7170 Birds. Z 



Indigenous and Occasional Visitors to the Am- Fauna of Europe. — I have read the 

 remarks of Mr. Alfred Newton, in the ' Zoologist' for August (Zool. 7145), upon the 

 increasing lists of European birds, from the occasional appearance of the inhabitants of 

 other quarters of the globe, and will, with your permission, offer one or two observa- 

 tions upon this interesting subject. I think it will be admitted by all naturalists that 

 the task of making out a truly indigenous list of the Fauna of Europe is one of 

 extreme difficulty; and I do not think such a list, as applied to birds (to which I now 

 confine myself), would meet the requirements of ornithologists. The object of 

 defining the lists of birds belonging to any country is two-fold: first, it is intended to 

 illustrate by these lists those birds which, as far as can be determined, are peculiar to 

 that country — those that live and breed there ; but, secondhj, it is equally important 

 for the student to know something about those which are occasionally seen there. A 

 bird which is observed ouce will be eagerly looked out for again, and will not be 

 unfrequently found. Upon very good authority I introduced into my work upon the 

 ' Birds of Europe' Regulus calendulus of North America, which was captured in the 

 Scottish Highlands ; and, while the sheets were in the press, I heard of a second 

 example which had been taken by a pitman in Durham, and which came into the pos- 

 session of Mr. Tristram in the flesh. It is only a few years ago that its congener Regulus 

 ignicapillus was discovered by Mr. Jenyns in the mouth of his cat, and the publication 

 of this fact led to the discovery that the bird was a regular inhabitant of the country. 

 This, I think, illustrates sufiiciently well the propriety of including in our European or 

 British lists all birds that are even occasionally found in one area or the other. The 

 scientific naturalist, or even the early student, will readily separate the two classes of 

 birds, and thus, while no harm is really done to scientific precision, additional know- 

 ledge is difi"used, and we have the benefit of seeing and hearing of forms which would 

 be otherwise shut up in Audubon's splendid folios or other works of the kind. It thus 

 appears to me that it is absolutely essential to adopt in our lists the rule which all 

 really good ornithologists have followed, whether Temrainck, Schlegel, Bonaparte or 

 Selby or Yarrell in our own country. The lists speak clearly what they mean, if cha- 

 racterised by a mark like that of the ' Zoologist List of British Birds,' and I think the 

 readers of historic works upon the subject will not be ungrateful to their authors for the 

 additional trouble and expense by which they are made acquainted with new forms, 

 which it is quite possible they may again meet with in their naturalists' rambles. Larus 

 ichthyaetus, or even Falco leucocephalus may again be found wandering either into 

 Russia or Great Britain, and we shall be none the worse for the additional knowledge 

 by which we shall be enabled to welcome them as familiar friends. — C. jR. Bree; 

 Colchester, August 6, 1860. 



Kestrel feeding Chickens. — I had known that the master of the Cirencester Union 

 kept a female kestrel, which was usually at liberty in one of the yards, and having for 

 her companion a jackdaw ; last year she laid, on the straw in her box, two eggs, one 

 of them of the ordinary shape and colouring, the other more oblong and the colour 

 paler, but much darker at the large end : I have these eggs, which, on shaking them, 

 seem to contain a fluid. At the end of last month a hen hatched a brood of chickens, 

 she being confined in a coop, the little ones running, as usual, in or out of the cage, 

 as they pleased. One day the master of the Union gave the hawk a piece of raw meat, 

 and was much astonished to see her run ofi" immediately towards the coop, and draw 

 away the young chickens, which she, in the kindest and most attentive manner, began 

 to feed, by tearing the meat in pieces and presenting it to their bills, as 



