1638 Birds. 



self near at hand to await the result. The parent birds soon returned, and immedi- 

 ately threw out their own offspring to make room for the parasite. This statement 

 differs widely from the common opinion, and deserves closer investigation.— J. W. 

 Slater ; Manchester. 



Nudity of the base of the Rook's beak.— Mr. Waterton's root began to drop the 

 bristles at the base of the bill, in the autumn of its birth, without being allowed to dig. 

 A rook hatched last May, passed its autumnal moult, shedding its nasal feathers, 

 which were perfectly renewed in due time : early in December these new feathers 

 began to fall off slowly, beginning at the very base, while those farthest from the root 

 are, even now, shining, clean, and otherwise perfect, although the bird has always had 

 the range of a garden, in which it has dug many pits, deeper than its own bill, and its 

 constant amusement is to root up every flower which it can master, and that, on an 

 average, was all of them. On the whole, I should think that it had as much practice 

 at delving, as any rook in the shire : how comes it that Yarrell scouts the idea of the 

 nudity being an " original peculiarity V— Henry Daniell ; Lambert House, Bath, Jan. 

 Uth, 1847. 



Robins at Sea.— A lady, now with us, who has just returned from India, by way of 

 Alexandria, on board the Erin, says, " that during nearly the whole of the passage 

 from Malta, there have been numbers of robins daily alighting on the decks, and en- 

 tering the port-holes. They appeared to be quite exhausted, and freely allowed them- 

 selves to be taken." The lady well knows what a robin is, or I should have thought 

 her mistaken as to the bird's identity. Has such a fact ever been noticed before ? I 

 think one of your correspondents in the * Zoologist' was making some odd supposition 

 and query as to what became of the old robins. I have not time just now to hunt it 

 up, but if I am right that such was the case, and if my friend has not mistaken some 

 other bird for the robin, it seems to be pretty clear they migrate, which will be a suf- 

 ficient answer to your correspondent. I forget what day she sailed from Malta, but 

 she arrived at the Mother Bank on the 10th of this month, and the robins appeared on 

 the decks right up to the coast of Britain.— Henry Deane ; Clapham, Nov. 13th, 1846. 



Occurrence of the Fire-crested Regulus near Truro. — The occurrence of three ex- 

 amples within the last month of this interesting species, in the neighbourhood of 

 Truro, was made known to me by Mr. J. S. Passmore, of Truro, two of which I had 

 an opportunity of examining on Tuesday last. One of these had been obtained on the 

 morning of my visit, and Mr. Passmore informed me that he was pretty sure of 

 getting another which he saw in the same locality. The individuals I inspected were 

 a male and female ; the crest of the latter had a greater portion of the orange red than 

 the female, which I reported to you some time past as having passed into my posses- 

 sion, exhibits,— the colour of which is lemon yellow. I conclude, therefore, that the 

 red crest in the female is assumed by more adult birds.— Edward Hearle Rodd ; Pen- 

 zance, January 13th, 1847. 



Occurrence of the White-winged Crossbill in Cumberland. — I saw male and female 

 adult birds of this species, and a young male bird, that were shot by Mr. Thomas Bond, 

 of Swinstead House, near Brampton, Cumberland ; he succeeded in shooting nine 

 specimens, I believe five males and four females, in company with the common crossbill. 

 The occurrence of this rare species may be interesting to some of your ornithological 

 readers, which induces me to forward the information. — James B. Hodgkinson ; Pres- 

 ton, November 28th, 1846. 



Late stay of Sivallows and Martins at Springfield, Warwickshire. — On the 18th of 



