2138 Birds. 



fact of his having killed that morning six * tailors ' at a shot ! ! And then the stout 

 Jager hauled forth from the fustian depths of his capacious lappet a demi-dozen of 

 goldfinches as the Schneiders in question! That bird is in fact here known solely as 

 a ' proud tailor,' though for brevity's sake, in common parlance, they frequently drop 

 the adjective, and speak of it simply as a ' teelor.' The yellow hammer is here, as 

 elsewhere, the only goldfinch. Such are a few of the prevailing and peculiar terms 

 in the ornithological vocabulary of one portion at least of this county. No doubt al- 

 most every rural district presents similar interesting varieties of nomenclature, which 

 those to whom benevolent Fortune has assigned their " otium cum dignitate," in the 

 pleasant places and peaceful seclusion of a country life, might add much to their own 

 instruction and amusement by studying and collating, and at the same time would 

 help to advance a good and useful cause. — Arthur Evans; Coventry, April 25, 1848. 



Egg of the Egyptian Vulture (Vultur percnopterus). — An error appears to have 

 crept in at page 4 of Mr. YarrelPs excellent • History of British Birds.' It says that 

 the eggs of the Egyptian vulture are white. I can, however, corroborate Mr. Hewit- 

 son's description of the egg from personal observation. I have examined six speci- 

 mens (one of which is in my collection), taken two at a time, from the same nest, three 

 successive years, by a friend of mine, in a locality with which I am well acquainted, 

 in the lower Alps. The eggs are either spotted (probably from young birds), or 

 blotched all over with reddish-brown. They are more regularly oval in shape than 

 eggs of the Rapaces generally are ; and in their markings they vary exactly in the 

 same degree as the eggs of the kestrel, peregrine falcon, hobby and honey buzzard. — 

 8. C. Malan ; Vicarage, Broadwindsor, April 18, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Merlin (Falco aesalon) in Oxfordshire. — Two individuals of this 

 species were shot in the early part of this year, by Mr. Hollis, of Coggs, near Witney, 

 Oxon. It is a rare winter visitant to this county. — T. Goatley ; Chipping Norton, 

 April 10, 1848. 



Caprice of a Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). — There's a green grassy knoll in Bos- 

 worth Park* that any naturalist would love. It slopes towards the S.W. with gentle 

 undulations, down to a quiet glassy pool of dark water, the haunt of the coot and the 

 heron, — and is skirted along its southern side by a wood of giant oaks, whose sombre 

 image is inverted in the watery mirror, and whose deep seclusion is undisturbed all 

 the summer long, save by the rustling tread of the deer as they cross half-seen its 

 quiet vistas, and whose echoes at that season are awoke only by the voice of forest 

 birds, — the jarring cry of the woodpecker or the moaning plaint of the cushat, — or, 

 later on, by the sleepy braying of the hinds at evening. There the peregrine falcon 

 has been met with, and the great and lesser spotted woodpeckers may, though unfre- 

 quently be seen. Jackdaws and starlings innumerable tenant its depths and people 

 the cavities of every bole. But ray present business is not with the wood, — pleasant 

 spot though it be, — but with the knoll I have spoken of. This is studded with five or 

 six vast venerable oaks, and near its highest portion is graced with a magnificent 

 clump of huge beech and horse-chesnut trees, mingled with towering larches, — for 

 years the haunt of a pair of kestrels that had their nest at the tip-top of one of the 

 highest. 'Tis but a little spot; yet, seen from whatever point, or at whatever time or 

 season, this particular nook of the old park is strikingly picturesque. A calmer, more 



• Co. Leicester, seal of Sir W. YV. Dinie, Bart. 



