Birds. 2851 



ground beneath the trees is covered over with brambles and other trailing plants. — 

 James Smith ; Manse of Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, June 3, 1850. 



Curious Nidification of the House Sparrow. — Behind the premises where I reside 

 is a chimney, in the top of which is stuck a thorn-bush, I suppose to prevent it from 

 smoking ; well, in this bush a pair of sparrows have built their nest, although it is a 

 kitchen chimney, and smoke is issuing in dense volumes throughout the whole day. 

 The two comical fellows are in the habit of coming into my yard to feed on the 

 crumbs laid for that purpose ; and for some time their singular appearance puzzled 

 me (for when feeding with the others they looked like two tiny female blackbirds), 

 until one day when looking out at a staircase-window which overlooks the yard, I saw 

 the problem solved, for both birds were collecting building materials for their nest, 

 and I watched them daily till it was completed. And now they have young, and have 

 nearly ceased visiting me for crumbs, they sometimes come and snatch a morsel to 

 satisfy their own hunger, then off they go foraging for their brood, not to rob the 

 farmer of his corn, but to clear the gardens and orchards in the neighbourhood of 

 many thousand insects. Should they succeed in rearing their brood I will inform 

 you. — Joseph Duff; Bishop Auckland, June 10, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula) near London. — On Saturday, 

 the 25th of May, the gardener of John Masterman, Esq., at Leyton, shot one of a 

 pair of strange birds that he had seen about the garden for some days. The bird 

 proved to be a female golden oriole. It was sent to Mr. W. Morris, bird-stuffer of 

 this place, for preservation, and on dissection was found to contain two eggs, but with 

 unformed shells. This seems to warrant the supposition that the birds had a nest, 

 but it has not yet been found. — H. Barclay ; Leyton, Essex, June 5, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Golden Oriole at Elmstone. — I send you the following extracts 

 from a letter of my friend Mr. C. A. Delmar, who has been fortunate enough to shoot 

 a golden oriole. He says, I heard of its arrival from my brother, who resides at Elm- 

 stone : he wrote to me on the 6th of June, asking me to come over to shoot a golden 

 oriole, which he had seen and heard in the very same spot where a male and female 

 golden oriole, with their nest and eggs, were taken last year, about this time. I had 

 the good luck to shoot this bird on the 6th, and on comparing it with the others we 

 are of opinion it is a female : the colour of the plumage is not very bright, and resem- 

 bles the female taken last year. I have stuffed it, and it is now in the possession of 

 my brother, with the birds shot last year. We looked the place well and found only 

 this bird, and my brother has been to the spot every day since, but has not seen or 

 heard another. A very beautiful male golden oriole was shot at Lydd, in the latter 

 part of May last, by a fanner who saw it settle on his window : a female was also seen, 

 but she escaped. Before hearing of the golden oriole from my brother at Elmstone, 

 I saw in the marshes, on my way to Word, a golden oriole fly from a thick bush to a 

 bush a short distance off: at last it flew away in the direction of Word, and I was not 

 able to find it again.—/. W. Hulke ; Deal, June 17, 1850. 



Varieties of the Yelloiohammer (Emberiza citrinella) and Blackbird (Turdus 

 merula). — A female white specimen of the yellowhammer was shot last week near 

 this town ; together with, some short time since, a purely spotless white example of 

 Turdus merula : this latter, it was remarked, seemed apparently smaller in size com- 

 pared to the common species. The bird is now in the possession of a taxidermist at 

 Ramsgate. Among the varieties mentioned by Mr. Thompson in his ' Note Book of 



