9 
r) 
do better than transcribe what Professor Newton has (/. c.) written on this subject, as follows :— 
‘“‘In Dorsetshire Mr. Octavius Pickard-Cambridge writes (Zool. p. 4366) that a male bird was 
constantly seen in a garden at Bloxworth for more than a week in May 1854, and though a large 
extent of woodland and orchard adjoins the place, yet nothing came of it. Some nests, however, 
are reported to have been found, and especially in Kent. Thus Mr. J. Pemberton Bartlett states 
(Zool. p. 824) that in June 1836 one was discovered in an ash plantation near Ord, from which 
the young were taken; but, though every care was shown them, they did not long survive their 
captivity. Mr. J. B. Ellman says (Zool. p. 2496) that at the end of May 1849 a nest was, with 
the owners, obtained near Elmstone. It was suspended from the extremity of the top branch of 
an oak, was composed entirely of wool, bound together with dried grass, and contained three 
eggs. Mr. Hulke, in 1851, also recorded (Zool. p. 3034) a third, of which he was told that it 
was found about ten years previously in Word Wood, near Sandwich, by a countryman, who 
took the young and gave them to his ferrets; and Mr. More, on the authority of Mr. Charles 
Gordon, mentions one at Elmstead, adding that the bird appeared again in the same locality in 
1861. Myr. Howard Saunders and Lord Lilford have informed the editor that in the past 
summer (of 1871) they each observed, in Surrey and Northamptonshire respectively, a bird of this 
species, which probably had a nest. Messrs. Sheppard and Wheatear speak of a nest said to 
have been found in a garden near Ormsby, in Norfolk; but the eggs formerly in Mr. Scale’s 
collection, which it was thought were taken in that county, were really brought from Holland, - 
and the Editor is not aware of any collector who can boast the possession of eggs of this species 
laid in Britain.” Mr. J. E. Harting records (Our Summer Migr. p. 268) a recent instance of a 
pair having bred in the Isle of Thanet. This pair took up their quarters in Dumpton Park, 
Isle of Thanet, the seat of Mr. Bankes Tomlin, last year (1874), where they were carefully pro- 
tected by the proprietor, and were therefore enabled to rear and take away their young in safety. 
Mr. Harting visited Dumpton Park on the 12th July and- inspected the nest, the young being 
then hatched. 
Although a rare species in Scandinavia, it has once occurred as far north as Iceland, where, 
on the north coast, a specimen was, according to Dr. Kjerbdolling, found dead in December 1843. 
I find no record of its occurrence in Norway; and in Sweden it is a rare species. Professor 
Sundevall, who states that single birds have now and again been met with in Sweden, remarks 
that they are doubtless only stragglers from the countries on the south side of the Baltic or 
from Finland. Meves says that in June 1847 he saw a young male at Ottenby, and enticed it 
within fifteen paces by imitating its note. In Finland it is common in the southern parts of the 
country, where I used to see it in the vicinity of Wiborg almost daily; for a pair bred within 
gunshot of the house where I lived. It does not, however, range far north, as, according to Von 
Wright, the northern limit of its range is about Kuopio and the vicinity of Helsingfors. In 
Russia proper it would appear to straggle as far north as Archangel; for Messrs. Alston and 
Harvie-Brown say that they saw an example in Mr. Heinrich’s collection there. Mr. Sabanaeff 
informs me that it is tolerably common in the Smclensk Government, and also in Tula, but is 
only a rare species in the south-eastern portion of the Vologda Government. In the Ural he 
says it is doubtful if it ranges further north than about 58° N. lat.; but Von Middendorff states 
that on the Kama it occurs in 603° N. lat. 
367 
