Birds, 7 14a 



the service of God. — Id., vol. li. p. 341. Both communicated hy Samuel Gurnet/, 

 Es-q., M.P. 



Late stay of t/ie Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) in Cambridgeshire. — I have just beeiJ 

 put in possession of the latest date that I ever knew of a fieldfare beinp^ shot in this 

 county before— i.e. the 9ih of May: with us they usually depart some time in April; 

 I never before knew or heard of one being: seen after that time here. — S. P. Saville ; 

 Jesus Terrace, Cambridge; May 18, 1860. 



Anecdote of a Robin. — It is considered by the superstitious a bad omen to be 

 followed by a robin. Mr. N. said the first Lady Albemarle had been feeding some 

 little birds at her window, and one robin in particular had constantly attended her. 

 Lady A. had left her own home on a visit to Mr. Cooke, of Holkham. The next 

 morning a robin flew upon Lady A. as she was seated at the breakfast-table : she 

 iexelaimed instantly, " Oh, that is my robin I it has followed me from my home (about 

 fifty miles distant). I am sure it is sent to warn me of death, and I shall die." Very 

 soon afterwards she met with an accident, and died whilst at Holkham. — Extracted 

 from a private journal, and communicated by Samuel Gurney, Esq., M.P. 



Escaped Canary breeding. — We had a pair of canaries, — young birds of last year, 

 — the hen of which escaped about three weeks ago. We heard ol' her as being seen 

 by some boys in the woods, but she would not allow herself to he caught. Yesterday, 

 however, she was caught on her nest, but was so roughly handled that she died before 

 reaching us. The nest was in a thick hedgerow; it was formed of roots and dried 

 grass, lined inside with feathers and down from her own breast, which was quite 

 denuded. She was sitting on three eggs, which do not seem to difier from the eggs 

 usually laid by canaries in confinement. It is probable, therefore, that she had paired 

 with her companion, although we were not aware that she had done so previous to her 

 escape.— P. H. Newnham ; Bayshot, July 10, I860. 



Tree Sparrows. — " During the winter of 1858-9 we had great numbers of the tree 

 sparrow all around Worthing. Many fields were covered with them. They disap- 

 peared in the spring. In no other winter since I have been here have we had them 

 in such numbers, although we have had some stragglers each winter." — Robert Gray ; 

 Worthing, May, 1860. In reply to an inquiry Mr. Gray informs me that, being well 

 acquainted with the tree sparrow, he was able to single them out from the others when 

 flushed, and so shot several, of which he retained one specimen. Mr. Knox says 

 ('Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,' p. 206), the tree sparrow is scarce in Sussex, but 

 that probably it has frequently escaped observation. He loo notices il being a winter 

 Tisitor. Yarrell (' British Birds,' first edition) does not mention the bird as known to 

 be found in either Sussex or Kent, but in the latter county I certainly killed tree 

 sparrows at my native place (on the border of Sussex) between forty and fifty years 

 ago, I believe, though at the period knowing and caring too little about Natural 

 History to take much notice of the variety, or to attempt tracing the extent of its 

 range. However, I have no doubt tree sparrows were (and are!') indigenous in that 

 district, because nests were common in the outside of thatched roofs (see Yarrell, as 

 above, p. 470), and the birds I shot belonged to one of the large flocks which always 

 assemble round stubble fields immediately after harvest. Since tiiis variety of sparrow 

 has been so long overlooked in our neighbourhood, I fully anticipate that it will prove 

 to be far more generally distributed than has been and is now supposed. — Arthur 

 Hussey ; Rottingdean, May 19, I860. 



Migration of, and Trade in, Goldfinches. — I have transcribed the following from a 

 letter recently received. Having known the writer from his boyhood to this time, now 



