6 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
which appeared to have been imported from other countries, 
Skylarks, young Starlings, the Marsh Titmouse, to which 
De Selys gave the name Parus borealis, Bullfinches (. Pyrr- 
hula europea, Leach), Blue-throated Warblers, and Black- 
caps: and in gunmakers’ windows, stuffed specimens of the 
Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Eagle Owl,* Snowy Owl, 
Black-throated Diver, Shelduck, and Curlew. 
Not far from the Millionaya Street there is a small game 
market, and at one shop a Whooper or Wild Swan, and a 
Nutcrackert (Nucifraga caryocatactes L.), were hanging up. 
An attempt had been made to stuff them, so I dare say 
they had been suspended there all the summer. 
Shooting commences on the 15th (27th) of July, but 
Capercaillie are not in season so early as that. A freshly- 
killed young bird is of course far superior to what are 
brought over and vended in Leadenhall market. Old ones 
would hardly be considered fit to eat in Russia. The 
Teterka (Blackgrouse), and Riabchick (Hazelgrouse), are 
also capital birds for the table. It is said that considerable 
numbers of the Grey Partridge (Perdix cinerea Lath.) have 
been turned off in the vicinity of the metropolis. There 
are a great many stories about the Capercaillie ; one is that 
after death it swallows its tongue. Like many other fables 
it is founded on fact; for the organ is sometimes retracted 
so far as to become quite invisible.f 
* J find that in a tame Eagle Owl of ours, when exhausted with long 
incubation, the pupils of the eyes become almost white. I also find that 
the iris in this species becomes very much lighter with age. 
+ The middle tail feathers are so abraded at the end in a Nutcracker 
of mine, killed at Christchurch in Hampshire, as to leave the shafts 
almost bare, and they are worn in the same way in a specimen of my 
father’s, killed at Rollesby in Norfolk. 
£ The number of Scotch Capercaillie sent up to Leadenhall Market 
is very large, perhaps 200 in a winter, exernplifying the remarkable hold 
which this species has again taken in North Britain, particularly in 
