2824 Birds. 



Occurrence of the Osprey (Pandion Haliaetus) in Northumberland. — A female 

 osprey was shot on our sea-coast, near Hartley, on the 30th of April last. — T.J. 

 Bold; 42, Bigg Market, Newcastle-on-Tyne, May 2, 1850. 



Longevity of a Magpie (Pica caudata). — In the ' Hereford Journal,' a week or 

 two ago, I found the following, which is worthy (if true) to he recorded in the 

 ' Zoologist,' as it may serve to elicit further information on the subject. It runs 

 thus: " On Sunday last, a tame magpie, in the possession of James Godsall, baker, 

 of this city, died at the age of twenty -one years." — J. Mc'Intosh. 



Male of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Picus majoi) in the Plumage of the Female. 

 — A specimen of Picus major was shot on the 1st of May, in Prestwich Wood, about 

 three miles from Salford. The person who shot it stated that a pair were building 

 their nest in a hole of a large tree, and he believed he had shot the female. In pre- 

 paring it for the Museum, I made a careful examination and dissection of the body, 

 and to my surprise found it to be the male bird in the plumage and distinctive 

 markings of the female. There is not the slightest tinge of scarlet about the occi- 

 pital feathers. I have remarked many instances in which this occipital colouring in 

 the male is reduced to a slight red tinge on three or four feathers alone, so that it 

 may really often, occur (as in my specimen) entirely without them. — John Plant ; 

 Salford Borough Museum, May 3, 1850. 



Anecdote of Marlins (Hirundo uvbica). — An incident relative to the nesting of the 

 martin took place under my own observation, and may be worthy of recording in the 

 pages of the ' Zoologist.' In the summer of 1836 two of these birds made choice of 

 a place under the eaves of a tiled house, where the nest was built, the eggs laid, and 

 the young hatched; but then a season of such wet weather set in that the mud nest 

 of the martin was so moistened that it lost its adhesive property, and one fragment 

 after another fell to the ground, until the half-fledged young could be seen clinging 

 for their lives to the remnant still left. It became an anxious moment, not only for 

 the old birds, — who kept flying round the dwelling, uttering a doleful plaintive noise, 

 — but also for the gentleman residing in the house, who had taken great interest in 

 the proceedings of his tenants, and who now feared that the remnant of the nest 

 would fall, and the objects of his care be dashed to pieces on the pavement beneath : 

 he was resolved if possible to prevent such a catastrophe. Many means were thought 

 of, and, while the rain descended in torrents, a ladder was brought and placed against 

 the house ; then, with a hammer and some nails, he succeeded in fastening a piece 

 of strong cloth around and underneath the young, forming a kind of bag, in which 

 they were preserved from destruction. Scarcely was the ladder withdrawn, when the 

 parent birds fluttered around their repaired dwelling, and in less than five minutes 

 they became inspired with confidence, and entered the repaired residence for the night, 

 for it was then almost dark. Early in the morning they commenced their building 

 anew, and with mortar they closed every aperture in the cloth : they reared their 

 young in security. In the autumn they left with others of their tribe ; but in the 

 following spring, when scarcely a martin had been seen in the neighbourhood, a loud 

 chirping or chattering noise was suddenly heard about the house, when, on looking 

 around to see from what quarter it proceeded, to our great pleasure we beheld the old 

 nest beset with martins, — without doubt the brood which had been reared there the 

 previous year; and from their loquaciousness and fluttering movements, it appeared 

 quite evident that the feelings of former associations were recalled to memory, and 

 joyous delight was experienced that they had again visited the land and place that 



