Birds. 1055 



I may here briefly allude to a beautiful provision of Nature in the 

 ears of owls; namely, those kinds in which the ear-conch, or auditory 

 aperture, is large, have a little cover, or operculum, that is closed or 

 opened at pleasure ; whereas those species, whose auditory aperture 

 is smaller, are not furnished with that addition. Hence the use of 

 this operculum, which is analogous to the tragus in the ears of bats, 

 is, I apprehend, like that of the latter, two -fold ; first, to keep the au- 

 ditory passage free from dust and extraneous substances : and second- 

 ly, to regulate their very acute sense of hearing * 



Great Grey Shrike, Lanius excubitor. With us a rare visitor. 

 Sometimes it appears in the latter part of the year. The latest speci- 

 men which I have seen, was a stuffed bird that was killed near Cow- 

 pen, in October, 1841. 



Red-backed Shrike, Lanius Collurio. Mr. Selby has recorded the 

 fact of a pair having bred in the north district of the county of Dur- 

 ham, (Cat. 25*2, No. 32) ; and Mr. Yarrell observes that it is occasion- 

 ally found " as far north as Northumberland and the south-eastern 

 part of Durham, 1 ' (Br. Birds, i. 157). I have never seen this species 

 in the S.E. corner of the latter county ; but Mr. J. Grey has one pre- 

 served in his collection, which was shot near Guisborough. 



Spotted Flycatcher, Muscicapa grisola. This domestic but migra- 

 tory bird is common in every garden. It builds its nest, which is but 

 coarsely made, in fruit-trees trained to walls, and often rebuilds in the 

 same spot for several successive years. It is an amusing sight to 

 watch it whilst pursuing and seizing a butterfly in the air. When it 

 has secured it, the noise of the sharp closing of its mandibles is dis- 

 tinctly heard, and the wings of the insect are seen falling to the ground. 



Pied Flycatcher, Muscicapa atricapilla. Mr. Selby states that "in 

 Durham this species is of rare occurrence," (Cat. 251, No. 30). I 

 certainly do not remember to have seen it alive hereabouts. One was 

 " shot near Stockton, and is in my collection." — J. G. It is also in- 

 cluded in Mr. Graves's ' Catalogue of Cleveland Birds.' 



Water Ouzel, or Dipper, Cinclus aquaticus. " Very common in all 

 the small rocky brooks which run from the moors, both in Yorkshire 

 and Durham."— J. G. 



It dives well, and is a very restless bird. In the autumn of 1835, I 

 saw many of them among the stones in the river Derwent, nearly un- 

 der the High Tor in Matlock Dale, Derbyshire, and had a good op- 

 portunity of witnessing their flight and other movements. 



* For an account of the curious structure of the owl's ears, see Zool. 1020 — Ed. 



