3034 Birds. 



wards T saw a young gentleman who resides with Mr. Crowther, and on relating the 

 above circumstance to him, he replied, " Ah ! poor fellow, he will never keep crows 

 again." I found, on inquiry, he had been killed by a grayhound whilst indulging his 

 propensity for biting the end of its tail : at the same time I learned the following par- 

 ticulars of this remarkable bird. He was very tame, having his meals with the 

 servants, and his dessert with his master, to whom he was much attached, sitting on 

 the sill of his bedroom-window as soon as it was light, and remaining there until he 

 got up : if he went from home, Taff would go part of the way with him, and meet 

 him on his return, watching in a tree for hours ; and on seeing him, would fly and 

 perch either on the horse's head or his master's shoulder. He was of great use, and 

 took great delight in coursing, frequently turning a hare by his swoop. He was very 

 mischievous, hiding anything he could get, especially glittering things : on one occa- 

 sion he took from. the above-mentioned young gentleman's dressing-table, seventeen 

 shillings ; and the thief might for ever have remained undetected, had he not seen 

 Taff flying away with a shilling in his mouth. He had a great dislike to children, 

 attacking them whenever they came near him. His roosting-place was a high tree 

 near the house, and he frequently alarmed persons passing underneath, by some un- 

 earthly ejaculation. — Hubert Beadles ; Broadway. Worcestershire, December 16, 1850. 



Gray variety of the Rook (Corvus frugilegus). — A curious variety of this bird was 

 killed in Northamptonshire : it appears to be a very old bird : it is gray on the back 

 and wings ; the back is much darker than the wings, and the tail is grayish ; all the 

 rest is quite black. — L. H. Irby ; Poringland, near Norwich, January 13, 1851. 



Golden Oriole nesting near Deal. — A few days since, when at Sandwich, a person 

 there who partly gains his living by bird-stuffing, told me that ten years ago the 

 golden oriole bred in Word Wood (a small wood on the border of the marshes, very 

 boggy in winter, with very luxuriant Carices and tall herbage) ; that he saw an old one 

 but would not shoot it, hoping to find the nest, for which he ineffectually searched. 

 On making a second visit to the spot, a few days after, he was told by a countryman 

 that he had found a nest with young ones, which he had given to his ferrets ; and 

 from the description of the nest, he had no doubt it was that of the golden oriole. — 

 J. W. Hul/ce ; Deal, January 8, 1851. 



Note on the Figure of the Hairy Woodpecker (Picus villosus). — Will you allow me 

 to offer one or two remarks upon the clever and nearly correct sketch of the hairy 

 woodpecker in the ' Zoologist ' (Zool. 2986) ? Is there not an inaccuracy about the form 

 and shape of the bill? It appears, in the drawing, to be slender, sharply pointed, and 

 slightly curved, greatly resembling the bill of the common creeper (Certhiafamiliaris), 

 whereas P. villosus (or at least the only specimen I have seen), like all true wood- 

 peckers, has the bill straight, strong, conical or wedge-shaped, very broad at the base, 

 with the extreme point squared off. I would also observe that, in the cut, the bird 

 appears to have but one hind toe ; whereas it really has two, being a four-toed species. 

 May I add, that I think it would have been desirable that the artist should have shown 

 the fringe of hair-like feathers which grow down the centre of the back, and which 

 give the bird his name (Pic chevelu, Buffon)? I trust that neither yourself nor the 

 gentleman who has so kindly contributed the sketch, will consider me hypercritical 

 or needlessly minute, in the remarks I have ventured to make upon it. P. villosus is 

 now, for the lirst time, established as an undoubted English visitor, and it is highly 

 desirable that the first impressions which your ornithological readers may form of the 

 stranger, should be most accurate ; and the pretty woodcut, coming with the stamp of 



