Birds. 7235 



the inflammation in the wounded sboulder that it was necessary to kill it. Twice T 

 have been present at the attempt to dig anieaters out, and both times totally failed in 

 overtaking them. Had this one not been wounded we certainly should not have got 

 him.'' — J. H. Gurney ; Culton Hall, Norwich, September 28, 1860. 



The Ostrich in Europe. — At the last sitting; of the French Academy of Science, 

 Prince A. Demidoff wrote to announce a second instance of the reproduction of the 

 ostrich in Europe, at his zoological establishment of San Donato. The same female 

 ostrich, which, in 1859,^had produced two young, had this year laid fourteen eggs ; 

 the first on the 1 1th of May, and then every second day one, until the 31st. A twelfth 

 was laid on the 3rd of June, another on the 4th, and the fourteenth and last on the 5th. 

 The female used to sit upon them for three hours daily, leaving to the male the onerous 

 duty of sitting all the rest of the time. During a violent storm, however, which occurred 

 on the 17th the female placed herself beside her mate, the better to protect the eggs 

 from injury. The tirst bird made its appearance on the 23rd, and was soon followed 

 by three more. A fifth broke its shell on the 24th, and a sixth two days laler. The 

 brood used regularly to pass the night under their parent's wing. There still remained 

 eight eggs; but another storm having broken out on the 26th, the old birds became 

 restless and quitted their nest, nor could they be prevailed upon to return to it. Five 

 of these eggs were found to be in a fair way of being hatched, but the other three were 

 addled. The two young ostriches hatched in 1859 were stated to be thriving, and to 

 have already nearly attained the size of their parents. M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire took 

 occasion to remark, after reading this communication, that from observations made at 

 the Jardin des Plantes, where the cassowary of Australia had been reproduced, it was 

 proved that it is the male and not the female thai sits, just as in the case of ostriches. 

 — From the ' Field.' 



Capture of an Ashcoloured Shrike (Lanius Excubitor) at Sea. — I have just had sent 

 me a specimen of the above bird which was taken in the rigging of a vessel on the 1st 

 of this month, when about 60 miles from land. The ship was on her way from the 

 Baltic to this country, and arrived at Fraserborough (a port on the N.E. coast of Scot- 

 land) two days afterwards. At Fraserborough the master of the vessel presented the 

 bird, which was still alive, as a rarity to the chief officer of the Custom House. That 

 gentleman had it put into a cage, and would have kept it, but it refused all sorts of 

 food {Query, did it get the right sort?), and was otherwise so very wild that at last he 

 had it killed, in order to preserve its plumage. It was then forwarded here for preser- 

 vation, as also to see what sort of bird it was. I may add that on dissection it proved 

 to be a male, and there is no doubt of its being an immature bird, that is a bird of the 

 year. — Thomas Edward; Banff, October 8, 1860. 



Capercally Breeding in Scotland, .^c— On the 26lh of September, at the Birming- 

 ham Natural History Association, Mr. A. Franklin, taxidermist, exhibited a magnifi- 

 cent hybrid of the capercally {Tetrao Urogallus) and the black grouse (Tetrao Tetrix). 

 It was shot this season in Perthshire, by a gentleman of our town, and) placed in Mr. 

 Franklin's hands for preservation. The leading characters of this bird are those of the 

 capercally ; the bill, however, is black. In 1852 a similar hybrid was shot in the same 

 county. In 1857 a nest of nine eggs of the capercally was recorded in the ' Perthslsire 



