455 



common all along the Russian frontier, especially near Pillau. In the autumn of 1868, according 

 to Kuwert, numbers appeared ; and he is of opinion that its appearances there depend on the 

 forest-fires in Russia, as about twenty years previously, when large tracts in Russia were destroyed 

 by fire, the road from Tilsit to Konigsberg swarmed with Nutcrackers, which flew singly or in 

 flocks, and settled at intervals, as .their flight was heavy, on the trees skirting the road ; and the 

 migration lasted more than eight days without interruption. A few remained behind in the 

 forests of Eastern Prussia. In Brandenburg it is rare, and, according to Gloger, not common in 

 Silesia ; but a pair were killed in the Sudeten, which belonged to the race named by Brehm N. 

 brachyrhynchos. In some seasons numbers are found in the forests in the lowlands, and nest in 

 the lower and central portions of the mountains. Thienemann found an empty nest in the Riesen- 

 gebirge, the first that is recorded in any collection. Mr. A. von Homeyer, who frequently visited 

 the Riesengebirge, often saw it in August 1867 in mixed conifer-growth near St. Anna-Capelle ; 

 and as he also observed it on the 16th of May, 1869, at Steinseiffen, it is probable that it 

 occasionally breeds in the mountains of Silesia. Tobias records its occurrence in numbers in 

 Oberlausitz in 1827, 1836, and 1844 ; and a pair is said to have nested at Neusalz a. O. on a high 

 oak C? 1), and were so little shy that they could be easily watched. Another pair is said to have 

 nested in the Petersdorfer district ; and Thienemann, in a letter, said that a pair bred in Saxony, 

 but when the nest was discovered it contained fledged young. In Anhalt, according to Habicht, 

 a few appeared in the spring of 1851 ; several pairs were seen in the Georgsgarten, near Dessau ; 

 but though they were seen carrying twigs and nesting-materials, the nest could not be found ; 

 but Thiele states (Naumannia, 1857, ii. p. 45) that, according to Mr. Schmidt, a gardener, a pair 

 bred there and hatched their young, which were several times seen. The same year it bred in 

 the forest of Oranienbaum, in the district of Glashau, as also in the castle-garden there. The 

 nest was not found ; but, according to Picht, two young birds were shot in July. Baron Konig 

 Warthausen told Blasius that young birds were seen at Oranienbaum from March to July, and 

 several were shot. In 1864 and 1865 Passler observed it in the autumn; and on the 30th of 

 March, 1868, a youth found in the Netlitzer district a nest containing four eggs, one of which 

 came into the possession of Dr. Baldamus. In Brunswick it appears on the plains in large flocks 

 during migration ; and at Hochgeiss, in the Oberharz, it was seen during the nesting-season, and 

 young birds were also observed. In 1820, according to Mr. C. L. Brehm, numbers appeared in 

 Thuringia both in the mountains and the plains ; and Speerschneider speaks of it (Naumannia, 

 1854, p. 175) as by no means a rare visitant, though not equally common every year or in every 

 district. In 1844 and 1845 several were killed at Rudolstadt and Blankenburg; and he met 

 with it commonly at Paulinzelle in 1847. He did not observe it in the more elevated portions 

 of the Thuringian forest. Romer states that it has appeared on five occasions during the last 

 thirty years in Nassau, being usually seen when the hazel-nuts were very abundant. 



"Numbers were seen in Hessen in 1821, and appeared even in the gardens of Mainz; and, 

 according to Jager, it occurred commonly at Wetterau in 1802, 1803, 1804, 1807, 1835, and 

 1844 ; and, according to Meyer, it was very numerous in the same years on the Ysenburger forest, 

 where, at the so-called Gehspitze, several were seen in October 1864. Mr. A. von Homeyer saw 

 a large number on migration near Frankfort-on-the-Main in September 1856 ; and again in 1859 

 he found it common. Baron von Droste Hulshoff says that numbers were seen in Westphalia in 



