70 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



tricks, and are exceedingly docile and affectionate birds — so much so, 

 that in our small aviary- we take care never to be without some. Unfor- 

 tuna-tely, they are short-lived, and we have seldom kept them longer than 

 a couple of years. 



The Bulltiiich is very destructive to the buds of the pear and the larch 

 in March, and of the beech in May. We saw two fine males feeding 

 on the buds of the hawthorn at Exmouth in February ]800. In the 

 spring of 1^55 numerous small flocks were observed near Topshnm, but it 

 is not usually common there. It is sometimes plentiful near Plymouth, 

 Kings])ridge, Lydford, Okehampton, Ivousdnn, &c., especially in oak-copses. 

 It is also common in many places in Xorth Devon. 



Mr. Comyns had a variety quite black, and another entirely white, 

 except the breast, which was roseate (E. M., Trans. Plym. Inst. 1830, 

 p. 313). A white male specimen was shot near Totncs in May 1851. 

 The back was slightlj- tinged with blue and the breast with red (S. Han- 

 naford, Jnr., ' Naturalist,' 1852, p. 85). 



[Pine-Grosbeak, Pinicola envchator (Linn.). 



We do not consider the evidence relating to the specimens of this species 

 said to have been o])tained in Devonshire to be trustworthy, and in our 

 opinion it should be excluded from our list. 



Prof. A. Newton says, in ' Yarrell's British Eirds,' 4th ed. ii. p. 178, 

 " Thirdly, is a male examjde, which the editor is informed by Mr. Bync is 

 in his collection, and that he believes it to have been killed near Exeter 

 in the winter of 1854-55 and brought to his late father, by whom it was 

 preserved."' This individual, with the rest of Mr. Byne's collection, passed 

 into the possession of the late Mr. ^Marsh-Dunn, of Teignmouth, who 

 kindly allowed us to see it in August 1883. It is a male in splendid red 

 jjlumage, and, as far as we could see through the glass of the case con- 

 taining it, there is nothing to militate against its having been a British- 

 killed bird. It is nicely stuffed, as are most of the birds in Mr. Marsh- 

 Dunn's fine collection. We do not, however, believe that it was obtained 

 near Exeter, as at the time it is said to have been killed we were living 

 near that city, and giving much attention to the ornithology of the neigh- 

 bourhood, and were in the habit of recording the occurrence of any rare 

 species that came to our knowledge. We paid frequent visits to the shop 

 ot the bird-stuffer named Truscott, who mounted specimens for Mr. Byne, 

 8enr. (then living in Exeter), and he generally showed us any rare birds 

 he had received to stuff. We cannot find any note of the occurrence of a 

 Pine-Grosbeak, nor have we any recollection of such an event, which would 

 most certainly have arrested our attention. AVe must add that the taxider- 

 mist in question had only returned from Canada, where he had been residing 

 for some time, a few j'ears before the date indicated, and had brought 

 home many skins of birds from that country, where the American form is 

 sometimes numerous in winter. In 18G!) Truscott stated that he had a 

 Pine-Grosbeak which was shot and stuffed by a gardener at Powderham, 



