abun- 

 dance from the carts. I have touched the back of one with a walking 

 switch from a drosky (a peculiar vehicle used in St Petersburgh), and 

 could have killed it had I been so disposed. This bird is certainly a nuisance 

 in the city ; it perches upon the architraves and projections of buildings, 

 marring their beauty, and loads the places where it rests with immense 

 collections of dung, and by its flight overhead it may happen that the 

 symmetry and polish of a pedestrian exquisite's coat, or the bonnet, para- 

 sol, or cloak of some fashionable belle, may meet with the same fate that the 

 out-spread banquet of iEneas received from the Harpies on '• the shores 

 of the Sophiades." The English and Germans eat the Pigeon ; and for 

 their tables they are preserved and sold in the market by the less scrupu- 

 lous Russians. I had one day an opportunity of observing, myself, how 

 the respect for the Pigeon prevails amongst the lower orders. I shot six, 

 away from the village, at one shot, and brought them home (with the in- 

 tention of obtaining that master-achievement of modern cookery, a Pigeon- 

 pie, which I have often thought must be the nearest approach to " Am- 

 brosia" we poor sons of Earth have discovered) ; when I threw them on 

 the table, a Russian servant who was near, after several ejaculations 

 against my impiety and cruelty (for they do not understand the respect 

 with which the English treat their superiors in station), snatched up one 

 of the dead birds, and bursting into tears commenced kissing and fondling 

 it ; yet a few days afterwards she plucked them without displaying the 

 least uneasiness, a thing characteristic of the people, who for the most 

 part act from impulse. 



Rough-winged Swallow — In the fourth volume of his Ornithological 

 Biography, Mr Audubon has puhlished an account of a small Swallow re- 

 cently discovered in North America, but which had been confounded wiA 

 the Bank Swallow, Hirundo riparia. In its general appearance, including 

 proportions as well as colour, the Rough-winged Swallow is extremely 

 similar to the Bank Swallow. It differs, however, in having the bill con- 

 siderably longer, more attenuated toward the end, with the point of the 

 rpper mandible more decurved. The tail is shorter and but slightly 

 emarginate, the lateral exceeding the middle feathers by only two-twelfths 

 of an inch, whereas in the other species they exceed them by five-twelfths, 

 or even six ; the feathers are also broader and more rounded at the end. 

 The wings are longer, and extend half an inch beyond the tail. The tarsi 

 and toes are somewhat longer and more slender, and there are no feathers 

 on the hind part of the tarsus as in the common species ; the claws are 

 much more slender. The bill is black, the tarsi, toes, and claws, dusky. 

 The upper parts are of the same greyish-brown or Mouse-colour as those 

 of the Bank Swallow. The lower are of a very light greyish-brown, 

 gradually paler on the hind parts, the abdomen and lower tail-coverts being 

 white. Length to end of tail, 5| inches, extent of wings, 12|. If the 

 Bank Swallow of America be the same as ours, it is not improbable that 

 this new Rough-winged Swallow may occur in Britain. It is readily dis- 

 tinguished by drawing the finger along the outer edge of the first quill, 

 when the strong decurved and projecting tips of the filaments become 

 singularly harsh to the touch. A specimen of this Swallow, presented by 

 Mr Audubon, is in my collection, which contains about a thousand 

 species ; and in which there is also another obtained in a small parcel 

 from Canada. The Editors of the Annals of Natural History, who " dare 

 scarcely venture an opinion" on Mr Audubon's new species " without 

 having the birds before them," may inspect many of them, if they choose, 

 by calling at No, I. Wharton Place, notwithstanding the pains they have 

 taken to show that the proprietor of the collection there is an "affected" 

 imitator of Isaac Walton and John James Audubon, — a charge which 

 must appear extremely ludicrous to the American Ornithologist W. M 'G. 



Monstrosity in an Insect — A specimen of Nccrophorw Humator, or 

 the common Burning Beetle, in possession of the writer, exhibits a some- 

 what curious monstrosity. It has, in fact, an additional foot, for the 

 anterior leg of the right side has two tarsi, both well formed, and each 

 composed of five pieces as usual. Although almost every cabinet of 

 Insects contains some abnormal specimens, yet this kind of monstrosity 

 does not seem to have been noticed by any one, and must, therefore, be 

 regarded as occurring seldom, if not of extreme rarity, and consequently 

 not altogether devoid of interest to entomologists J. M. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF NORWICH. 



( Continued.) 



Owing to the change in the aspect of the country consequent on the im- 

 proved state of agriculture, the cutting down of woods, but above all, the 

 draining of the fens, the myriads of waterfowl and other birds, which 

 formerly abounded in Norfolk, have nearly all disappeared, retiring to some 

 more unmolested spot to rear their young, though in the fens of Lincoln- 

 shire a few are yet to be found. The immense flocks of Ruffs, Plovers, 

 and Sand-pipers, which formerly bred in these marshes, will ere long be ex- 

 tinct, and spoken of as things that have passed away. Though the num- 

 ber of birds about Norwich is on the whole smaller than at Edinburgh, 

 yet the county is abundantly supplied with game, many of the proprietors 

 being noted sportsmen. 



Certainly the most interesting British bird is the Great Bustard, which 

 formerly roamed the mid-land counties in small flocks, but now probably 

 the few that remain appear to have made choice of Norfolk as a resting 

 place for the short period that will elapse till the race is extinct. I saw 

 in the possession of a bird-stuffer in Norwich a magnificent specimen 

 which had been shot in the neighbourhood a short time before my arrival. 



The Grasshopper Warbler is of rather frequent occurrence, and so per- 

 fect is the resemblance between its note and the sound produced by a 

 large Grasshopper, that although I knew of the occurrence of the bird in 

 that part of the country, yet 1 was deceived by the little creature, and it 

 was some time before I found out the deception, having anticipated the 

 capture of some large, and to me unknown, insect. 



I saw a specimen of the great Shrike, Lanius Excubitor, not very far 

 from Norwich, and the Red-backed Shrike, L. Collurio, appears to be not 

 uncommon, and one may see humble bees impaled on the thorns in the 

 hedges, the work of this bird. 



Picus viridis, and Sitta europcea, are pretty common, and often enter the 

 gardens in and about the city. 



The river Yare and its tributaries, together with the pools and ponds 

 scattered over the country, are tenanted by incredible numbers of fish, 

 and the angler may here pursue with unwonted success his silent avoca- 

 tion. The Cyprinidm, which delight in sluggish rivers and ponds, here 

 supplant the Salmonidw which in Scotland occupy such a prominent featura 

 in the Icthyology of the country, 



