Birds, 6809 



pugnacious robin, on whose territory the stranger Lad intruded, approached and mob- 

 bed hino, and inimedialely on his taking flight his fiery tail left no doubt of his genus. 

 At the time I had no gun, and Iheiefore was obliged to content myself with observing 

 him for nearly three quarters of an hour, which he gave me abundant opportunity of 

 doing, alighting at times within three feet of me, and so enabling rae to note his 

 colours ; he flitted along from stone lo stone, occasionally taking a flight towards the 

 edge of the waves, and there alighting on the wet sand (the tide was advancing), he 

 pecked for some moments among the debris left by each receding wave. He would 

 then, ou my too close approach, fly back to the rocks and stones which here cover the 

 railway embankment. The robin, before alluded to, still continued pursuing and 

 mobbing him, and, after awhile, was joined in his amusement by a well-marked spe- 

 cimen of the whinchat {Sylvia rubetra), which, in like manner, mobbed the redstart. 

 It was rather a singular conjunction, meeting two summer birds together on a cold 

 December day. I have before, however, seen the whinchat on these cliff's in the 

 winter on more than one occasion, and shot a specimen here on the r2th of December, 

 1847. On the following day I went out to try and procure one, if not both specimens, 

 I failed, however, in obtaining more than one tail-feather of the redstart, which, by its 

 uniform flame-colour, left no doubt as to the species, when taken in conjunction with 

 the white baud on the wing. There appeared to be a pair of the redstarts, both 

 males, and one much bluer in the breast than the other. Where did they come from, 

 or what were they doing there on a cold, snowy December day ? The cliff's here are 

 covered with furze and brake, and face the south-east. Slonechats abound here at all 

 seasons. — /. R. Kinahan ; 51, Stephens Green, Dublin, December 14, 1859. 



[I cannot quite agree with my friend. Dr. Kinahan, in regarding the black 

 redstart as a summer bird. I find from thirty to forty notes of its occurrence, and 

 they are in the proportion of six to one in the winter : it is an uncommon bird iu this 

 country. — E. Newman]. 



Occurrence of the Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) at Wisbech. — A fine 

 male specimen of this rare bird, in full plumage, was shot in a plantation at the 

 Black Sluice, a short distance from this town, on Tuesday, the 8lh of November inst. 

 On dissection, it was found that its food, while in this country, consisted of small 

 Coleoplera. It has been preserved for the Wisbech Museum. — T. W. Foster; 

 Wisbech, November 16, 1859. 



Notes on the " Mooruk.''* By Geoege Bennett, Esq. 

 (From the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society'). 



On the 26th of October, 1858, the " Oberon " cutter of forty- eight 

 tons arrived in Sydney, having two fine young specimens of the moonik 

 on board, stated to be male and female. On going on board I found 

 them confined in a very small space, and the captain informed me he 



* The mooruk {Casuarius Bennettii) is a newly discovered bird, allied to the casso- 

 wary. — Edward Newman. 



XVIII. D 



