Birth. 3111 



in Britain, or as to its identity with M. Temminck's bird, 1 am unable 

 to say. The following is the passage to which I refer. 



" 6. ? Sylvia orphea. 



u Sylvia orphea, Temm. Man. cVOrn. i. p. 198 ? Milner, Zoologist, 



1849, p. -2588. 

 " ? Sylvia grisea. Vieill. 

 PI. enl. 579, f. 1 ? " 

 This paper, brief and imperfect though it be, will, I trust, induce 

 ornithologists to make diligent search for other examples of the spe- 

 cies ; the female is particularly liable to escape a cursory observer. 



Edward Newman. 



Note on the Songs of some of the British Birds, as remarked in the year 1850. — 



Song Song Song 



Opens. Ends. Kesumed. 



Common wren {Troglodytes vulgaris), Jan. 25 July 24 — 



Robin {Erythaca rubecula), „ 25 „ 1 Sept. 28 



Song Thrush (Turd us musicus), „ 28 „ 20 Oct. 10 



Skylark (Alauda arvensU), „ 30 „ 14 Sept. 20 



Missel Thrush (Turdus viscivorus), Feb. 1 May 20 Oct. 10 



Hedge Accentor (Accentor modularis), „ 15 „ 28 „ 6 



Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs), „ 17 June 27 Sept. 8 



Blackbird (Turdus merula), „ 19 July 20 Oct. 6 



Wryneck (Yunx torquilla), April 10 June 4 



Willow-wren (Sylvia trochilus), „ 12 Aug. 15 



Chiff-chaff (Sylvia hippolais), „ 13 „ 8 



Nightingale (Philomela luscinia), „ 13 June 25 



Black-cap (Curruca atricapilla), „ 13 July 15 



Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), „ 23 June 20 



Tree Pipit (Anthus arboreus), „ 23 July 15 



Garden Warbler (Curruca hortensis), May 2 ,, 10 



— F. A. Chennel; Esher, Surrey, March 21, 1851. 



Note on a singular assemblage of Birds. — There is something very extraordinary 

 in the way in which animals find out those places where the greatest amount of food is 

 to be obtained, and in the manner in which occasionally they congregate together in 

 search of it. The summer of 1850, was remarkably diy, so much so, indeed, that 

 most of our wells were exhausted, and I have no doubt the feathered tribes were 

 much pinched for food. About the 20th of November, however, and several following 

 days, rain came and saturated our meadows, causing the slugs and earth-worms to 

 come out. I was down by the Trent about this period, and witnessed a curious spec- 

 tacle. I heard above my head a tremendous cawing. I looked up. An immense 

 flock of rooks, crows, jackdaws, starlings and lapwings was coming towards me. On 

 they came, flock after flock, in continuous succession. It seemed as if a hundred 



